Hippy Dreams

Mr. Kimbal, CEO of Lysing Enterprises, (which was one of the largest software companies in the world), tossed and turned in his troubled sleep.

The trees in his dream were grasping, tearing, pulling at him…trying to yank him into whatever depths they grew from. The silver moonlight struggled to pierce the trees' canopy of darkness but only was able to cast tiny slivers that dappled the mossy forest ground. His breath in his dream became ragged and harsh; he ran and ran, but never seemed to really be making any headway.

Finally the forest fell away and he was trotting down a narrow dirt road. He slowed to a stop and looked around; judging by the golden light up the path that there was a city up ahead. He felt a relaxing warmth in his chest and he grinned in his dream…soon he would be home.

Again he had picked his pace up to a trot and traversed the path, swirls of dust in his wake. However, when he was close to the city’s glow from beyond a small hill, it wasn’t the sprawling city with it’s skyscrapers and smoggy air that he beheld, but a sunlit day in which coupled persons were lounging on a white, clean beach…clear, blue waves caressing the sand and then rolling away. He found himself barefoot and strode among the people, the sand difficult to walk through and he found in his heart that disappointment stabbed in wake of his receding happiness. With a shock he realized that the couples were of women-with-women and men-with-men! The lovers on the beach were lost in each other’s eyes and simply laid naked in each others arms, heedless of Mr. Kimbal walking among them shocked and revolted.

Mr. Kimbal broke out into a run, sliding and stumbling in the sugary sand. His heart began to pound again and he was having trouble breathing…finally for some reason, he found the ocean in front of him and he frantically jumped in and swam with hard swift strokes towards the horizon. Soon he began to tire and his leadened arms and legs would no longer move. He gulped air before sinking to the bottom.

On his way down, as a thin trail of silvery bubbles streaming from his nose, a shape swam in the distance, large and horrible. He had felt no panic as the water had closed over his head but seeing this apparition sent him into a new frenzy…futilely he found a last bit of strength and tried to swim away but the shape glided towards him.

In terror, Mr. Kimbal watched as what he saw was now a gigantic bluish-gray whale peer intently at him through one huge and dark eye. Playfully, the whale nosed him and blew bubbles through its blowhole. He heard it’s song in his head and his heart and he felt his fear wash away. He reached out and touched its slick rubbery skin as the whale turned its smile to him and glided upside down, like a dog waiting to have its belly rubbed. The skin here was softer and slippery, and Mr. Kimbal in his dream, swore that the whale purred.

Moments later, Mr. Kimbal was riding the whale back to the beach. Here he slid off and swam the remainder of the way with no trouble. With a joyful spout, the whale sank back below the surface of the water and Mr. Kimbal was left on the shore, sinking in the sand which squeezed out between his toes with a good yet funny feeling. The couples on the beach still there and lounging with one another…yet this time Mr. Kimbal didn’t just see the gender of these people, but saw the love, trust, and very real caring that these people had for one another. As he strode among them, there was no disgust. He smiled at them and they smiled briefly in return before looked back into the eyes of their partner. He strode up the hill and along the dirt path back to the forest. Now it didn’t look so malevolent, but it seemed to greet him and the moss and loam under his feet felt good and welcome. The branches parted for him, the leaves tickling his cheek. He strode back from where he came, happy and somehow more content that he had felt in all his years.