To Interpret the Fruit of a Dream

Her dreams were always more vivid in Autumn, and she deduced that it was from the daytime comforts of taking in the vivid hues of orange and red in the decor that she displayed in the front window of her little downtown bookstore. She loved to create seasonal themes for her merchandise; it was one of the best parts of being a business owner. However, the red and green of Christmas nor the gold and pink of wedding season held her mind as much as the upcoming Halloween season. The little bowls of candy mixed through faux leaves smelled like fresh costumes and plastic, whimsical playtime.

When Daphne had gone to sleep the night before, she'd curled up beside her significant other, her fingers twirling into his long beard as she whispered wishes for more pleasant dreams during the upcoming night. Lately, all visions of the dark had been startling and frustrating, beginning her days with a melancholy outlook.

Paul kissed her forehead gently.

"Just think of me, and you'll be safe in your dreams tonight."

When she awoke, she began the gloomy September day with a smile bright enough to replace the missing sunrise. Her fingers returned to twirling through his coarse, graying facial hair as her tickles and scratches stirred him gently from his slumber.

His lips barely parted, his sleepy, deep voice grumbling out vague formation of the words, "Did you sleep better, sweetie?"

"I did."

The long pause concerned him as she continued to twirl sections of his beard into little twists.

"So...that means no bad dreams, then?"

"Mhm."

"Mkay." Paul yawned, his jaw trembling as his arms stretched upward toward the head board. Through the end of his yawn, he forced out the question, "Do I get to know what you dreamed about?"

"It was...a little weird, to say the least."

He chuckled.

"You've always been a little weird." His finger tip brushed the tip of her nose, making it scrunch in reaction as she rolled onto her back and gazed at the white ceiling.

"Well then this had to be pretty weird if it was weird enough for me to say it's weird."

"Fair enough. What weirdness was there?"

"I think I must have been in California or something. It sure didn't look like any place around here, anyway, and the bright gold sun and the look of the land reminded me of movies we've seen set in Cali." Daphne paused, trying to pull every last detail from memory, knowing each aspect had importance. "I was visiting some sort of pear tree farm, kinda like Jacob's Apple Orchard a few miles away except it was pears instead of apples."

Paul smirked. "I understood."

"An-y-way," Daphne stated in slow syllables with slight undertones of irritation for being cut off in her attempt to over-explain. "I walked down a row of trees, and on one side there were really pretty, green pears, but on the other there were reddish pears. Then I saw my Grandpa, but he wasn't as old as he'd been when he died."

Her brow furrowed as she fought to retain images from the dream vision.

"He told me to pick a pear, but I didn't really want to choose between red or green, so I grabbed a red one first and a green one second. Grandpa chuckled and told me I never was very good at making decisions..."

"Clearly he knew you well."

"Will you stawwwwp?!" Daphne nudged Paul with her elbow as he chuckled. "I know, I get it, I'm indecisive. AN-Y-WAY, he asked which one I wanted first, and I said I wanted the red one. He asked why, and I said the red made me think of Fall and Halloween. Grandpa told me he remembered when I dressed up like a Pilgrim and how mad I'd been at my mom for it because it was mostly her idea, and how I spent so much time telling him that I never got to make decisions for myself so that was why I was indecisive."

Paul nodded and Daphne waited to make sure the little jabs were done for now.

"So," Daphne continued slowly, "he suggested I take a bite of the red pear first, and I did. It was more like an apple than a pear, but you could tell it was still a pear. I mean, the shape is pear-shaped and all, of course."

"Of course." Paul agreed with a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Grandpa asked what I liked about it, and I said I liked that it was sort of deceiving because you expect a total pear taste but you get a mix of apple in, too."

"So you like being deceived?"

"Noooo. I like that you have to taste it to know the truth and you can't make assumptions based on the outside. I mean, it's reddish colored like an apple, but you wouldn't expect an apple texture from a pear. You know, don't judge a book by its cover, and I would be the expert on that since I run a bookstore. Then he asked me to try the green pear, which I did, and it was good but it was exactly what I expected."

"Then, Grandpa asked me which one was better, and I told him I couldn't really pick one because they both had great reasons to be enjoyable and it wasn't fair to have to prioritize."

Paul stroked Daphne's hand laying beside his as he looked over to watch her expressions as she continued explaining another odd dream.

"Sounds like you."

"Yep." Her tone perked up proudly. "Grandpa pointed out that I still picked the red one first though, so I told him I did that because it was a little different. I like things that are different and I'm not used to seeing red colored pears. So he said that it must be a preference if it came first. I asked him if Grandma was his first choice in a partner and he said no, so I pointed out that the first choice isn't always the preferred one."

"Argumentative in your dreams too, sweetie?"

