Dream of: 26 April 1997 "Kentucky Cemetery"
I was riding in a car being driven by my grandfather Liston through green hills on a winding asphalt Kentucky road. Other family members were also in the car – my mother, my sister, a brother – as well as my pet Dalmatians Chaucer and Picasso. My mother (and perhaps my sister) had been living with me in Texas. It seemed strange that at my age I should still be living with my mother, but the older I became, the more acceptable living with her seemed to become. At this point in my life, I might as well live with her as anybody. I thought about how both my mother and my sister were aware that I wrote my dreams. I had been writing for so long, yet I had never published anything. Nevertheless, I felt my dream-writing was bringing me closer to something.
I also thought about how long it had been seen I had seen grandpa; I felt young and happy to see him again. We had visited the interior of the bluegrass state and now were retracing our route back to Ohio. A white-steepled frame church was sitting atop a small hillock beside the road just ahead of us. I remembered having seen the church earlier in the day when we had passed it going in the other direction. And I also remembered that I had asked grandpa if we could stop and visit the cemetery. Now I asked again and this time he slowed down; but he missed the turn-off. Fortunately, there was a second entrance, and he pulled up the little lane to the cemetery.
As our car crawled by the graveyard's staunch gray monuments I felt so happy with expectation of looking at large gray tombstones in the beautiful grassy cemetery. I especially liked to go to graveyards where my ancestors were buried. I didn't think any of my relatives were buried here, but there were some particular names which I wanted to look for: specifically "Evans" and "Williams." I had recently been watching a movie which had been set in Wales (The Englishman Who Went Up A Mountain And Came Down A Hill), and I had been intrigued by the movie's mentioning that many Welsh were named "Evans" and "Williams." I had recalled that the county where I had been born (Gallia County, Ohio) had been the home of a large settlement of Welsh in the county's early years. And I also knew many "Evans" and "Williams" lived in Gallia County, although (before seeing the movie) I had never tied the two names to Welsh. All of this particularly interested me because one of my great-grandmothers on my mother's side had been named "Williams." Thus it appeared to be a distinct possibility that I had Welsh blood in me.
It didn't matter to me that we were in Kentucky, and not in Ohio. I also had roots in Kentucky, since my father came from Kentucky. So even though I might not find any Welsh names in this particular cemetery, it was still going to be interesting for me to look at the names on the gravestones.
When we stopped our car, I could see that a funeral was taking place at one end of the cemetery. The funeral reminded me of the one I had attended for my grandmother Mabel.
As soon as I opened the door, Picasso and Chaucer jumped out. I was worried about their running loose, especially when I saw two other dogs on the leash. But then I noticed two other Dalmatians running loose in the cemetery, and finally I realized five or six other dogs were running loose. Nevertheless, when a little girl walked up to Chaucer, and Chaucer put his muzzle right in her face, I had to push him away.
Finally, I saw a fellow in white tee shirt and blue jeans kick a large brown short-haired dog; the dog appeared to be injured and lay on the ground. I was uncertain of the size of the man; but his action had made me angry, and I walked over to him to confront him.
Copyright 2001 by luciddreamer2k@gmail.com
