The Red Heeler

Written on 03.06.2010

On my first night here I had the most horrific dream I can recall – and I’ve had some doozies! It wasn’t the subject matter that frightened me, but the fact that as part of the dream I woke from the dream, only to find that it was all true.

It was 3:34am when I went back to sleep after being woken by thirst, I had a sip of water and promptly went back into my drug induced sleep. I fell into a dream about a dystopian version of this hospital. Tina, my elderly temporary room-mate and I spoke about the disgusting state of the place and made note of the vermin creeping around the adjoining room. We were joined by my cat Lester, Lester chased after the said vermin and Tina and I followed him outside. It was night time and the garden was eerily landscaped, the deciduous trees were thick trunked and bare, the grass appeared black, but it was mostly dirt. There was not any other hint of life to be seen. By time we caught up to Lester he had caught the rat but he had turned into a red heeler (dog) and started talking to me about the poor state of the hospital. Terrified by the fact that my cat had turned into a dog and was now talking to me I concluded that this was a dream and I woke up in my hospital bed. The time was 3:35am – only one minute after I had last seen the time! I looked around but I was still in this dystopian hospital, the cat-dog was nearby speaking with Tina. Terrified that I was truly mad I asked Tina if she really could hear the cat-dog or if we were both mad. She could hear him just fine and everything was normal. I couldn’t figure out if I had lost my mind completely and this was my new reality, or if I had somehow been trapped in a frightening world where cats turn into talking dogs and one minute feels like 20 at least.

I was woken at 7:30am - for real this time - by the nurse informing me that breakfast was ready. There were no rats, talking dogs or dreary trees. I don’t love this hospital and I look forward to Saturday when lots of people are being discharged and I will get my own room, but at least I’m not mad enough to be talking to red heelers who used to be cats!