pounded in my chest,
as the doors swung open.
Then I saw each of them. Each one
greeted us to the landing below.
Below...that's all I could think of...below.
A place somewhere below.
Here was a subterranean cavern beneath
the earths crust.
A hole where Alice's rabbit
might have gone.
The hole I suggested a while back.
No matter. This is where I was.
Lapis Blue.
For some reason that's the color that my minds eye sees appropriate for this page.
And Bluman being such a likable sort of fellow, I don't think he'd object to any color name I choose,
as long as it was in the family of blue.
Now let's bounce around in a frivolous sort of way. One look at Bluman, from this way or that and you'll
instantly think the thoughts that he's a carefree, gentle, good natured, genuine, good humored creature. That
he's light hearted, high spirited, with not a mean bone in his body, kind of creature.
That he's blue groomed from head to toe. All in all, he's one really, over the top sort of creature.
Just the sort of creature I needed to get me through any other obstacles I could face.
Just the kind of guy I always wished I could buddy up with. Just the soulful spirit I could praise God for
sending me, especially at this time of dreadful dreams and unwanted directions.
"Oh thank you Lord. Oh thank you God. For if I had to go another minute without another being to speak to
in this craziest of places, I surely would have gone mad and would never have survived."
But he is here and for the moment I was safe and almost eager to move in some new direction.
The second I saw what lay ahead, I grabbed hold of Bluman's elongated twisty fingers.
I felt a sort of security as his gentle hand allowed my hand wrap within his.
At least, I think he is a he, I can't really tell with all that fur all over him.
Of course he is a he, I think. It really doesn't matter to me at this point,
for all I know he could be a she he and it wouldn't bother me. With all of these weird creatures in this place,
some floating, some dredging along, some barely moving.
As I thought before, this was like a some movie poster in the front of a theater, come alive,
oh how I wish it were that.
That I'd open my eyes and all of this wouldn't be more than some horrid nightmare.
I'd wake with my head upon my pillow, tangled from head to toe in my rumpled sheets.
But that want was never going to happen. Not now, not later. So I held his hand tight and went into this
place that was no odder than the rest. In fact, it was damn near as odd as all of the rest.
Bluman looked left at me and gave me a kindly smile.
A smile that calmed me in an instant.
"Come meet my friends on this balcony. Oh come and meet my friends."
He continued in one of the most high pitch voices I had ever heard and he wore the
broadest grin I had ever seen as he said,
"These fine fellows and ladies mean you no harm
and certainly are not interested in the taste of your hands, or arms or belly in their bellies."
Bluman's words brought me some mild peace of mind, to actually think of walking amongst these
creatures as if all was normal and bright. Not a realistic group of thoughts at all.
From every angle I saw things that I should have run from. And the beasts roamed free.
I let Bluman lead my way meeting the first of these creatures on the balcony.
When I was a child I had an uncle who was close to seven feet tall, when he came over to visit it was like
meeting a giant from a circus or something. At first, I expected this uncle to take his giant hand and crush
mine like a bug. I used to stay clear of him, just because of his size. I would think, as he walked through the
rooms, ducking his high head as he went, "Their goes the tallest man I'll ever see.". I guess when your four
foot nine inches, having someone loom over you, a foot taller than everyone else in the room, would make
him seem like a monster in your eyes too.
So just like my uncle Jimmy, standing before me, this great massive being rose before me now. It was like
having the Empire state building, up, up and aboooovvvvveeeeeeeeeee.
This monster who struck fear in me, every time I saw his image in my mind, now gave his blank stare of
horror, his head was flat, he had bolts jutting out from left and the from right of his neck. His skin was the
color of some dead flesh. His scars weeped red. His eyes drooped with lids so tired from the reanimation of
his being. His total appearance struck fear in my heart.
I was face to face with the monster, from the ages of movies gone so long ago.
Bluman raised my hand and this creature raised his too, extending it in my direction.
"Friend GGGGOOOOOODDDD."
and from the corner of this monsters mouth came a little smile of acceptance.
I knew at once the danger was only in my minds vivid imagination.
I let my hand rise up to his and with that, the cold I expected to find in his touch was replaced with a humans
warmth. I looked up into his eyes and those dark heavy lids began to raise and show a tender side of him I
had only seen when he shared a smoke with a blind man, then let go of the monsters hand. I was ready and
almost eager to meet the others on this balcony.
