Gar (pseudo-nightmare)

I started off in a van, trying to catch a flight. I forgot everything I needed in another suitcase, which I had not brought with me. I was panicked and trying to phone people to help me, which I was sure I was going to miss my trip. Somehow, I either spent the night in the parking lot at the airport, or I drove back and returned. The flight no longer mattered for some reason. I think...there were nice people at the airport who helped me? I don't recall ever actually getting on the plane.

Then I was looking for fishing poles at a store. Dad and my sister were there, and a Japanese family. They were tourists, and we were in an odd version of my hometown. The poles were picked over, and I could feel mounting pressure from my family to hurry up and find a pole - they were going to make fun of me. I could feel anger welling up inside - it was important that I find a pole with a reel on it, and not a fly-fishing pole! I finally found an acceptable one, and told everyone to be quiet about it.

We drove behind the college to Lake Banet - but it was not Lake Banet. I've dreamt of this version of Lake Banet before - it's large and primordial.

"Tell them the story of the Horror," Dad said.

"Well, legend tells of the Horror, who has lived in this lake for over two-thousand years..." I began, getting out of the van. I took my pole to the sandy, foggy-water shore. There were no cattails or rushes, which did not strike me as odd. My plan was to catch a small fish to show the tourists. I cast my line into the water, and after a short time the bobber disappeared and made a fast beeline for the side shore. There were no rushes there, which was puzzling, but I started to reel in the line.  I thought for sure it was going to be a small bluegill or perhaps a small bass, but as I pulled the line in the shape of the fish grew larger and larger.

"Oh wow!" yelled Dad. "Look at that!"

I pulled an enormous gar to shore, taller than I was and fat. It was ancient - a prehistoric fish. It had no real fins, but was shaped like a giant eel, with aquamarine and green scales the color of recycled glass and as wide as my hand. As I pulled it in, I saw that my hook was embedded in its upper mouth.   I was relieved and happy about this - it meant that I could easily remove the hook and let the fish go. I twisted the line and brought the gar over to my family and the tourists, letting the fish swim lazily in front of them. It twisted against the hook, opening and closing its mouth in frustration. and everyone laughed nervously.

"Go ahead, you can touch it," Dad said.
"Just be careful of the scales - they're as sharp as razors," I added.  The tourists giggled and stroked the gar's side. Just then the gar twisted on the line again, and several of its scales stuck out from its body like broken glass. It rolled away like a crocodile and swam with the line towards me, and I had to back up. Suddenly I realized that I was being edged backwards, away from shore. I could still touch the bottom, but the gar fixed and eye on me and continued to twist towards me.

"Uh oh, looks like he's figured you out!" called Dad.

The gar got closer, and I tried to back away from the razor sharp scales. I formed a "u" around me as I waded backwards further into the cloudy golden waters...

***

I heard myself whimpering from far away.

I woke with a start at 5am, frightened.

I have dreamed of this lake before - I don't know if it's here in the blog (I believe it is), but in my dreams the lake is named after one near where I live, yet does not resemble the lake at all. Giant, dinosaur fish swim in it. The last time I dreamt of the lake, the waters were clear and I could see the giant fish in it - even then it made me uneasy to look at them. There were also small mud pots and small steam vents.  This time the waters were different - murky, but almost lit from within and golden in color like sand that has been upturned in a current.

If you don't know what a gar is - here is a picture. 

Perspectives

I was in a plane/spaceship, by myself. It was dimly lit, and the interior was small but not cramped. The ship was going down. I knew this because of the pitch of the ship, but there really weren't any good windows around me. There were screens and gauges, but I was in the back of the plane. As the ride grew bumpy, I made my way back to the impact harness, which was composed of heavy beanbags in a small floral print. As I strapped in, I texted my Dad that I loved him.

I realized, just before impact, that I could be in the cockpit trying to raise the nose so as not to crash headlong into the unknown, but I didn't move. Too late, I realized. I felt the plane hit something, and then the "camera" panned out and showed a field strewn with wreckage at the base of a low mountain range. I was looking through a window, still in part of the wreckage. I could see a river in front of me, and plains of tall grey/green grass. Mountains ringed the area, and around the river bend there were low sandstone bluffs. And there was alien life. I saw strange animals that looked like a mix between a coyote, badger, and maybe some sort of lynx or rat, moving up the banks.

I climbed out of the ship and onto the ground, and got out my phone. My battery was dying. I walked around a little ways until I met the aliens. They were smaller than I was, bipedal, and they had withered grey skin and deep set black eyes.

I don't remember what happened here - I met them, but then they went away and I kept exploring? Then we met again and they took me to their elder, who I identified as some sort of shaman.

When he saw my phone, he said, "Another one who wonders." I could understand him because there were subtitles under him when he spoke. I wanted to ask him what he meant, but I understood that he would not answer me. He led me along the sandstone bluffs and through the grasses to a height. I looked down and saw my spaceship in pieces, scattered and smoldering. My phone lit up to say I was connected to wifi, and I immediately started recording video. I sent it to Stephen, because I knew he'd send it on to the right people.

The aliens (who in-dream I began to compare to Native Americans), walked with me through the landscape. I never saw where they lived, but I saw strange shapes in the sky that were not always birds. Then, at one point, I saw three planes. They were not like any planes I've ever seen - they had wings, and propellers of some sort, but their elevators physically swished like fishes' tails. They moved in a military formation over the valley, and started shooting lasers at something over the ridge. I realized it was my ship, and I took off running.

When I got to where my ship should have been, there was nothing left except for a bit of wire and some circuits buried in the sand. I was more suspicious than angry. How did such advanced technology exist alongside such a pastoral landscape?

"They come and clean up all the proof," said the Shaman. "It is the way." I looked to the distance, and all at once I could see a city a long way away, full of red and black cylinder buildings. What puzzled me even more was that, in a hazy middle distance between where we stood on the hilltop and the city, the whole world disappeared. In front of me was a desk, covered with keyboards and screens. It looked like a tidy, but crowded, workstation, like something from a government agency. It was giant compared to me, except I thought it looked normal sized.

I had a realization - this whole alien world was small, and I was small on it. The desk - the workstation was either where I was and I had shrunk, or the workstation was giant and the rest of us were normal sized. These aliens did not realize that they were small, that their whole existence fit into a crevice in the corner of a workroom. I turned around and the alien world stretched out before me, seeming huge. How could the perspective be so different?


----


The dream moved on, with me leaving the aliens on a sort of journey to the city. I rode a railroad through another miniature time, this one vaguely Germanic with candles and homemade goods. At one point I was at a garden show, and Amy Poehler and Will Arnett were showing off their wagon full of flower pots.

I did not reach the city.