Dream of:
21 March 1996 (2) "Can You Hear Me"Carolina and I had just set out on a long trip in the car, a trip for almost 1,000 miles. We had no sooner left and begun traveling out on the highway, when I realized something was strange about what was happening: Carolina was driving instead of me. Since I was the one who almost always drove when Carolina and I were in the car together, I found it particularly unusual that she should be in the driver's seat when we were heading out for such a long trip. At the same time, I was glad she was driving for a change, and I decided to just enjoy the ride and not say anything.
However my enjoyment was short-lived. As we sped down the highway, a truck raced by us going in the other direction. The strange thing was that as soon as the truck had passed by, the whole road changed. We were suddenly no longer on a four-lane highway, but on a narrow gravel road going through a forest. I was thoroughly perplexed. I couldn't understand how the road could just change like that. My perplexity and concern soon increased even more, because before I could say anything, I looked up ahead of us and saw that the road was covered with water and that we were headed right toward it. I screamed at Carolina to slow down and she stopped just before crashing into the water.
Now I was really alarmed. It just didn't seem natural for these kind of things to be happening. Suddenly it occurred to me: there was only one explanation: I must be dreaming.
As I thought about it, the feeling became a certainty. I thought I must have fallen asleep in the car as we had been riding along. However the realization that I was dreaming only seemed to compound my problem, because the only thing I wanted to do now was to wake up. But as I began thinking about waking up and started trying to force myself to awaken, I found I couldn't. I was trapped in my dream and I couldn't break out of it.
I then realized it might be possible for Carolina to wake me. I thought she must be sitting right beside me. If I could only get her attention, she could wake me up. I called out, "Carolina." No response. I called again, several times, but still no response. Then I realized what the problem must be: since I was dreaming, I was probably not actually making a sound which Carolina could hear. Yet I knew it was possible to make such a sound, because Carolina had told me before that I sometimes talked in my sleep.
Straining myself, trying to feel my lips actually moving, I called as loud as I could, "Carolina! Carolina! Carolina can you hear me?! Carolina!"
Finally I heard her say, "Shhh." I thought I must have screamed so loud I had almost caused her to wreck. But at least she had heard me.
