11. I Saw Her In My Dream Last Night

In my dream last night, I was walking down this street, some what familiar yet different from the many streets I have been to in my life. The five-footway was narrow and not of the same level. Some parts one had to walk up, others one had to go down slopes. It felt like I was walking along Dunedin's hilly sidewalks!

Some of the shops I passed by were familiar, some were closed. At one of the older shops, I paused just to peer inside. It was a coffee shop - kind of dark and alittle bit crowded, so I did not enter. I continued to walk down the sidewalk and then across the street I saw a park with benches and flowers of many kinds grown there. A few children and some adults were playing and strolling there, too. As my eyes were focussed on the park across the street, my foot stumbled upon some loose pavers. I looked down and saw that there were some broken pavers on the sidewalk. I look at the shop and it was closed, but I could see some light upstairs through the carved wooden shutters. And I wonder who was the owner.

As I was looking up, someone called out my name. I thought that she sounded familiar. As my eyes searched the opened windows upstairs of the shop, a girl came out. To my surprise, I saw Chara, I knew in my heart that she had passed on, and I was wondering in my mind, why she was at that place. I called out her name in response. Then I asked if that shoplot belonged to her, to which she said, "Yes". She came down and outside, and we started talking. Through my teary eyes, I looked at her - actually scanned her head to toe - and saw that she looked well and healthy, youthful and pretty. She was dressed in a turquoise blue dress with big white polka dots.  I asked her how she was doing, and she told me that she was very happy in her new place. She told me that at last she is free - free from all burden and pain. And then she walked away to the park.

She was running and hopping as if she was catching some invisible ball in the air. She was laughing and screaming with sheer happiness among the little children, She looked so beautiful and free. I slowly walked away and called out to her to say goodbye as I had to return home. She blew me kisses, and as I left the place I no longer cried, because I knew that she is now in a better, happier place.