Dream of: 21 September "Regrettable Tragedy"
I was driving a car through a prosperous residential area; Carolina was sitting with me in the front passenger seat. Abruptly I had to slam on the brakes and swerve to my left into the other lane – a boy had been lying in the street right in front of me. He had looked as if he were 13 or 14 years old and was wearing a white shirt. He had been lying on his side, with his arm bent at the elbow and propping up his head, looking straight at me as I had approached him.
After I had passed him and continued driving down the street, I reflected how the boy hadn't moved and had simply stared at me as I had approached him. Suddenly I realized what was happening – I blurted out to Carolina that the boy was trying to commit suicide.
I immediately looked for a place to turn around and go back. I had already traveled a block and a half from the boy and I anxiously hoped I hadn't waited too long. I pulled into a driveway on the left side of the road. Only when I had entered the driveway did I realize how steep it was, almost perpendicular, leading down to a garage and a red car parked at the bottom. I gingerly backed up the car into the street and headed back in the direction of the boy.
After traveling a block I could see that something had happened up ahead in the vicinity of where I had seen the boy lying – cars were parked all around and some cars appeared to have wrecked. I had to park almost a half block from the scene. I stopped the car, jumped out and sprinted toward the chaos. Carolina followed.
The site was in confusion. Clearly the boy and been hit and killed. His body had already been removed. Evidently several cars had been involved – wreckage of different cars was piled all around. A woman (apparently the boy's mother) was moaning lugubriously – a long "Ohhhhhhhhh........." Another woman who was also moaning seemed to be in shock; she apparently had been driving the unfortunate car which had struck the boy. I wanted to console her and counsel her that the accident hadn't been her fault, that the boy had been trying to commit suicide.
A camera crew and police were already on the scene, but they also seemed confused. Carolina, meanwhile, had made herself available to the camera crew and was preparing to narrate what she had witnessed. The police seemed to suddenly focus on Carolina; apparently they thought she could explain what had happened. She was given some headphones and some dark glasses. I told her to take off the glasses, that they didn't look good on her; but she kept them on anyway.
The interview began; someone began asking Carolina questions. But almost immediately the police threw up their hands in dismay and stopped the interview. Apparently Carolina had said something disturbing which the police didn't want to hear. The news crew took back the glasses and the headphones and Carolina walked over to me. I was still unsure why the interview had been cancelled.
I didn't see much else that we could do here. Still stunned, I regretted that I hadn't been able to do something to stop this tragedy.
Copyright 2003 by luciddreamer2k@gmail.com
