The Purple Cloud

Yesterday my son graduated from Evergreen State College here in Olympia. To celebrate, my husband took us to Anthony's, a very fine seafood restaurant here in town.The food was elegant and very tasty, and after a strawberry cheesecake desert, we walked outside and strolled around the restaurant's elegant waterfront terrace connected to the Port of Olympia and its scenic view of the Sound. The sun was already behind the clouds, magnifying the light and intensifying the surrounding colours of sky and water. My eye was struck by a huge purple cloud that seemed to hang like a hovering huge spaceship across the picturesque waterfront restaurant and the surrounding buildings. To the opposite side was downtown, and above the many boats by the dock was the darkening outline of the Olympia Capitol. The lights of the buildings and pleasure boats sparkled like so many small stars in the cool evening as we walked along the graciously landscaped walkways in front of the restaurant leading up to a walk towards downtown. I kept looking back at the dark purple cloud behind me. It seemed like it was watching us, moody, brooding like a scene out of the introduction to a movie or story about a world led to a post apocalyptic reality. I shook the feeling and focused on the aesthetics of the scene instead. The fresh air whispered away any lingering preoccupations with the cloud and we went about our walk before turning back to the parked car on the other side of the restaurant to return home.
That night I slept very well, happy with my son's college graduation. When I woke, I was surprised to recall a most disturbing dream that had occupied my mind that night. The dream was set in a world that was in the midst of destruction and chaos caused by apocalyptic events. My husband, son and I were surviving , but we had to be on the move constantly, trying to stay ahead of the next disaster. The most vivid memory of the dream was the sight and noise of jets literally falling out of the skies all around us, like huge metallic disabled flies, looking surreal as they crashed nearby in a cacophony of twisting metal. My husband, son and I were taking care of a group of orphaned, frightened children, trying to each night anew, find shelter that was effective and safe. There was rubble everywhere, and there, in the middle of the dream, was the huge purple cloud. That is when I woke up. I was intrigued by the presence of the purple cloud, but not in a troubled way. I viewed it as an artistic detail that had made its way from my waking hours into my night slumbers. Hopefully, that casual response to the looming cloud in both worlds will be the prevailing one.