When Dream Warns — Choosing Humans or Animals

Listening to Carol and Denise, two Jamaicans talking as I waited for the Doctor at Urgent Care yesterday.

“How is James doing?” Denise asked, massaging her shoulder-length braids that looked too tight.

“Still warning me to be careful because of his weird dream,” Carol said touching something on her cellphone.

“Didn’t he know that dreams don’t walk straight,” Denise said, staring at her, still massaging her scalp. “Everybody in Jamaica knows that.”

“I told him but he kept telling me to be careful,” she revealed.

“What happened?”

“He is in Jamaica, I am here. He dreamt that two of his neighbors, a mother and her daughter were attacking me. And he kept pulling me away from them,” Carol explained.

“Two attacking one is murder,” she said.

Carol shrugged her shoulders.

“Again, dreams don’t walk straight. You are here and he is there,” Denise refreshes her memory.

She nods, “That’s what I keep telling him.”

“Did you have an issue with them?”

She nods.

“Did he?”

Carol stared at Denise in deep thought, then said, as reality and understanding opened its door wider, “Damn, the birds he feeds!”

“They are against him feeding birds?”

The shock of realization on her face, she elaborates, “The original owner often sends mangoes and apples to our children. She was an angel and she built a coop for the birds. She died and no one fed them so James did to show thanks to her. The tenants would complain that the birds are pooping on their clothes when they wash them and hang them out to dry. Her daughter did nothing to remove them. She sold the property to the tenants.”

“And they got rid of the coop?” Denise cut in.

“He didn’t know. He went over there for something and realized that they destroyed the coop weeks ago,” she explained.

“But the birds didn’t leave because James fed them. They are there every morning like clockwork?” Denise said.

“That’s how pigeon works.”

“That’s how the human mind works too. Anywhere they get kindness and good intentions from, they will always go back there,” Denise reminds her

“Dogs and cats do that too,” Carol adds as her memory of feeding cats that didn’t quit rushed to the surface of her memory.

“That’s how life goes. So, what happened?” Denise inquired.

“Her brother-in-law is one of our tenants. She wanted a can of paint to open. She passed James at the front, went all the way to the back, and woke up her brother-in-law to ask him to open the paint for her. James said she would always ask him.”

“This time she didn’t. You are right. The dream is directed towards him, not you. He is the one who should be careful. He is still feeding the birds, right?”

“Yes, he is,” Carol answered her thoughts far away. “The birds are still there. They find places on, and under the roof to stay. Many of them stay in the trees that are on the property. She did cut down a few of them.”

“In the heat, they are cutting down trees!” Denise said in disgust. “Jamaica is hotter than hell and they are cutting down trees!

“She cut down a mango, apple, and one of the ackee trees,” Carol notified.

“She cuts down fruit trees!” Denise shouts. “She is not a good human,” Denise chastises.

“It’s her property,” Carol reminds her.

“James might have to ease back and stop feeding those birds,” Denise suggested.

“He said he doesn’t care. He is going to continue feeding them.”

“Well,” she relents. ‘It’s his funeral.”

“Say what!”

She grinned saying, “His dream is warning him. If he doesn’t listen, it’s his funeral!” she repeats.

In my culture, we know that ‘dreams don’t walk straight.’ We were raised to listen to our dreams. James is in a difficult spot. These birds are pooping on these people’s clothes when they wash them and hang them out in the sun to dry. God gave us dominion over animals. We are responsible for them.

This piece is non-fiction and is happening now.

What would you do if you were James? Who would you choose, humans or animals?

Write a prompt where you were forced to decide between humans or animals. Be innovative. Be real. Be creative. Be funny too.

If your heart could speak, what would it say?

God gave us dominion over animals.

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.