A Climbing Gorilla and More

MORNING OF JUNE 13, 2010

I was outdoors in a very scenic, woodsy area. We were near the shore of a large body of water (possibly a great river, or maybe even part of the ocean). There was an extremely tall and steep cliff visible on the other side of the water. I could see a gorilla was climbing the rocks up the side of this sheer mountain wall.

It was not unusual in the dream to see a gorilla climbing a mountain face. There was a feeling of "that's something gorillas sometimes do". What did feel unusual to witness was when the gorilla turned and very deliberately and very gracefully dove off the cliff down into the water below.

The fall was from hundreds of feet in the air, so it was shocking and disconcerting to see this. I heard several of the handful of people near me gasping. The gorilla hit the water and disappeared for a breathless moment. Then, finally, we saw it swimming towards the shore and people clapped and cheered.

The gorilla swam exactly as a man would swim. It appeared he'd made his jump successfully, but when he reached the shore he began dragging himself by his front arms. It was apparent his back legs were no longer working and they even were bleeding in one spot.

The exhausted primate collapsed in the sand. We all wanted to help it, but we knew it would be dangerous for us to try. Someone was videotaping it. Others were calling for help. The gorilla seemed to be asking for our help, yet afraid.

In another dream, I was visiting my parents and petting the geriatric family dog, Einstein, who was inside the house. The power went out, leaving us almost completely in the dark. I just kept petting Einstein while waiting to see if power was going to be restored quickly or not. I heard Einey cough and hack a couple of times, and felt something wet against my arm. The lights came back on to reveal a nasty grayish-black wad of boogery mucus! GROSS!

Segue to another dream in which I'm visiting a fictional family: Dad, mom and two young kids;l a girl and a boy. We were all seated around their kitchen table, paper spread out before us, drawing and painting. No one in the family had any natural artistic talent, so they kept asking me to teach them how to draw. I didn't feel equipped or comfortable to do so.

Later on I was in the bedroom the kids shared as the mom was preparing things for their bedtime. The little girl and I were discussing books. One of her favorite (and fictional) series of books featured a villain who would confound the heroes with silly riddles. She began reciting many of the riddles and answers to me.

Most of the riddles were typical, childish fare. Just silliness meant to get a laugh. But the last riddle she asked was something to the effect of, "I like to prick things and stick things. What am I?" When I gave up, she replied, casually, "Just a regular ol' penis."

I was so shocked to hear such an inappropriate joke come from a little girl that I woke up. (But then it was pretty funny after that).