Mary Had a Little Lamb Whose Fleece Was White as Snow. The tune of the nursery rhyme opened my dream last night. It might be the oldest song that I know. Well, Baa Baa Black-Sheep is another candidate, or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, or even The Alphabet. It’s hard to tell. The last three songs all share the same tune and are easy to mix up.

Asleep in bed, I looked down upon a woman riding an ivory colt through the gates of a city of gold on a path paved with platinum. She was not more than thirteen years old. Two horsemen galloped by, and then a third.

She spoke.

“Little snow white lamb,” she moaned, nearly drowned out by the sound of hooves, “I’ve lost faith in God’s existence.”

No sooner had she spoken, I realized that she was cradling a lamb in her arms.

“My gown doesn’t fit me any longer. There’s only one explanation that I can think of… I must have stomach cancer. How could God let this happen to me?”

“Nonsense,” I laughed to myself. “You don’t have stomach cancer. You’re just pregnant.”

“I’d rather the problem be stomach cancer!” she cried honestly as if in answer. “I’m very young. I’m not yet married. And what if my mother should find out? She’d be angry, and think that I was making up a tale, since it happened in the city. God, don’t let them stone me before I even marry!”

I saw a broken shard of glass clutched in her right hand, and she gripped it so tightly that it drew blood. Three drops fell on the lamb’s coat–three rose red stains. The blood melted into the pelt like salt into water, and soon it was dyed completely scarlet, and then a shade of red so dark that it might as well have been black.

As if reading from a script, I recited, “How can you simultaneously say that you’ve lost faith in God’s existence, and then ask how God could let this happen to you, and then call on God for help?”

“What?”

“Never mind. I have no idea how I got here and the sun can’t normally talk, so I must be in a dream. Yes, that must be it. I’m David Vincent Kimel of Israel and Connecticut, and I’m in a dream! So this is what it feels like to be a star.”

March 25, 2011

Next Chapter April 19, 2011