The Dream of
Caribou
Linny Eyepoket was frightened when she woke up and realized her mother had turned into a caribou.
“What the hell happened?” Linny questioned her mother.
“Well, I guess the dream I had last night might have something to do with it.”
“What did you dream?”
“I dreamt I was a caribou.”
Linny’s mother sat in her reclining chair watching the morning news. She was so big now and looked quite ridiculous sitting in the creaking, unstable chair. When she reached with her hoof to feel how big her antlers were, it was such a struggle for her, you could hear something pop loose from within the girth of the chair and you’d of thought that was it for that recliner.
Linny grew concerned about the chair and her mother’s situation. “I guess this is cause for me to stay home today. I was going to go into the office and work on the intake logs, but I would feel uneasy leaving you here alone like this.”
“No, no. You go on in to work,” Linny’s mother said, turning and making the recliner stretch to it’s limits, “Don’t let me spoil your busy schedule.”
“No. I disagree.”
After taking her morning shower, Linny prepared some hot cereal for her and her mother. “Oh, shoot! I forgot, you won’t even be able to use a spoon!”
“Just set it here on my table!”
Linny set the bowl of hot cereal on her mother’s table which was located next to the recliner. She watched as her mother dipped her large caribou head (or tried to) into the small bowl. She licked up portions of cereal into her large head, “Hmm, did you try something new, Linny?”
“Mom, it’s oatmeal. What else can you do with oatmeal besides add sweetener?”
“Hmm, it tastes different is all. It tastes… sweeter than usual. Linny, you know I like mine plain with no sweetener.”
“You know, mom, I’m really concerned about this situation. Maybe I should call for an ambulance.”
“Oh, Linny! Stop making this a bigger deal than it really is. You’re getting yourself all worked up over nothing. Honestly, you need to sit back and let life happen sometimes.”
“I should at least call the doctor, what’s her name again?”
“Linny, you know I haven’t been to the doctor in years, and I don’t plan on going now or anytime soon! Calm yourself down. You haven’t even touched your oatmeal. Eat.”
******
“Really, sir, I’m fine. It’s my daughter, sometimes she can be such a neurotic,” Linny’s mother explained while in the back of the ambulance getting her blood pressure taken. “I was just sitting in my recliner, eating some hot cereal, and then Linny, my daughter, disappears into the room and the next thing I know I’ve got the fire marshall knocking down my door and aiming a tranquilizer gun at my neck! I don’t need an explanation or an apology, I just would like to go back into my house, watch the morning news, and eat my oatmeal!”
“Your daughter mentioned something about a dream that may be responsible. Is this true, ma’am?” the emergency technician asked her.
“Yes and no. I had a dream, but it was nothing,” she replied. “If you want to know the truth, sir, it’s Linny, my daughter, who has the problem. She was just like me, and then she left home, went to some college far away and when she came back she wasn’t my Linny anymore!”
“I see,” the technician replied.
“At first we tried to ignore it, you know, avoid eye contact, uncomfortable topics during conversations, and whatnot. Linny just never realized what had happened to her, and then she takes a look at us and wonders what happened to us! She’s completely changed. I just don’t see the Linny that used to make my hot cereal without any sweetener anymore!”
“Maybe one day she will remember who she is,” the technician said to Linny’s mother, scratching his head with his hoof.
Linny’s mother sighs, “My oatmeal’s probably cold.”