Dreamland

Rough Landing in Brickland

I'm driving down this twisting mountain road in my old Chevy van when the brakes start to fade. As usual when I'm in this kind of situation in Dreamland, there are no guard rails. The van goes over the edge and I look down to see the ground is miles below. Oh well, at least I'll have some time before I crash and burn.

Suddenly it dawns on me that I'm dreaming. Glad I remembered about Lucid Dreaming (see chapter 104). I recall that I can sometimes fly in my dreams if I concentrate hard enough, and this seems like a good time to do it. (Beats the hell out of crashing to my death in my van!)

I open the door, jump out of the van, and assume my flying position. (Arms outstretched, legs straight, chest out, kinda like Superman.) I look down, the ground is getting closer, maybe a quarter mile below.

I can see that I'm over a large city made entirely of red brick buildings. Skyscrapers, factories, crumbling tenement buildings, all red brick. Everything is paved in red brick, streets, sidewalks, parking lots, every square foot of real estate below me as far as I can see is all red brick.

I'm not having much luck flying, can't seem to gain any altitude. The best I'm able to do is slow my descent some. I remember from other dreams while trying to fly that it needs to come naturally, the power has to flow from within. If I try too hard or get anxious I will surely fail and crash.

The ground is getting closer, I still can't generate enough power to gain any altitude. I concentrate on steering, leaning left and right to avoid crashing into buildings. At least I'm successful at that.

At this point I realize I'm not gonna be airborne much longer. I'm not going forward or descending extremely fast, but I can tell it's not going to be a good landing. I aim for a straight part of the road and prepare for the inevitable...

The impact knocks the breath from me and scrapes the hell out of my arms and chest. Damn, that hurts! I get to my feet, brush the dust off myself and look around. The city is empty, quiet, totally deserted...

I have no idea what to do next...

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