passing through danger

I was driving a sturdy white van down a steep mountain. The winding road narrowed as I traced the cliff's edge, until the road became a snaking path, barely wide enough to allow passage. The path twisted and kinked around sharp rocks and the traffic slowed to walking pace; some cars turned back. Two people appeared - a man and a woman - at the most perilous point, carefully directing people around a hairpin bend. I drove tentatively onward, listening to the instructions and following them carefully. As I passed the man, I looked in his eyes and thanked him. Again, as I passed the woman, I made eye contact and thanked her. In both their eyes, I saw light reflected and something more - spirit, energy, soul.

dog crossing road

A small dog, much like the lovely, scruffy dog my grandparents had when I was a child, bolted out my front door, up the driveway and across the road. I was worried; the road is busy and the dog was excitable. She snuffled about in the bush on the other side of the road before returning. And, amazingly, she seemed to possess road sense, even though I knew her to be unfamiliar with the wider world. Before crossing, she quickly scanned the road in both directions for coming cars, and raced back to me, joyful.

keep moving

In a pool. My blankets, sheets and quilt are heaped on the cement at the side of the pool. As I swim, I see the quilt slip off the pile and into the water. There is nothing to be done so I continue swimming.

I am angry with someone I care about. Rather than say anything, I lie belly down on a board, much like a surfboard without any fins, and slide down the hill, following the path. I race down at breakneck speed, shoot past trees and driveways, steer my board by leaning left or right until I swerve around a sharp bend and reach the busy road. Then I climb the hill toward the house, board under my arm, calm.

obstacles

I was driving a VW Beetle along a remote road that, strangely, was thick with traffic. The long line of cars stuttered along, stopping and starting, held up by something unseen ahead. The car behind me persistently encroached on my space and, pressured, I too repeatedly braked too close to the car in front. Eventually, worried that I would collide, I swerved to the left, joining another lane, which, once there, turned out not to be a lane at all but a dwindling line of cars that had pulled over and was now attempting to rejoin the queue. I too indicated to move right, but the ground between the side of the road and the road opened, birthing a dirt ditch, just wide and deep enough to swallow a small car. The other cars crossed the ditch, merging with traffic, and the long line of cars drove into the distance, leaving me alone with my car pitched against a wall of dirt. Stepping out of the car, I took a look around. The road disappeared and I found myself in a canyon, rock walls stretching high and the ground now dirt and rocks. I could see quartz and other mineral rocks protruding from the cliff walls, buried but for their glittering tips. I skirted the walls, observing the rock formations, until I remembered the car. Returning to it, I could see that it too was now wedged into the dirt, buried up to the roof. I would need help to retrieve it. More alarmingly, however, there were two snakes dozing next to the car, effectively blocking my path. One snake, extremely long and pale green, coiled in a heap, although disquieting, appeared less threatening than the other. The second snake was much shorter, perhaps only a foot or two, with black and brown markings. I knew that this snake was venomous, dangerous. I moved away, pondering what to do, when the dark snake darted at me. Unable to outrun it, I faced it, seizing it just below the head, and threw it as far as I could away from me. It immediately returned, chasing me down, slithering quickly across the dirt, again lashing out at me. Again, I grabbed the snake and hurled it away. This time it struck the canyon wall and transformed upon impact into an animal like a raccoon, and ran into the scrub, hiding. Knowing that, contrary to its disguise, the creature was really a snake, I looked for an escape. A building wall and door appeared, so, rushing past the scrub and the still sleeping green snake, leaving behind my car, I quickly opened the door and closed it behind me, entering a man-made environment - a seemingly safer space. Turning around, I looked through an enormous screened window to the canyon on the other side. Sure enough, I watched as the 'raccoon' morphed back into its true snake form, and slithered out of the scrub. I noticed how the giant screen was built and secured into the window - with neater and better joinery than most, how it protected the inside from the outside so securely, and committed the design to memory.

