Visitations in the Night

This is our mother, Sarah Jo Barron, in about 1985.
This is our mother, Sarah Jo Barron, in about 1985.

Dream: My sister and I are visiting Mom and Dad in Florida (Mom and Dad are dead, for those who didn’t know). They have added a second story onto the house. During the night, a thunderstorm passes through. We are surprised about the level of damage we see in the morning, especially a red garden shed that was picked up from a neighbor’s house and deposited in the front yard. Nicole and Dad leave for work, but when Mom says she is staying home to clean up the mess, I agree to help, saying, “Today, I’ll be retired with you.”

Dream: At a traffic light I look over to see Ann Kelley (who is also dead) in her car. Her hair is much darker than she ever kept it. Our eyes meet and we don’t initially speak. Instead, tears fill her eyes.

“You can’t be here,” I say.

“I know,” she replies.

We then agree to pull over in a parking lot so we can visit, but when we do so, her driving is evasive, and I am concerned I won’t get to talk to her. Finally we find a spot to park. I get out and stop about eight feet away from her. We don’t speak. There is a sad look on her face. When I move forward to put my arms around her, she pulls away.

Dream: I drive a scooter across Oklahoma City to apply for a photography job at Bedford Cameras. I am 45 minutes early, so the manager tried to send me away, but the photographer who wants to hire me interrupts and takes me to back of the store. He has a huge cold sore in the corner of his mouth. He shows me a large storage room, paneled and full of houseplants. “So, do you want the job?” I ask him what kind of photography I will be doing, but he doesn’t answer and leaves me alone to decide.

Ann Kelley and I pose in the mirror in her home in Shawnee, Christmas 2001.
Ann Kelley and I pose in the mirror in her home in Shawnee, Christmas 2001.

1 Comment

  1. I love it when they come see us like saying hey part of me is still in here…it is in you!

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