It was an odd nap.
I laid down on the sofa and closed my eyes and it was summer, I was working in the yard, The wife was chatting with a couple I didn’t know, and few feet in front of them was an older man, he looked kind of like an old boss of mine, but older and with him was a neighbor. They all came up the walk together, my neighbor and my boss look-alike turned left and walked down a few stairs through a door into my basement I hadn’t noticed before. There was a bright light coming from inside that could be seen from the door that was left ajar. I wanted to follow, but the man and women that had walked up with my wife each took an arm of mine and lead me into the back yard.
Our yard was full of people, It was as if my wife decided to have a party and didn’t let me know. I sat down in a chair and a little girl I didn’t recognize jumped into my lap, and said it’s so good to see you again and gave me a warm hug. A women approached with a smile and took the girls hand and said it’s time to go, Mark has to get up now. There was a hand on my shoulder, As I stood up and turned around a man smiled a radiant smile at me. He spoke as if he new me, like we had been friends for a very long time. I opened my eyes and I was on the sofa.
I closed my eyes and I was standing with him, we walked through my garden and he commented about the year when I had planted beans in this spot and tomatoes the next year. He mentioned I never had much luck with peppers. He stepped over a pumpkin lying on the ground, and asked if I had any ideas how I would carve it this year as if he knew all of my Halloween traditions. I had no idea who he was but it seemed he knew all about me. We walked past the greenhouse, through a group of people sitting in chairs just like they were sitting in my sailboat that had been parked there over the winter, an empty chair sat where the tiller would be. The man who knew me too well motioned me to sit just as a breeze blew up and rustled the leaves in the trees. There were people all around that looked as if they were having the time of their lives, smiling and laughing at each others stories. He glanced toward my house and said You have taken such good care of it all these years. You never planned to stay this long, but the house has been quite comfortable with you and your wife living within, as if the house was telling him something I could not hear. He motioned me to follow him as he started back up the walk, He said there is someone here he thought I’d like to meet. As we walked I noticed a woman with her back turned toward us holding a little boys hand.
I opened my eyes, the clock on the entertainment center read 9:20, just twenty minutes had passed since I had laid down to rest. It felt like a summers afternoon had passed. I wanted to go back and see who I was to be introduced to. I closed my eyes again but did not return, I laid there for maybe ten more minutes and realized I wasn’t going to return. It was so odd, like I was awake and asleep at the same time. It felt so good there, so sunny and warm, and here, the wind was howling, blowing the falling leaves into swirls.