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A Tenant's Dream

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APT. 14

   You wake up in the middle of a room next to a telescope. After blinking twice, you notice that the floor is larger than the base of the most massive pyramid, and as you stand up inside the vast room, you lose your balance. When you step to your right to regain your balance, the entire floor tilts, just the slightest bit, accompanied by a loud whirring, as if many cogwheels had suddenly started turning. When you return to the exact center of the room, the floor returns to its original evenness. Ridges in the floor extend in each cardinal direction, at first appearing merely decorative. After you grow tired of standing in the middle, you take several steps, and the reason for the ridges becomes immediately clear. The floor tilts no matter which way you step, and the ridges become stairs that enable you to proceed downward or upward in whichever direction you choose.
   Then you notice a large, red button in the middle of each stair step. When you stamp down on one, the floor locks into position, enabling you to proceed either upward or downward. You find that it is easier and feels more natural to go downward, but the farther down you go, the more you experience primal instincts and desires, and after awhile, as you continue downward, you discover that you are attracting strange, unbalanced forces that grow darker and darker, so you return to the middle of the room, where you notice another red button under the telescope. When you step on that button, the floor returns to its original position.
   You decide to climb upward and discover that you keep heading into brighter light toward ethereal beings that are so advanced that you feel like an amoeba in comparison. Even so, when you are in their proximity, you manifest their higher energies, becoming more and more like an angel. You find that no matter which way you head, up or down, you enter a different vibration, a different order of existence, the knowledge of which separates you a little more from the rest of humanity, so you again head back to the middle of the room, where, finally, you discover the reason for the telescope: When you peer out of the massive windows into other rooms, you find that you can't locate any other people standing in the middle, no matter how long you search.

(You realize that you are still on the right path because near the telescope in the middle of the room you find an old wooden box with Chapter Five of Rooms that Dream....)

Pounding Stone: Bottom of Pine Flat Reservoir

in a Drought Year

ROOMS THAT DREAM: 

CHAPTER FIVE

   As soon as Peter stepped through the door, he found his mother talking on the phone.
   "Uh-oh," he thought as he rushed to his room.
   "Peter," she called, "I need to talk to you right now." She opened his door and peered in.
   "Yeah?"
   "I just got a call from our minister. He said that you were there with that man--that man I told you not to talk to anymore."
   "What? I’m not allowed to pray anymore?"
   She stepped into his room. "That’s not the point, and you know it. I explicitly told you not to talk to that man, and the first thing you do is go talk to him. Is he some kind of fanatic, or something? Is that why you like him?"
   "I like him because he’s helping me to develop spiritually, mentally and emotionally, if that’s what you mean," Peter retorted.
   "Look, I know that you’re more spiritually inclined than a lot of us. I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, but you have to be so careful these days. I would be happy to invite him over for dinner. Would you like that?"
   Peter suddenly imagined how his stepfather and brother might act at dinner. "No," he whispered.
   As though understanding Peter’s thoughts, she asked, "Then what can I do? How do I know that I can trust him?"
   "We’re just trying to think of different ways to help people. Can’t you at least trust me?" Peter asked.
   "Oh, all right. I just want you to tell me if anything strange happens. I want to know more about him. I’m only watching out for you, you know."
   "Yeah, I know. Thanks, Mom."
   Peter ran straight to Cashing’s apartment after pulling his pack of Tarot cards out of the garbage can. He decided to keep the pack with him wherever he went.    

   When Peter got to Cashing’s apartment, he blurted out, "The minister actually called my Mom. Can you believe that?"
   "Here’s to the few who don’t care what you do!" Cashing laughed, raising a glass.
   "I convinced my Mom that you’re okay. I can actually talk to you now."
   "Hallelujah! Come on in then," Cashing smiled.
   "My mom wants to know more about you, though. What can I tell her?"
   Cashing looked a little anxious. "Well, you don’t want to hear my life story, do you?"
   "Only the good stuff."
   "Your mom probably wants to know how I ended up in this dump. Well, believe it or not, I used to be a teacher. For many years, I taught several classes a semester at a community college. I was what they call an adjunct instructor. In other words, I only taught part-time. The college relies heavily on part-time teachers in order to avoid paying benefits or salaries. So I also worked as a substitute teacher. With those two jobs, I managed to scrape by."
   "Doesn’t sound too bad," Peter said.
   "Well, it wasn’t, actually. My schedule was flexible. I could write stories and music and be an activist. I actually decided that I didn’t want to teach full time. The conditions that teachers work in these days are deplorable."
   "What happened?"
   "I mentioned that I was an activist. Well, I wrote an opinion piece for the newspaper. It was one of many opinion pieces that I’ve published, but this was the first one that happened to mention that I was a teacher at a particular community college. I didn’t discover until two days before the next semester began that I had not been rehired. After twelve years of glowing evaluations from students and administrators, I suddenly discovered they didn’t want me to teach there anymore. They didn’t even bother to tell me--I had to call to find out why my name wasn’t mentioned in the schedule of courses. The irony is that I was at the top of my game as a teacher. In all modesty, I had never even imagined when I began that I could teach so effectively."
   "That sucks. Are you still a substitute?"
   "That’s the thing. I never obtained a teaching credential. I only had a master’s degree, so oddly enough the public school district wouldn’t hire me even though I had over sixteen years of experience teaching at a community college under my belt. Since I was never going to be hired full-time, I finally just decided to throw in the towel. I’m now living on a rapidly diminishing retirement fund, and I'll probably need to start subbing again pretty soon. This thirty percent raise in rent is certainly not helping any."
   "God, I know. My family is freakin’ out. Everyone’s been in a really bad mood lately. My mom keeps saying that you can’t trust anyone. My dad keeps pointing out that you can’t be weak in this world, and my brother keeps calling me a sissy. It’s depressing."
   "Maybe we should do that little meditation ritual for our landlord," Cashing laughed.
   "Couldn’t hoit," Peter said with an affected accent.
   "Oh, but you know what? I just remembered. I’m going to a meeting on the rent increase in a few minutes. We’ll have to do our little ritual later. You’re welcome to join us. It’s just me and a couple of others."
   "Naw. I’m not really political," Peter smiled.
   "Everything is political, my friend."
   "I thought everything is spiritual."
   "Okay, everything is political and spiritual. We just have a landlord who believes that one thing is more sacred than others."

Go on a different adventure.