I am sitting in an old county courtroom. The walls are a lightly stained oak with paintings of judges from the past lined up to oversee the present. Above are low ceiling fans lazily stirring the unbearably oppressive heat. There are large open windows on three sides of the room letting the bright sunlight (along with an assortment of annoying flying insects) flood in.

Nobody else is here. I can hear the sounds of birds outside and the rhythmic click of the fans. Oddly enough, there is no door leading into the room. Which is fine when you just suddenly find yourself already IN the room, but then I decided that I wanted to get out. So I climbed out a window.

The ground was not solid, as I had expected. It was about six inches of murky water concealed by a layer of lily-pads. I considered climbing back into the window but when I turned around I realized they were too high for me to reach from where I was standing.

I began to wade away from the building into the hedges about thirty feet away. Oddly, they were more than just hedges. It was a classic hedge maze.

As I sloshed around in the maze, it started to get dark. When I stopped to try and get my bearings, I became aware of the sounds of someone else splashing about.

The maze wall I was standing next to was in bad shape and with a little effort I could push enough of it aside in one spot to peek through it.

I saw a creature. It walked like a person, even wore black robes. But it’s skin was a sickly gray color, greasy and leathery. Most frightening was the fact that it had tentacles writhing about on its face and two large yellow serpentine eyes.

I bolted as fast as I could. The faster I ran, the darker it became. I could sense this deformed creature following me, as if it was only a few paces behind.

Just as the darkness was all around me, I exited the maze. I was now standing on solid ground. About fifty yards in front of me was a gigantic curtain. It extended to my right and left as far as I could see. It extended into to the sky an equally infinite distance. It was a dark purple but shimmered with a light blue electric glow.

I forgot about the creature chasing me (he probably would not like the lack of swamp here anyway) and approached the curtain.

Right in front of the curtain was a long sidewalk. It too disappeared into the infinite. The curtain was rippling madly. It was as if thousands of people were on the other side, moving about, bumping into it, slapping it with their hands.

I found myself quite transfixed by this for some time. I sensed movement off to my left and looked quickly. Someone was coming down the sidewalk. As the figure got closer I was very puzzled.

It was a bald man, probably about two feet tall, wearing a white nightgown and riding on a unicycle.

When he reached me, he skillfully dismounted from the cycle and stood silently, looking at the curtain. I continued to stare at him a moment longer but I too was drawn back to the compelling wall.

After a long silence, the little man spoke.

“I am Waldo.”

It was not the profound opening that I had expected.

He waved his arms about. “This is the world of dreams. It is a singular world that everyone exists in when they sleep, just as there is a singular world that everyone exists in while awake.”

“This curtain separates the two worlds. The things we do during our waking hours affect this world, they shape it.”

He motioned toward the ripples in the curtain. I could see them extend outward like waves, giving off surreal distortions that floated outwards back towards the hedge maze.

“And in like manner, the things we do here affect the waking world.”

I considered this. I didn’t recall reading about the big giant curtain in any geography books.

As I pondered his words, Waldo got back onto his unicycle and started to peddle down the sidewalk. “Come see me when you figure it out!” he yelled over his shoulder.

I turned again to face the curtain. When I reached out to touch it, my hand was met with a powerful charge of electricity.

And thus my dream ended.