trapped

Early evening and the streets were in darkness. I was in an unfamiliar town, heading home, walking with three tall, burly, bearded mountain men. I liked them immensely, but I knew them little. We reached a narrow lane and the man started down it. I hesitated, scanning the crossroad, realising I had a choice: I could go with them, trust them, or walk back the way we had come and navigate the dark streets alone. Neither option seemed sensible. The men urged me to join them and appeared mystified as to my uncertainty. 'I don't know you,' I said. I looked again back down the road, a few people now milling under the street lights, and thought I'd go that way. Immediately, a gate closed across the lane entrance. A third time, I looked back down the road  and now the people were in turmoil: men hurting women, women hurting one another, gangs travelling up the road toward me. Violence, crime and torture. I ran at the gate, it opened and I fled down the lane, calling to others in the lane to run, run. A young girl started screaming and I clapped my hand over her mouth, running with her, anxious that we should escape unheard, unharmed. At the end of the lane, I emerged into a maze of streets, alone but for the three men. Finding my car, I jumped in and the men all helped to push the car into a secure position from which to climb the steep and alarmingly narrow road. I drove up and, upon reaching a huge step, poked my legs through the car floor and stepped up, dragging the car with me. At the top of the hill I looked back to see that the men had driven a different route and I wondered, had I gone the wrong way? I continued on foot, turned into a dark tunnel and climbed up the steep stairs inside. A crowd of people followed, all desperate to go home. At the top of the stairs, the tunnel opened to a lane that ran between tall buildings. I peeked out. Soldiers waited at one end of the lane to my left, and soldiers wearing a different uniform guarded the other end of the lane to my right. We could not go forward and, because the long, long line of people stretched all the way back down through the tunnel, we were unable to retreat. We were trapped. A soldier appeared at the doorway and was about to blow the whistle when he spied someone he knew, someone he once fancied, standing third in line. She, knowing the privileges of being in his favour, stepped outside but asked to bring one other person with her. She chose a young man from the front of the queue. I held two old women who leant against me for support, tears spilling onto my cheeks as I could see no rescue, no escape. There was no future for those of us trapped in the tunnel, the soldier about to uncover us.

fair boy

I was travelling along a road that ran alongside the beach, high up, as though on the edge of a tall cliff. I was with a blonde toddler who was on a skateboard, and I was running to keep up with him. Suddenly he turned off the road, hoisted the skateboard onto his little shoulders, and ran down a flight of stairs. I ran after him, concerned that he would lose his foothold or become unbalanced by the weight of the board and fall. The old cement stairs twisted and turned so that he was just out of view. I passed someone I knew from my teenage years and said hello, but had to keep moving on so that I could follow the boy. As I ran, I approached a landing area somewhere in the middle of the steep flight of stairs and I saw the youngster open the rock lid of a secret chamber in a wall and climb inside, obviously hoping to play a trick on me. I was terribly anxious about his safety, thinking of the creatures that might hide in such a damp and dark space and hoping that he would be able to get out. When I reached the wall, I opened the rock lid and could see his fair head ducked down inside, but the neck of the opening had contracted and he was now too big to climb out - his head was larger than the hole. I ran my hands over the wall, desperate to find another way to pull him out, terrified that he would be entombed. I found an opening further up the wall and could see that there was a small tunnel, only just big enough for him to crawl through.

fear

I am waiting to cross a very busy road. Enormous trucks like road trains hurtle past - smoke blowing, engines roaring, lights beaming. Giant tyres spin past and I wait, anxious. B walks across the road easily. I can see her on the other side. An old woman with a walking stick and wearing lavender also waits. She hangs back from the kerb and I think she must be worried about crossing too. The lights change and it is time to cross the road. I go to help the old woman and she calls me 'dear'. Crossing the road, however, proves to be terribly hard. My legs won't work properly and each step requires enormous effort and concentration. My fear paralyses me so I walk with long, wobbly strides, swaying and very slow. The old woman thinks I am drunk and shuns me. She disapproves. The lights have changed again, the old woman is safe on the other side, and I am still crossing the road, trying to master my fear so that I can walk easily again.

escape

Running along a road, being chased by an enormous black male gorilla. He ran past the other gorillas, focussed on me. I ran as fast as I could, but it was clear that he was far too powerful to outrun. There was only one thing for it - go up. As he gained on me, almost upon me, I manifested flippers and used them to push off the ground and fly into the sky, flapping my flippers. The confused gorilla watched me from the ground and soon I had flown so high that he was a mere speck on the ground. I looked around and saw others flying, mainly in small hot air balloons. I didn't want to fly too high so I kicked my legs more slowly, ascending more slowly now. I enjoyed the sensation of flying whilst also wondering how to land.