Furry dream
Dec. 31st, 2008 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoI think I know where it came from. Yesterday ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
soanos and I were having a chat that, among other things, touched on giraffes and okapis and zebras. Early this morning, right before awakening, I had a bizarre dream. Not disturbing, but unusual even for me. This one lacked the more or less sequential plot that my remembered dreams usually have.
Anyway, the setting looked vaguely like the US in old west days. The way you used to see it on television or in movies, dry, dusty, rather drab. Driving or riding in a horse-drawn wagon into or out of a town (vague, I know, but it was.) And there was a young kid with two four-legged animals. He was trying to ride one, and it was taking exception to that, not by bucking like a horse, but by squirming and twisting around. In the dream, I thought of these animals as giraffes, though really they didn't look like giraffes. No spots, necks more like camels or llamas than like giraffes. They had stripes like okapi, but were shaggier, like alpacas or llamas. Anyway, in the dream they were supposed to be giraffes, apparently.
And the kid pulled a thing like a gun out of his pocket or a holster, held it to the head of the creature he was struggling with, and fired. It made a dull thud, and I thought "OMG, a captive bolt like in slaughter houses," but the animal continued to struggle until it succeeded in shaking him off its back. By that time I was on foot and shouting at him, but he ran and disappeared.
I turned to the two odd animals, thinking one must be dead, but it wasn't. The larger of the two, the one the kid had shot, was still standing but holding one hind foot off the ground. A little blood was dripping, but not a lot. I asked it if I could look at the injury, and it nodded, turning to present that side and lifting the foot, which had padded toes rather like those of a camelid but three in number. There seemed to be no broken bones, and the bleeding had already stopped, but there was a large gash in the skin.
"We should have that cared for," I said, and to my surprise, the creature answered me.
"What would you propose?" it asked.
I got over the surprise quickly enough, and suddenly it seemed perfectly normal to be conversing with the two creatures. They did not tell me what they were, and I didn't ask how the situation had arisen. The talk was all about the injury and how to treat it. At length they agreed to let a veterinarian examine the wound. We walked, or rather, I and the smaller beast walked while the large one limped, down the street until we found a veterinary office and went in. The vet said the wound should heal all right but it needed to be cleaned and stitched shut. He also proposed to give the creature an injection of some antibiotic. It agreed to the treatment. The vet asked me to hold the beast's head while he gave the injection. He explained that it might be painful, and that the poor thing should not struggle because it might hurt itself. It nodded understanding.
Then I was holding its head and shaggy neck while the vet gave the injection. It went very rigid and started to shrink to the size of a large dog, while I still held and petted its neck. Somehow this seemed normal, as if it had explained that it could change sizes at will when necessary. The vet was stitching the wound shut without difficulty when I woke up, interrupting the story line.
I still have no idea what the creatures were. Something like llamas, I guess, but not exactly. They spoke perfect English, with radio announcer type voices, and seemed very gentle and civilized. I suppose they might have been some sort of alien race, though this was never acknowledged.
soanos and I were having a chat that, among other things, touched on giraffes and okapis and zebras. Early this morning, right before awakening, I had a bizarre dream. Not disturbing, but unusual even for me. This one lacked the more or less sequential plot that my remembered dreams usually have.Anyway, the setting looked vaguely like the US in old west days. The way you used to see it on television or in movies, dry, dusty, rather drab. Driving or riding in a horse-drawn wagon into or out of a town (vague, I know, but it was.) And there was a young kid with two four-legged animals. He was trying to ride one, and it was taking exception to that, not by bucking like a horse, but by squirming and twisting around. In the dream, I thought of these animals as giraffes, though really they didn't look like giraffes. No spots, necks more like camels or llamas than like giraffes. They had stripes like okapi, but were shaggier, like alpacas or llamas. Anyway, in the dream they were supposed to be giraffes, apparently.
And the kid pulled a thing like a gun out of his pocket or a holster, held it to the head of the creature he was struggling with, and fired. It made a dull thud, and I thought "OMG, a captive bolt like in slaughter houses," but the animal continued to struggle until it succeeded in shaking him off its back. By that time I was on foot and shouting at him, but he ran and disappeared.
I turned to the two odd animals, thinking one must be dead, but it wasn't. The larger of the two, the one the kid had shot, was still standing but holding one hind foot off the ground. A little blood was dripping, but not a lot. I asked it if I could look at the injury, and it nodded, turning to present that side and lifting the foot, which had padded toes rather like those of a camelid but three in number. There seemed to be no broken bones, and the bleeding had already stopped, but there was a large gash in the skin.
"We should have that cared for," I said, and to my surprise, the creature answered me.
"What would you propose?" it asked.
I got over the surprise quickly enough, and suddenly it seemed perfectly normal to be conversing with the two creatures. They did not tell me what they were, and I didn't ask how the situation had arisen. The talk was all about the injury and how to treat it. At length they agreed to let a veterinarian examine the wound. We walked, or rather, I and the smaller beast walked while the large one limped, down the street until we found a veterinary office and went in. The vet said the wound should heal all right but it needed to be cleaned and stitched shut. He also proposed to give the creature an injection of some antibiotic. It agreed to the treatment. The vet asked me to hold the beast's head while he gave the injection. He explained that it might be painful, and that the poor thing should not struggle because it might hurt itself. It nodded understanding.
Then I was holding its head and shaggy neck while the vet gave the injection. It went very rigid and started to shrink to the size of a large dog, while I still held and petted its neck. Somehow this seemed normal, as if it had explained that it could change sizes at will when necessary. The vet was stitching the wound shut without difficulty when I woke up, interrupting the story line.
I still have no idea what the creatures were. Something like llamas, I guess, but not exactly. They spoke perfect English, with radio announcer type voices, and seemed very gentle and civilized. I suppose they might have been some sort of alien race, though this was never acknowledged.