She proudly smirked. "Then Grandpa nodded and said I was ready to have both if I needed both, and I woke up."

"Interesting. Any idea what it means?" Paul had heard Daphne theorize her dreams a thousand times and right as he finished asking her to consider the elements of the night time images, the alarm went off.

"I have to go! The shop opens in an hour!" Daphne hopped out of bed and began scrambling through the closet for an appropriate, cool outfit for a day with no sunshine, chattering along the way. "I'm not really sure about the dream though, I mean obviously me and Grandpa were close when I was little but it's not like we ever shared pears or any fruit in particular together. I don't know anything about pear trees."

"Benefits to owning a bookstore, love. You can just check your books for some information."

"Already planned on it," Daphne replied proudly as she turned and smoothed out her brown tunic that laid over her red paisley printed leggings and mid-calf brown boots. "How do I look?"

"Like a pear tree?"

"Very cute." Daphne rushed over, pecked Paul on the lips, and rushed out the door. "I love you, Paul!"

"I love you too, Daph." Daphne had a thing about the phrase containing the word "I" as she had explained it very thoroughly to him once before: you can blurt out a quick casual "love you" to just about anyone and it doesn't have to be weird, but if you are in love, you should emphasize your role in the romance.

With that, she walked the two blocks from their small apartment to her book shop downtown, unlocking the door frantically. She wanted to get inside and prepare to open in plenty of time so she could sit and review a book about dream interpretations.

Once a thorough count of money and daily paperwork was completed, Daphne turned on her single-serve coffeemaker available for customers and began brewing a strongly caffeinated hot drink for her reading session. When the coffee scent hit her nostrils, it created an unexpectedly violent reaction in her stomach. She rushed out of the front room of the store back to her office, gagging loudly, embarrassing herself with how strong of a reaction she was having to something she had every single day. She grabbed a mint from her little candy dish on her desk and popped it in her mouth, breathing slowly as the flavor eased away the need to hurl.

"And I didn't even have breakfast," Daphne mumbled to herself as she looked at the clock and realized it was just a few minutes until opening time. "Ah, damn!"

It was only a few minutes early, but she walked to the storefront and held her breath, shutting off the coffeemaker before unlocking the front door. The cash register was midway through the little store and she headed straight for it, taking a seat on the bar stool she kept behind the counter and pulling out her phone to shoot Paul a text about her sudden coffee aversion.

The collection of bells and baubles on the doorknob made cute little tinkling noises as the door opened. Daphne raised her head to greet her customer, only to catch her boyfriend's brother's face instead of a book addicted stranger.

"Oh, hey Mark! Did Little Mark get my book?"

He shook his head no, barely containing a big smile. "I didn't give it to Little Mark yet."

"Why not?! I wrote it for him!"

"Well, an opportunity came up. I gave it to an old friend I ran into at the cider shop at the orchard; he's an agent, Daph."

Her green eyes widened in amazement. "An agent? Oh, no, Mark, I appreciate that but I only write for fun. I wasn't trying...it's not even that good."

"He said he thinks it could be the next major bestseller for young adults, Daph! He barely even looked at the cover before his eyes lit up!"

"I mean, that's great, but you have to look beyond the cover..."

"Look, I gotta go, but if you can get me another copy of it so Little Mark can have one before you're famous, that would rock. I gave my friend your number so answer calls from unknown numbers, I'm serious Daph, he's doing us both a big favor. See ya!" Mark hauled out of the door before Daphne had a chance to properly scold, and she mentally noted the tangent she intended to have on Paul regarding his brother's audacity.

The streets remained empty that morning, so Daphne went to her New Age section to select the dream interpretation book she liked the most and sped through to the Table of Contents to find the section for symbols starting with the letter P. It took little time to find what she was after:

Pears can have both positive and negative symbols in dreams, depending upon how the pears are involved. To ingest a pear in a dream suggests fertility in some mythologies. To dream of pears when it is not pear season comes with financial woes and personal difficulties, but to dream of them during pear season denotes growth in finances and comfort in income. Pears that sit on a table may suggest surprises coming up, where pears in a basket suggests an inheritance of property.

The sweetness of the pear flavor often ties the symbol to a favorable romance, partnership, or marriage. The presence of fruitful pear trees in a dream suggests the dreamer is looking upon their hard work coming full circle with well deserved rewards...

Daphne took a slow, deep breath in, and released it on the count of five as she tried to cease the spinning sensation that was overcoming her equilibrium. She gazed steadily out the bookstore window as the sun began to peak through the clouds, taking in the beauty of the world around her in a different way. Everything suddenly made sense.

She calmly picked up her cell phone and made a call.

"Paul? I think I'm gonna be famous...and pregnant."

***

Special thanks to WeKnowYourDreams.com for the research assistance in pear dreams!