"What do you think of dreams?" Lacy asked. Her hands cupped around her wide mug like she was trying to keep warm around a fire
"I think people ought to be more realistic," he replied, took a sip of the
earl gray
Lacy had served. Funny he thought. Drinking
caffeine
this late. But it did taste and feel good. With coffee, it always felt like a vice if it weren't in the morning. But this tea felt right. He took another sip.
"No, silly. I meant what do you think about
dreams
that you have at night."
"Oh?" he said while glancing from the corner of his eye. His head was bent over for another sip of
tea
. After placing his mug down he took a breath. No answer from Lacy yet. She was still waiting on him. "Mmm, well. I don't know how to answer that."
She smiled and finally took the smallest of sips. That's when he noticed that her cup of was nearly full while his was one sip away from the bottom.
Lacy looked outside the window. The afternoon's gray light cast surprisingly bright against her smooth face. He didn't take his eyes off of her as she spoke.
"You know how usually you have a dream. And it feels so real? But as the days pass it begins to fade. The thing that used to feel so real becomes more faded than even a distant memory. It becomes like a book you read as a kid but never saw again after. It could've been your favorite book back then, but now. Now you can only remember the vaguest of details and the fact that it used to be your favorite."
She took another small sip. He waited to take his last sip, hoping that she might catch up to him soon so that he wouldn't look like he guzzled it down.
"I've been having some dreams over and over again. It's a bit different each time, but they happen in the same place. Don't you think it's remarkable that you hardly dream about the same location? They always happen to take place in various locations. Anyways, the first time I woke up from a dream that happened at 'this place' I was terrified of course. It was a
nightmare
. But because I knew it happened in a dream I wasn't so scared. I calmed down knowing that it would fade over time."
The sounds of the city -- sirens and engines off in the distance -- came in muffled through the glass they sat beside. She took another small sip. He pretended to take a sip. Let the now lukewarm tea touch his lips without swallowing any. He kept the mug in his hands, the top leaning towards him so that she wouldn't see how empty he was.
"A few days after that I had a dream in that same place. But this time it was like I woke up there. I've never had this feeling before. I've only felt that waking up feeling when I would actually be awake. The dreams although feeling real in the moment never provided me this transitory feeling of... okay... i have now arrived... here. So it was bizarre that I felt it while in that place. While dreaming. In that moment I would argue that I felt like my whole life had been a dream and wherever that place was was real life."
She sat there for a moment before turning to look at him.
"Does that make any sense?"
"I can imagine it."
"So you've never had such dreams?"
"I'm afraid not."
She smiled asked if he'd like some more tea? Told him it was caffeine free.
"That's just a flavor profile. It means its flavored with
bergamot
. This tea that we are drinking. Or should I say that I am drinking and you are guzzling like a horse. Is
rooibos
earl gray. A caffeine free herbal tea infused with bergamot oil," she had a smile on her face before she turned to go to the kitchen.
Lacy caught him off guard when she said in a louder voice so that he could hear her from the kitchen. "You shouldn't say you're afraid you haven't had dreams like mine. I would never wish these on my worst enemies."
He didn't know what to think. So he looked outside and stared out the window. Would it rain today again?