crossing and crocodile

I was driving up a hill and, at the crest, my car came to rest, balancing precariously. The hill was so steep that the car was stuck, see-sawing on top. I left the car and carried on the journey on foot, walking through shallow rock pools, avoiding anything that looked to be dangerous. Soon, I came to a crossing. The police had organised a barricade and were directing traffic across and around it. Still on foot, I reached the front of the queue from where I could see into a deep pit filled with water. One policeman instructed people at the top of the pit, and a second policeman stood on a platform inside the pit, helping people across. A crocodile repeatedly jumped up, out of the water, snapping at the heels of those passing overhead. The first policeman told me that I would have to jump as far as I could, and trust that the second policeman would catch me and help me travel safely to the other side. While I waited for the right moment, the crocodile was leaping ever closer, his mouth gaping wide. I could see that he had no teeth, and his mouth was shaped more like a strange fish. The first policeman grabbed one of my bare feet and held it above the crocodile, teasing it. It was too close for my liking and I struggled free. While the first policeman was busy directing the next people in line, I jumped, without warning, and landed lightly in the arms of the second policeman, the crocodile snapping at me all the while. I was delivered safely onto the other side of the pit, with the crocodile still leaping up out of the water, trying frantically to catch me and eat me.

dreaming

I was in my late grandparents' garage, in the semi-dark under their home. I was in consultation with a naturopath who had evidently been treating me for something. She brought up my results so far, which manifested as a light display around the room. Coloured lights shone and shifted, flitting from one wall to the next, and beaming through the space. She was delighted, noting how well I was, how the brilliant lights reflected my growing state of health. The only odd thing, she seemed to think, was that my brain waves were showing unusual activity, which would be accounted for by wild and vivid dreams if I was a child, but, as an adult, she thought it unlikely. I told her that I did, indeed, experience extremely lucid and inventive dreams. She regarded me curiously and I was left with the feeling that this dreaming was unusual.

he turned out to be the devil

Hurrying somewhere through a public place, I heard a thud and the sharp knock of bone against cement behind me. I turned to see a man sprawled on the ground. He had fallen and broken his arm. Although I was keen to keep going, to be on my way, I knelt beside him to check on him. He was obviously injured, his arm broken. I asked someone to call an ambulance and I held onto him, keeping him conscious and doing my best to comfort him. I stayed for some time, waiting with him for help to arrive. As time passed, he began to ask me questions about my life, my family. I felt uncomfortable as his questioning grew increasingly intrusive. Finally, he seemed to have recovered from his fall - without the intervention of medical aid - and I left him to repack my suitcase so that I could leave. Somehow, all of my belongings were now strewn across the ground and, knowing that he would hide something of his in my bag given the chance, I checked everything thoroughly before packing it. Someone helped me to pack and I told them to look for anything strange as 'he would try to bait me', with the object of somehow tracking me. Sure enough, I found his necklace - a stylised silver cross on black leather - among my things. I threw it back over to where he was waiting, hoping he didn't notice. Unfortunately he did and he came over with the cross, insisting angrily that I should have it. Realising that he was the devil, I looked him in the eye and told him that I wanted nothing of his, nothing at all. My certainty drove him away.

giant python

I was inside family home where I lived as a teenager. The house had three levels: the garage, laundry and 'rumpus' room on the lower level; the entry, lounge room, kitchen and sunroom on the middle level - the 'heart' of the home; and the bedrooms and bathroom on the upper level. Balconies came off various rooms on all levels. I ran up the stairs from the middle level to the bedroom level toward my bedroom, knowing that there was an intruder, a giant python, in the house. I was desperate to see if the pets and children were unharmed, as the snake was large enough to eat them whole. I raced to the bedroom, calling out to them and, by doing so, distracting the snake, which turned to focus on me. I stayed long enough to observe that the children and animals were alive and well; it appeared that the python was just about to attack them. I then ran back down the stairs, to the front door, the snake - a clammy pale-skinned creature with an enormous head - in close pursuit. I opened the front door and, though the snake reared up and attempted to strike my face, I somehow ushered the snake through the doorway and closed the door firmly behind it. We were safe.

crocodiles and water rising

I was in a room under my family home. The ocean was just outside, waves encircling the house and rising fast. Soon the water gushed into the house and many people swam out into the sea, meeting the waves head on. Rather than venture out, I swam through the now-open glass sliding doors and climbed on top of a corrugated iron shed to watch the crowd. I was eating dates. A crocodile swam out of the shed and into the ocean. I knew that my family were somewhere in the waves and I hoped that they would make it back alive. Twenty or more crocodiles emerged from the shed and powered out into the waves. One huge crocodile lurked below, circling the shed. It reared up out of the water and snapped giant jaws at me. I threw a date in its direction, which distracted the beast long enough for me to leap off the shed into the water and swim back into the house, where the water had now subsided. I closed the doors. After a time, the survivors of the sea left the water and began a long march away from the ocean. The caravan moved steadily, with purpose, the well aiding the injured. I ran through the crowd, searching for my family, and found my mother being carried on a stretcher by a few of her close friends. To my horror, I saw that her hands and her feet had been dismembered, but she had them with her. She seemed to feel no pain and, in fact, was quite happy, confident that her hands and feet would be reattached. She asked me to look for my father. I ran back along the line until I found him, sitting on a hospital bed watching the crowd file past. His legs had been bitten off and he was hooked up to a drip and another monitoring machine. I was devastated, but again he appeared not to be in pain and was sure that it would all turn out for the best. My brother appeared, also searching for family, and we wondered what to do. We were discussing the cataclysmic event and how each of us had done our best to survive it, when again the waves rose and crashed around us. With no time to lose, we unhooked my father from the various tubes, grabbed the hospital bed and pushed him through the waves, joining the procession away from the ocean. I wondered where my sister was and hoped we would find her.

blocking my way

I was in the home that my parents built, where I lived in my teenage years. I was trying to leave the house, hoping to be somewhere on time. I was the only one of my family at home as the others had all left before me. There was, however, another creature, or creatures, there with me, doing their utmost to stop me leaving. The other being was at times one person - a screaming toddler - and at times twins. Sometimes it seemed to be an older, sickly person in a wheelchair. It was both human and otherworldly, perhaps demonic. It had reddish hair and greenish skin, and screamed at the top of its lungs. I ran around the house, doing my best to gather my things, and, at the same time, to find amusements to quieten the creature. It followed me around the house, blocking my path, grabbing at me. It was incredibly strong and its hands were huge, out of proportion with its weedy body. It - they - clutched at me and grasped my wrists, holding me back. Finally, I made it to the front door, but they lunged past me and snatched at the door, again, blocking my way and forcing me back inside, screaming at me all the while. At last, I turned to the creature instead of running from it and talked to it. I cannot recall what I said. But, suddenly, it was quiet. One of the twins, leaned into me, seeking my affection and comfort, but the other turned away from me, distant and cold.