“… I began to worry if Mom would have enough blood left in her…”
(Male)I dreamed of my Mother. We were in the country, a small provincial town, staying in a largely abandoned hotel. A package was delivered. It was a medium sized box wrapped in brown paper. The delivery girl cut open one of the flaps but she was extremely careless with the blade. She cut into my hand – a small but bloody wound. “Be careful, will you?” I warned but she just smiled a stupid grin. When she cut the long seam down the middle of the package, she sliced into my Mother’s arm, cutting her from wrist to the inside curve of her elbow. Deep red blood pulsed out. “It’s my infected arm” Mother mentioned, rather in shock. She was afraid that the cut meant that the infection would spread.
I helped her to the sink, a deep stainless steel bowl with a drain at the bottom. I turned on the water and tried washing away as much of the infected blood as possible. Then I began to worry if Mom would have enough blood left in her. She seemed to be shriveling up in my arms. “Maybe we should get someone to look at that.” We left the apartment, totally forgetting about the package. We made our way down to the deserted lobby. A few people appeared and started setting up for a party or a dance. One of the girls flirted with me as I carried Mom across the lobby. “We don’t usually get guys as interesting as you in town,” she said.
There were no cars whatsoever in this little town so Mom and I each got up on a horse. It’s been years since I rode but it felt like second nature. I was concerned that if we went too quickly, the up and down trotting motion would shake every last drop of blood from Mom’s arm so we proceeded very slowly. The streets were all blocked off for a parade so we took off across the pastures. I had no idea where we were headed.