2.1 Isla de Los Varados

I reached Salt Waters in Point East rather known as Virile Waves to the surfers. Those waves roll half a mile from the shore reached by boat on small dinghies. A reef stretches from north around Point East halfway down south of the island. Point East is the closest point to the waves and the best spot to surf. This lagoon changes its colours from turquoise to brilliant blue, from deep green to translucent aqua blue in the sea of seven colours. The water in certain areas look crystal clear blending with the sandy beaches on one side and hues of coral reef on the other. White sandy beaches dominate the northern coast, palm trees and a tropical paradise. The Azul encircles a mile long beach from Point East towards Point North in a bight.

My friends were there at our usual spot. A bunch of weather-beaten guys and all crack to me. They focused on a cluster of schoolgirls doing a fire-fighting drill in the battery park. There were joggers, strollers, bikers, sports guys and mid-aged women working to lose weight. Some wore headscarves in a realisation of the rapid growth of radicalism in the Soleimani community since 9/11 – the day the world stood still.

That day, I was in my trivial cubicle at Huvafen when a friend called and asked if I was watching the telly. I said no and he told me to turn it on that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Then I switched on to CNN and they were broadcasting it live on TV. And while I was watching it live, a second plane flew into the south tower and hit at any time my time – 09:03 NY Time.

“How does it look?” I asked my friends.

“Look for yourself!” one of them responded, “We are out of cool! What about you?”

“Nothing!” I dropped a sigh observing the waves that never tire crushing on the rocks. The sun rose in the sky and it was breezy sweet September weather. It looked perfect for a ride. Waves subsided to a low medium and still consistent to catch a boomer, “Nice!” I uttered.

“I had a dream last night,” said Jokey throwing his smooth black hair aside.

“You did?”

“A bad dream. It’s doom and all hell broke loose! And it is the second time!”

“You are doomed!” cried Murry, shortest among us, “You’re living the dream!”

“I haven’t had a dream for ages,” muttered Half Tone, tallest of us, “I’m told only fools have dreams.”

“You start to dream as soon as you fall asleep,” explicated Asmr, the dream analyst, “We only remember a portion of our dream or nothing. Drop asleep in an airy place, let your windows open or on a beach, you’ll dream like heaven.”

“I always forget what I dream,” added Murry, “I jump up from bed quickly. I can’t even catch a good night sleep.”

“Describe your dream,” I asked Jokey.

“It was kind of bleak,” he began, “On top of flat earth rock, seeing death in the face, I was walking on the edge. We were gathered in a mass scale exodus, moving in a stampede, in torn clothes and half nude. I grabbed a rock trying to save my soul from dropping over the cliff. People hanging there but whose hands would pull them! Some dropped into the pit. Loose stones drop after every misstep.”

“Mi falda!”

“Get down into water and tell your dream!” said Asmr, “that will help you relieve from an evil or spell and particularly if you had a bad dream. Get rid of it!”

“How do you interpret his dream?” I asked him.

“A dream can be best understood by the person who had it. Dreams dig files stored in various anatomies and mix up in the subconscious mind and portray a very different picture. You sit back and try to associate things you see in your dream to things you know in the physical environment. It is called dream association.”

“Some say dreams are interpreted contrariwise, the opposite of what you see is true.”

“Not precisely,” said Asmr, “there are elements that hold some universal meaning to it and the mix up is rather more complex when you try to decode a dream. It is like seeing a button of your shirt on him and you might not notice it if you do not pay attention to detail.”

“I saw a dream like that last night,” I cried, “I saw a button hurriedly sewn on in a different colour. But what worries me is that I dream of going back to school all the time.”

“There is unfinished business. Dreams try to tell you what is missing,” Asmr advised, “You don’t jump up from bed as soon as you wake up. If you do you probably forget the dream. You lie back, close your eyes and try to recollect the whole scenario and grasp every detail.”

“I had a dream,” interrupted Simon the youngest holding a cigarette between his fingers and smoking like a grown-up, “I was making love to my big sister.”

“Oh crap! That is a nightmare!” Half Tone seized him and shook him, “I wish your dream comes true!”

“Dreams don’t have to come true,” voiced Asmr, “Dreams only tell us what to do and you have to work out the impossible, try to attain what you have failed or pick from where you left.”

“You hear that, Simon!” growled Half Tone, “You must try to make your dream come true.”

“I never heard that before,” said Jokey.