Last Night's Dream

*
I am running across a limitless cow pasture, past crouching thorny shrubs and sunken, rocky molars. I can feel the hot breeze on my cheeks and ears, and hear the droning –reeeeeeee- of crickets in the weeds as I rush past. I inhale a deep draught of the air, and I can smell the fresh, wet scent of hay, newly cut in a nearby field. Ahead, the country becomes hilly and uneven, and in the distance, I can see more pasture, wavering and hazy in the chromium June sunshine.

I approach a steep hilltop, and my view broadens; far below, Holstein cows graze in slow motion. A rusted trough brimming forever with mineral springwater is pressed into the center of the valley like a blue jellybean by some giant, unknown thumb.

I reach the peak of the high hill, and I leap, with one jeans-clad leg stretched in front of me to make the biggest long-jump in Olympic history, and the other sneakered toe pushing deep into the soft soil for traction. I leave the Earth with such muscular ease, I gasp in surprise, and now I’m flying over the land I left behind, soaring higher and faster, with my maniac’s grin stretching so wide and so hard my face hurts. I accelerate effortlessly through the air and aim my fists ahead of me in the legendary way, and I whoop with pure joy as my pants flap and my ears roar in this most amazing of moments. Below, the plump cows stare up at me in dumb, bovine wonder as their heavy jaws crush and squash soaking mouthfuls of plentiful grass. Their expression causes me to laugh rolling, spontaneous laughter – they will never experience such a thrill in their entire long and dim lives. This experience is for me alone. My glistering, excited saliva spackles my cheek as I turn my face back up to the sky.

Far away, the burning dime of the sun has only begun its descent into the west, and I know if I fly hard enough, it will never go down. I reach deep inside, and I sense an incredible force responding to my will, a power I instinctively know will propel me as fast as I want to. I open the tap all the way, and I just can’t stop laughing. I will catch the sun.