| Dreams | |
January 11, 2016
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| In this country, there was a superstition (or custom) that if you dreamed certain objects the night of the 2nd of January, you would have good luck in the upcoming year. Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in this country, was the luckiest omen; a hawk was the second luckiest omen; and, eggplants were the third. This country's other strange new year's custom was selling lucky bags. Lucky bags were bags which contents inside were unknown to the customers. Department stores, boutiques, jewelry shops, sports shops, etc. sold these lucky bags on their first business day of the year. The contents were discounted from the original prices. Customers happily bought them without knowing what was inside. On this day, the 2nd of January, in front of this department store, there were a thousand customers waiting in line. The department store sold lucky bags and the 10 of the boxes had a special machine inside. The department store had asked one of the famous brain science professors whose specialty was 'effects to dreams' to create a special gadget for them. The department store announced that if you used this gadget (slept with the gadget underneath
He was one of the lucky 10 customers who bought the lucky bag with the gadget inside. Soon a TV crew came and interviewed him. He happily said, "I definitely will see Mt. Fuji!" At night, he went to bed earlier than usual and put the gadget under his pillow and closed his eyes. Soon he fell asleep. He was in a green house in the dream. In front of him, there were tomatoes, and next to them were cucumbers, and c He immediately closed his eyes, then went out without seeing anything else. Outside he was relieved. "I couldn't be satisfied with eggplants or its Bingo level." He could remember the instructions of the gadget. If he saw one of the three, his dream would finish at that moment. He started to walk. Soon, he realized that a bird was approaching him from a distance. He thought that it must be a hawk. He couldn't be satisfied with City Lottery level either. He closed his eyes. Soon a cackling voice of the bird passed over. He was relieved. He came to the downtown area. He asked one of the passengers, "Where can I see Mt. Fuji?" The guy looked at him but left without saying anything. He asked another person, but she acted the same as the first guy. "Maybe in this dream nobody can speak," he thought. He gave up and entered in the nearest tall building and went up to the roof. He looked around carefully but couldn't see Mt. Fuji. He was walking to look for a train station. At first he looked for a taxi or bus but he couldn't find any. He couldn't find a train station, either. He found a book store and bought a map. He rented a bicycle and started to pedal aiming for Mt. Fuji. He was impatient thinking about when his dream would end. He came to the country side again. By now, at this moment, he came to think that he would be satisfied with a hawk, or even eggplants. But, he couldn't see any of them this time. Suddenly there was a voice from the sky, "Why are you in such a hurry?" "What?" He stopped his bicycle. "Why are you in such a hurry?" the voice asked again. He asked, "Who are you?" The voice replied, "I'm nobody." He said, "I want to see Mt. Fuji. Do you know where I can see Mt. Fuji?" The voice said, "Are you asking me?" He said politely, "Could you possibly tell me the nearest place that I can see Mt. Fuji, if you don't mind?" The voice said, "Yes, I can; but, before that, why do you want to see Mt. Fuji?" He explained about the system. The voice said, "I think that your machine can't see what you don't know. For example, if you've never seen eggplants, how can the machine show you eggplants?" He was puzzled, "I don't understand what you would like to say." The voice said, "Your dreams are just your mental reflections. Your memories and your way of thinking." He said, "Are you saying that I can't see Mt. Fuji because I don't want to see it?" The voice said, "It's possible." He said, "No way! Everybody wants to be a millionaire." The voice said, "Do you really think so?" He replied yes. The voice continued, "Ok. In that case, I can tell you an amazing view point to see Mt. Fuji. Going there will be a little tough, though." Then, a sheet of paper fell down from the sky. It was a map. He thanked the voice, and started to pedal full power. He was pedaling fiercely saying repeatedly, "Millionaire, millionaire, millionaire." And when he came to the top of the hill that the map showed, suddenly the sight lay in front of him. There was Mt. Fuji in the distance. He forgot everything and kept looking at the beautiful mountain for a while. He woke up. He felt a strange feeling. He thought about the voice in the dream. "The voice said I can't see what I don't know. Was the voice a reflection of my inner voice, too?" He wanted to dream again, but the gadget worked only one time. After all, he didn't buy a lottery ticket yet. He was thinking whether he thought the lottery was really important or not. He had a whole year in front of him. He didn't need to be in a rush. |
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*superstition :a belief that things such as magic or luck have the power to affect your life (Macmillan)
*omen :a sign that you believe shows whether good or bad things will happen in the future (M)
*cackle :when a chicken cackles, it makes a loud unpleasant sound (L)