Shockers! It
wasn’t a dream I wanted to share.
After a tiring day, I’d planned to get to sleep before 10:00
p.m., and awaken at 3:00 a.m. to drive my daughter and son-in-law to the
Raleigh Durham airport. And I did. What I hadn’t expected was a dream about our
ride out of town on Route 86 until a right turn across from Pope’s Tire
Company, a short cut to I-40.
While on the short cut, a deer ran in front of me.
Strangely, in my dream state, I took that as a warning to take the longer
route.
But I didn’t say a word while we drove toward Pope’s. At
about 4:15 a.m., I took the short cut anyway. I traveled more slowly, carefully
studied the brush on the poorly lit two-lane road. Minutes later, I merged with
I-40 and its 65 mile per hour speed limit.
By that time, my passengers were sleeping in the back seat.
As quiet as they were, I knew our conversation had ended. Due to last minute
packing, they’d barely slept before leaving.
I’d wanted to ask whether they knew about Mel Gibson and his
drunken tirade against Jewish people. Since my daughter and her husband are
orthodox Jews from Jerusalem, I wondered what they knew. Chances were that
their community in Israel had little knowledge of Gibson.
If so, they wouldn’t have shared my surprise when I’d played
an old copy of Lethal Weapon 4. Near the end of the movie, Mel and his movie
girlfriend (who was about to give birth), decided to marry. Less than a minute
later, an unsuspecting Rabbi was asked to perform the ceremony. I was shocked
until I checked to see that the movie had been copyrighted in 1998. Perhaps,
Mel’s anti-Semitism blossomed after that.
I’d hoped my kids might know. But there was quiet in the
back seat.
I shifted a little and adjusted the rearview mirror as I
glanced at a sign for exit 272.
Those movements took seconds; no cars were on the road. But,
when I returned to look straight ahead, I saw in the periphery a small buck.
He stared at me, only a few feet from my car; he was
slightly crouched, antlers tilted. I swerved just enough to miss him. But I
didn’t panic.
I’d been warned he might be there.
B. Koplen 10/10/12
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