Dreams

Thom Dunn

We lucked out a lot in my childhood: like that time Joel Curran chopped a substantial tree down in Hinkley Woods. Instead of falling over it shot straight down into the ground in am instant, shot down luckily where none of us had been standing.

But luck had always been with Joel.....and skill also: I watched him toss seven magnets straight into the goal, a bike tire hung in front of my refrigerator. With that of course the refrigerator shot straight into the kitchen floor, harming no one but scaring the bejeezus out of us all. With that we began to exclaim how lucky we had been and how we couldn't depend much longer on luck much longer to save our youthful hides.

No, we had to take action or "Third time's a charm" we said. Jim Dunphy suggested we take down the tall pine in the back yard. Jan Elliott rigged a chain  saw and we retired behind the tall stump across the yard. This time the tree didn't stamp the ground---it fell and I, cowering, woke, remarking the irony. My friends of course disappeared altogether, to live now only in my memory.