Poisonous fungus at The Farm

[vaneramos]

I stood with bitterlawngnome at the edge of an elongated field, like an airstrip, with forest on all four sides. The sky was overcast and dark, as at twilight. A radio voice in my head announced, "?-brand bottled water is famous for its coldness."

"That's because of a fungus that grows around the springs where the water comes from," Bill said. "It produces a chemical that makes the water taste cold. It is actually a carcinogen."

He led me into the edge of the forest to a small cave and the spring in question. The darkness glittered faintly with crystals. He dug his fingers into mud and it came up glowing slightly. The chemical formula of the toxin appeared before my eyes. It included a lot of Ps and Cls.

"I can actually smell it," he said.

I was distracted by the darkness.

"I like being in places that are so dark you can't see anything, not even your hand moving in front of your face."

Bill pointed out that this place wasn't completely dark.

"But remember the place we slept once," I said. "That was dark." This referred somehow to camping at Amber Fox in October 2003. We were instantly transported back there, but instead of a tent, we stood in a covered pit in the ground, like one Neal and I built as teenagers.

"We're too close to the surface," Bill said. "Even here I can detect light."

I noticed a skylight made with a sheet of plastic over a square hole in the plywood that covered the pit. It was nighttime, and the sky remained overcast, but the window was still faintly visible, in fact the entire board glowed faintly.

Next we stood above ground in sunlight. This farm was not really Amber Fox. There was no Faerie type gathering, the place was laid out differently, and owned by a husband and wife. danthered and another unidentifiable man had joined us, and we were admiring Daniel's black '57 Chevy. The paint was a bit faded, but otherwise it appeared in good shape.

Bill and Daniel discussed going for food. The farm was supposed to be near Richmond Hill, and Yonge Street ran right to the edge of the property, a typical nightmare of plazas and fast-food joints. My friends departed without me, the car morphing into Daniel's red pickup. The countryside swallowed Yonge Street and the place became peaceful again.

The wife emerged from the farmhouse with two small children, and I started running with them in circles on the grass.

Comments

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

What a cool dream. It was fascinating to read about it.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I have never, that I can recall, been able to remember dialogue from dreams. It was rather remarkable.

[ubermunkey.livejournal.com]

"I started running with them in circles on the grass."

Of the entire dream this struck me most.

Lets throw it all away and run in circles of sheer abandon and bliss.

namaste
connor

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

That part of the dream was hard to put into words, too. It seems like a memory bubbled up from early, pre-verbal childhood.

Cheers.

[bearfinch.livejournal.com]

For a moment I didn't realise you were describing a dream, and I was puzzling over what carcinogenic chemical could cause a cold sensation.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

LOL

[leafshimmer.livejournal.com]

How fascinating. Even on nights with no Moon, I never think of nights at the Farm as dark. The stars, or residual glow in the sky from the direction of Perth on cloudy evenings, always create at least some ambient light there.

Of course, if I were in a covered pit below ground, it would probably be different...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

The night skies were clear and brilliant that weekend.

I don't know about Amber Fox, but overcast, moonless nights at the cottage are really that dark, because there are no nearby cities. You can wave your hand in front of your eyes and see absolutely nothing. It's like being deep underground.

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

woohoo. I R Hades.