The Artist

It is rare that I have a dream that can be turned into a book or movie. This morning I had one of those. I dreamed I was in love with a handsome man who was older than me. I was about sixteen. Unfortunately, he was in love with my older sister and she was on drugs.  I went into the living room and they were having a fight. He caught her holding a big bottle of pills after she told him she had quit.  He grabbed the pills and set them on the end table. I was afraid they would wake up my father and he would come running in and find the pills too, so I grabbed the bottle when they weren't looking and hid it in the couch cushions. A while later I was sitting on the couch next to him.  I looked into his eyes and said, "You know I love you." And he sighed and said, "Yes I know."  Now I was the good sister who didn't do drugs.  And he chose her. My heart ached.

Fast forward to a night in an alley.  Somehow we were all working in an industrial area at night helping a restaurant pack things for shipping. And that handsome guy was there in the alley. So we were joking around and he turned and walked down the side of the building and I was following.  Then I stopped and walked away, expecting him to follow me back.  And I heard male footsteps, so I turned around and smiled, but it wasn't him at all.  Just a man who looked at me funny and turned and walked away. I yelled out, "Sorry I thought you were someone else." So I raced down the side of the building in the dark and 2 men are running towards me. They start to scale the wall. I hear more men coming.  I look at the man on the wall and he says, "What did you see." I yell back, "I didn't see anything."  He yells, "Get out of here." And I did.

Eventually I went around the other end of the industrial park and into the dark alley behind the buildings, searching for a place to hide if I had to. My love was nowhere to be found. I turned to go and a homeless guy walked by.  "Find anything?" he said.  "Nothing." I said.  "But good luck."

Years passed. I was still working in the industrial park.  Someone yelled out that someone at the job had something to give us, so my sister and I walked over. I thought the woman was holding two awards, but they were 3 dimensional books that came for us.  And they were the art of the guy we were both in love with. I was happy because it proved he was still alive. Somehow he'd made it big after that night he had disappeared.

Kind of a bitter sweet ending don't you think?

F.Z. Harper @2014