Oleander - 1

A woman. She lives alone in her house. Right now she's gardening. She enjoys it. It keeps her mind occupied. She also likes to do her housekeeping every now and again.

She has one living relative. Her brother. He has a wife, two children, and five grandchildren. She doesn't like men very much but her brother is an exception. She enjoys his company. She also likes his elder son who has grown up to be very much like him. They come over every once in a while just to see how she's doing.

She dislikes computers. She found she wasn't very tech-savvy and got easily frustrated. Needless to say, it only lasted a week. Of course, that was back in '93. She hasn't had one since. She doesn't have a TV as she's heard too many bad things about them. She orders her food from a catalogue and she lives on government pension.

She had a pet a very long time ago. A dog, I believe. They went everywhere together and she recalls these years she had the dog as the happiest she's ever had. Unfortunately, as all things do, he passed on. She wouldn't get another dog because she didn't want to go through the grief of losing her best friend all over again. It was just too severe.

She doesn't talk much. She says hello to her neighbours every once in a while but that's about it. She would rather be left alone in peace. But it's not like she has trust issues or anything, she just likes the solitude.

She goes back into the house to take a nap in her bedroom. She dreams in black and white. She's been having a recurring dream lately. She's in a classroom. She's a kid again and the teacher has just said something to the class.

"Ms. Hodgkins, could you repeat what I just said?"

"Umm... uh..."

"Pay attention!" The teacher orders as she takes out a belt and straps her across the hand. The strap then transforms into a snake which bites her. She then sinks into the ground and lands in her living room.

She starts crying and her father comes in to comfort her. "Shhh, shhh," he says, "Don't worry, you did your best and besides, it will all work out in the end". His arms then encompass her small body in a hug. He sits down and continues talking to her. She doesn't know what he's saying but his voice comforts her. Her father appears to be getting farther away and he gets up fast and chases her trying to get her back, but the scene fades in front of her as everything becomes black.

She hears jeering, laughing, talking, insults and the like but she doesn't know where they are coming from. It is too dark to see anything. Suddenly a light appears above but the voices refuse to reveal themselves. She's more frightened than ever as she searches for the source of the light. As the voices get closer her feet come off the ground. She rises as they become closer still. Higher into the light she goes and she can almost see them - she wakes up.

She stares at the clock. 8:07 pm, time for dinner. She puts her Michelina's lasagna into the microwave and as she waits for it to cook, she wonders. What was that dream about? What does it all mean? Why? The microwave signals that it is done. She takes it to the dining room table to eat. She eats absent-mindedly, lost in thought.

She doesn't have much of an appetite, Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening she eats.

She goes down to the basement to dredge up an old dream book. She starts reading it looking for key elements from the recurring dream.

Child: To be a child suggests you are feeling the burdens of adulthood. You are trying to escape daily responsibility and are looking for someone to shield, protect and care for you.

Father: If you see your father in your dream, it symbolizes authority and protection. It suggests you need to be more self-reliant.

Snake: To see a snake or be bitten by one in your dream, signifies hidden fears and worries that are threatening you. Your dream may be alerting you to something in your waking life that you are not aware of or that has not yet surfaced.

Voices: To hear voices in your dream signifies a message from the unconscious or spiritual realm.

Fear: To dream that you feel fear indicates your achievements will not be as successful as you had anticipated. You are experiencing anxieties in various aspects of your life. The key to overcoming your fear is to discuss them and deal with -

Suddenly, she hears the phone ring. She gets up to answer it. She picks it up. She doesn't recognize the voice. "Who is this?" she asks. The man on the other line says that he is a mortician.

"H-has somebody died?" she swallows, anticipating the worst.

"I'm afraid so." the mortician says.

He speaks their name and with disbelief she asks "C-could you s-say that again?"

"I said that your brother, Martin Hodgkins, has passed on."

The color drained from her face. He waited for her to recover herself. She let go of the phone, left it hanging, and slid down the wall back first until she was sitting. Her eyes were full of tears and she let one pass. Her breathing became shallow as she put her head in her hands and shook her head saying "no, no, no, no, nooo..." A few minutes later she stopped crying and sighed and she ran what he said through her mind over and over until it made sense. She stood back up and put the phone back to her ear.

"How did it happen?" she demanded.

"Stroke" he replied, "probably went instantly."

"Oh." She looks disappointed, God knows why. Time goes by. She asks "There's something else, isn't there?"

"Well, I've been requested to read out part of his will to you. "It reads: And my sister, Grace Hodgkins, must come to my funeral."

"That's it?"

"That is it."

"When is the funeral?"

"This Saturday at 11."

"Okay." She says and then hangs up the phone.

She sits on the couch to think about it. She has a hard time believing that he's really dead. He looked healthy the last time she saw him which was just a week ago. She wonders how. She wonders if it just came or if it's been around for some time? If it's been around, he certainly didn't show it. He may have been hiding it from her. "Why would he do that?" she thought. "Wouldn't it have been easier to tell me? "What if he didn't know? If it did come suddenly, what caused it? Could it have been prevented?"
Her train of thought continues but it becomes increasingly frenzied until she experiences nausea. She then decides that she needs to rest. She didn't feel like walking herself all the way to her bedroom so she lies down on the couch and drifts off to dreamworld.