Visited by the Dreams

Chapter 16 - The Garden

The last storm of the season lingered for nearly a week, effectively confining Greg and Susan to the cave. Each emerged briefly each day to take care of their personal needs, though due to the intensity of the winds, they never lingered long. It did give them the opportunity to make a good deal more rope, which they knew they would need to complete their boat, so the time spent inside didn’t feel like a total waste of time, but still it was frustrating that the for the time being, their progress on the boat was effectively stopped. It was on one of those nights when Greg realized he’d once again begun to dream.

ÿ

“Have you got it?” he called to the woman lifting the other end of a log.

“I think so,” she said in a voice that sounded breathless and strained.

“Now lift, together,” he said. “One, two, three, up.”

The log went up, sliding into place atop one that was already secured at the top of the growing wall, making the walls of their new cottage one log taller. He turned to smile at the woman working by his side.

“Can you do another?” he asked.

“Yes. The baby doesn’t need to be fed just yet. Is the log ready?”

“It is. Let’s move to the other side,” he directed.

Together they moved to the opposite side of the building, and lifted a similarly prepared log there. They did two more before they stopped for the day, and he grinned.

“You’ve done really well!” he praised his wife as the baby began to cry.

“Thank you. I only hope we can get the roof on before the first snow,” his wife said as she took the baby into her arms, settled herself on a patch of nearby grass and began to nurse her.

“I think we will. We should have the walls at full height very soon,” he assured her. “Another two weeks at most. I’ve already got the timber for the roof beams cut. All I’ve got to do is to drag them here from the river.”

“We can do it tomorrow,” his wife said. “You’re so good at providing for us … building things, keeping us safe.”

He beamed under hear praise.

ÿ

“Thank you,” Greg murmured aloud.

“Did you say something?” Susan asked as she lay down.

“What?” Greg’s eyes fluttered open.

“Were you talking to me?” Susan asked curiously.

“Oh … no. It must have been a dream,” Greg said with a slight frown as he sat up briefly. “I was building something.”

Susan arched her brow. “You are building something. We’re building a boat … together.”

Greg stared at her from across the fire. “Yes, exactly,” he said vaguely before lying down again and going back to sleep.

‘Curious,’ Greg thought to himself as he drifted off. ‘Not only are the dreams back, they’re in context again. I was building something … together with the woman with golden hair. Fascinating.’

Greg and Susan each continued to dream on other nights, but none stayed with Greg as much as the dream about building the cottage of logs in the forest. It was one of those sorts of dreams he knew to be memories, but he was having many more of them now than he ever had before … different ones about events he’d never recalled before.  Aside from their dreams however, and the occasional disturbance they caused they generally slept soundly at night while they were in doors.