I noticed sound coming from every direction, it was music playing, music from the sixties. A Bobby Pickett
tune, called the Monster Mash. How perfect it was for this place. It made me think of myself as the child
who loved to attach himself to those tunes coming from a single radio's speaker, tuned into Cousin Brucie on
the AM dial. Those were the days. When lemon ice was a nickel and penny candy was a penny, when I
could get a lousy cigarette at the local candy store for a nickel. Ah the fond memories now set in history, a
history my children will never know.
Then Bluman voice broke into my thoughts with a hoot and a howl.
"You've just gotta meet him! Oh you've just gotta meet him!"
And when the big man moved to the side for us to pass, ahead of us stood one funny and strange looking
creature, that ever was created for a monster flick. I call him the carrot creature and as far as I was
concerned that was a good enough name for him, no other description was needed. Like one of those
inventive creatures from the schlock movies of the fifties. I wish just one of those designers would be around
today, so they could create more of those ridiculous creatures.
So we could laugh at one of their silly creature designs.
So this flame red carrot head who stood, some ten feet in front of me, dropped one of his lobster arms in a
gesture, just like Frankie did, with warmth and genuine friendship. Let me tell you, shaking hands with a
lobster hand carrot creature never was high on my list of priorities. But to humor Bluman, I played along with
this hand of friendship. This creature also had a feeling of warmth to it, I never would have expected that
warmth in my wildest dreams.
And Bluman, eager for me to meet everyone, prodded me on.
We had to slither against the railing to get past this carrot creature, having no desire to rub hands with its
lobster like outer covering. The railing to our left overlooked a sight that shown like a cavern filled with fire,
which seemed as if they were the flames of Hell, with its fury and turbulence bolting up at us. Quickly, I
scurried past this orange creature and with a huff and a jolt I fell back to another fence. There I turned and
found a horrid jack in the box clown, I was sure I had seen on some web site, from my memory. I looked
directly into its eyes and was petrified with fear, its face had a menacing smile that leered back at me. I tried
to remember the clowns name but it totally escapes me, knowing how unimportant it was at this time. What I
did remember from some past dream is that this clowns game was pure terror.
I turned in Bluman's direction and scowled at him for taking me here,
"Bluman. I thought you said they were all your friends."
He looked at me with shame on his face, I could sense concern in his heart and a apologetic
frown on his face, a frown in some purplish pink color. His hair stood on end and he said,
"Bluman good. Bluman no introduce you to some bbbaaadddd friends.
Me only take you to gggoooddd friends." I looked at my blue friends face and said,
"OK. I can see that these familiar monsters are as you say "GGGOOODDD."
But what about that clown over there behind the fence and those flames just over the railing
and that spiral stair case riding right down to what seems like Hell itself."
Bluman pointed to the spiral staircase, held his head low and went on to say,
"But that is the way we must go. We must make a decision now.
You can try and wake but I tell you you'll only end up in this part of the dream again, so I say.
We should go forward, and do not wake, there really is no going back any more.
That's if you want to see the light of day again."
I looked at him almost in disbelief and said, striking back at him with my words,
"Now look Bluman are you bloomin' Bluman nuts."
Bluman stood his ground and swayed left then right, saying over and over,
"This is not Bluman's fault. This is your dream, not mine. I just helped you through it, because I am good and
you are good. Do you get it? Oh please do get it?"
and I said,
"Get it? No I don't get it. This is just as bad or even worse than the other choices I had to make.
Now you tell me, is Bluman truly my friend or not?"
Bluman walked right up to the circular stairwell and down into the fires below.
Before his head was totally immersed by the flames he looked down into the flames and up at me and said,
"Yes. Bluman is friend and Bluman always will be friend.
But Bluman does not know all good monsters, some are scary and some are bad.
Clowns, always are very bad. Very, very bad!"
Bluman paused, pondered with a serious look on his blue, blue face and said some thoughtful words
as his head was engulfed in the flames.
"Come see this place I'll show.
Come and see what you will see. Let Bluman lead the way."
By now, I trusted Bluman as much as I trusted myself. I really no choice in this matter. Going back was not
an option. Not an option, as far as I knew, I didn't have a clue how to get back to where I came from.
Trying to get past that clown again meant I would have to deal with the Clown terrors again
and this time without Bluman to lean on.
And no way did I want to deal with that.
So it was to Hell where we were bound.
And it was to Hell where we were going.
created
7/25/04
revised
on
7/13/06
content
page
Safety of Home
The Next Dream.