April 9, 2009

A Journey Into the Future?

By Richard Senate

I work up out of a sound sleep. The dream was still fresh in my mind, but it was starting to fade into nothingness. There was a notebook and pen next to my bed, and I started to write down as much as I could remember of the things I saw in my dream state. It was so real that I almost thought it was a memory except for the fact it was set in the future. I had to wonder if it might have been a vision of a journey forward in time?

I recalled that I was on a train rolling smoothly, unlike our modern trains. It was dark out with only the stars in the sky. The inside of the train was more like that of an airliner than any trains I have seen. There were few people in the car and I had the sense that it was very late at night. I could feel the train slowing. I looked out the window and saw that the train was coming to a stop at a small station with a sign. It read "Lancaster, California." I was by myself in this dream and I had a small black bag with me. I got off the train and saw that my daughter, Sarah was waiting for me on the platform. She was older and had gained some weight I saw. She had with her a baby, who was perhaps two. He was wearing a stripped tee shirt and shorts. He had bushy red hair. Somehow I knew the name child was "Max," but I can't say if that was his nickname or real name. We hugged and then walked into a parking lot with modernistic lights. It was almost empty. My daughter led the way as I carried the baby. He seemed big for his age and a bit chubby.

We went to a dark car; I couldn't tell if it was black or navy blue. It had swept back lines, with a hatchback. It was odd in the fact there was a single seat in the front for the driver and room for three in the back seat. It didn't fly, but rolled on four Goodyear tires (It said "Goodyear" in six inch white letters on the tires). There was a name on the back of the car I couldn't read and under it, a familiar logo: "Ford."

As we walked my daughter was making small talk about her husband who was working someplace in the Far East. I took a seat as little Max was strapped into a built-in child's seat. As Sarah got behind the small wheel the dash board lit up. It almost looked like the cockpit of some sort of airplane. There were dials and small displays and three TV screens. Small cameras took the place of mirrors showing what was to the side and behind the car. She started the car and it came to life with a hum. The car moved smoothly along as were went down the dark, nearly deserted streets that were not too different from today.

It seems that my daughter needed supplies indicating that my trip had been sudden. She pulled into an all night market -- I recall seeing an illuminated sign that said "24." This was one of the strangest parts of my dream because it was a store without shopping carts. We walked into the market and there was a sleepy young man with a butch haircut. He handed us a sort of wand. It was like an oversized TV remote control with a small screen. I was holding little Max who was now asleep. The store was made up of items in glass-faced cubicles with lots of colorful pictures -- some with videos running of foods. They had free samples of things one could taste, chips and dips, freeze dried vegetables, and bits of cheese with bead. To buy things one just pointed the wand at the item and pushed a button. The name of the article you wanted to buy appeared on the display with how many you wanted. I noticed the cans were not round but square, but I couldn't tell if they were made of metal or a plastic. I noticed the eggs were in clear plastic boxes. After a turn through the store we turned in the wand to a clerk who then plugged the thing into a sort of computer. My daughter gave him a small thing I assumed was a credit card. Then, a trap door opened in the wall next to the clerk and it was our stuff, all neatly packed into two blue plastic crates. One of the clerks carried them out to the car where the hatchback opened to expose a great deal of room. There was an empty crate already in the car that the clerk took back with him.

We strapped in the baby, got in the car, and drove off. The car went down a double lane road in the desert and turned down a driveway. As we drew near the lights at the house came on. It was a strange low dome made out of some reddish material. There was a large door that opened and the car drove in. The first floor was a garage, the living quarters was on the second floor. We un-packed the car into a sort of dumb waiter that went to the kitchen and took stairs to the second floor. The kitchen was in the middle of the domed house. We put Max to bed in his room off the kitchen and I sat down as my daughter made me something to eat. I looked up and saw the ceiling was made of glass or a plastic of some sort. I could see the stars in the night's sky. It was then that I woke up.

Had I stepped forward in time a dozen years, or was it just a flight of fancy? It didn't depict a world of problems or anything I have seen in movies of the future. It was a world not that unlike our own and as such, perhaps a true image of things to come. It's a world I wouldn't mind living in. Time will tell if my dream was a vision of things that shall be or some fantasy from my imagination.

Richard Senate is a California-based author and lecturer and a regular contributor to Ghostvillage.com. His latest book, The Ghosts of California Missions, is available now. Visit his Web site at: www.ghost-stalker.com