The Clairvoyant's Gift

Christine knew that a clairvoyant's gift was frequently misunderstood especially by the one who possessed the endowment. She learned early that most dreams were symbolic and all details had to be noticed to get the intended meaning. It helped to have a confidant to help decipher them. Especially since the dreams from the last several years had left her unnerved.


The First Dream

The first dream Christine saw herself riding on a train late at night.

“End of the line,” the conductor’s voice crackled over the loudspeaker.

She got off the train and headed down the cobblestone path leading to the graveyard. There among the gravestones stood an ancient woman silhouetted against the moonlight.

“Are you waiting for me?” Christine asked.

The woman smiled and without a word they embraced. Christine felt the ash like quality of the woman’s ragged dress and was overwhelmed with the smell of decay. She experienced an immense love emanating toward this stranger.

” What’s happening?” Christine screamed as the cobwebs fell from the trees and covered their heads and shoulders.

“Do not be afraid," the woman whispered.

Christine took a deep breath and used her hands to remove the webs from her face. They fell in a clump to the ground spreading out and revealing a radiant iridescent dress of spider's silk. She reached for the gossamer gown. It was lightweight and silky to the touch, unlike anything she had seen or felt before.

“This gown is yours when your spirit is purified,” the elder woman said as she gently took it from her hands and then she quietly disappeared into the shadows.

“What do I have to do to be purified?” Christine called out and woke up thrashing in her bed.

“ Are you alright?” Alex asked. He had gotten use to these seemingly lucid outbursts in the middle of the night. They had been married for over a year. He always listened carefully and could frequently help her make sense of her dreams. Their relationship was based on a familiarity and trust that seemed deeper than one lifetime could nourish.

“I think I met the Angel of Death,” she shivered as she tried to clear her head to speak.

“It sounds like you met an Angel alright,” he said after she revealed the dream “but this one doesn’t sound like death. At least not right away. It seems you have to do something between now and the time you claim that gown.”

“Yeah, I wonder what I have to do to purify my soul?” she wondered out loud.

“I’m not sure. Usually in dreams an apprentice is given several tasks that require extreme faith and absolute courage. Are you sure you remember everything?” he asked, “Did you recognize the graveyard, the conductor, the country… anything at all?”

“Nothing,” she said as she tried to recall more detail. She sat up on the edge of the bed. It was 4:00 A.M. and she knew she wouldn’t get back t sleep so she took out her journal and recorded all the detail she could remember. It was 5:30 before she began her morning rituals to get ready for the day. Not rituals like prayer or meditation, just the showering, brushing teeth, eating breakfast kind of things.

Christine went to work but the months were uneventful and each evening she fell into a deep sleep. Almost a year later she had the following dream.


The Second Dream

In this dream she was standing in the top room of a six-story building. The smell was putrid. Light from the new moon danced eerily through the dust streaked glass.

She could see the quick movement of a large tendril on the outside and then she heard a thud as it banged against the windowpane. When she turned to look she heard another thud from behind and then again on her left side. Then she heard the loud crash of breaking glass.

One window after the other smashed to the floor as several long thick tendrils broke into the room reaching for her, encircling a leg and then an arm. Christine screamed and tried to pull away from the creature.

She felt a hand on her right shoulder. It was her younger brother, Jeff. He held a two-handed double edge sword drenched in a bright golden light. He said, "Do not be afraid, this battle is mine.”

She scrambled to the center of the room to be as far away from the windows as she could and rolled herself into a ball to make herself as small as possible. Jeff fought the battle of his life. He swung the sword and cut one tendril, then another. As soon as he seemed to get the upper hand another one would crash through the glass and thrust itself into the room. He was close to exhaustion when the tendrils receded and the battle was done.

She ran to her brother and he let the sword drop to the floor. She reached for him but he was no longer there. She woke up sobbing. Alex held her until she was able to speak. “Something bad is going to happen to Jeff… but not before he fights the battle of his life.”

Within the week her brother was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctor described the cancer as long tendrils covering the surface of his brain making it inoperable. Christine thought the dream meant he would fight the cancer and live but he died after a six-week battle. She was devastated from the loss and felt there was something she should have been able to do to protect him. “Why have these dreams if I can’t do something or warn someone?” she moaned to Alex.


The Third Dream

Christine was weary with grief after he passed and fell into a deep sleep. She was visiting Alex’s childhood home. In the dream his mom had recently passed away even though in real life she had been gone ten years. His sister was busy cleaning out the piles and piles of junk packed into the house. Stella, his oldest sister, met Christine at the door and said, “I’m glad you are here. I want to show you something in the back room.”

They walked through the living room to a back bedroom. The odor in the room was foul and swampy. Christine complained, “What is that smell?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Stella said, “jut follow me.”

She led her to the closet in the room. Slowly she opened the door and they walked through a smaller door through the back wall and then down a winding staircase. “Stella, I can’t breathe. I am going to have to go back.”

“Just a little bit further,” Stella urged.

Christine came around a corner and saw a glass case with the corpse of her mother-in-law. “Oh!” she exclaimed as she covered her mouth and nose. “Why did you preserve her body here instead of burying her? This stench is over powering. I need to get out of here.”

Just then her mother-in-law opened her eyes and said to Christine, “Not half as rotten as you!”

Christine jumped awake gasping for air. She was shaking violently.

“What happened?” Alex asked. “Christine, everything is okay, it was just a dream.”

She was crying so hard she couldn’t tell him what happened until several minutes later. When she finally could recall the dream she knew what she had to do. The next morning she made an appointment with the doctor. She had been seeing him because of a chronic pain in her lower back and abdomen. The doctor kept insisting the ailment was not serious and even suggested the pain was psychosomatic.

Today she said, “I hurt. You need to do something.”

The doctor agreed to an exploratory surgery and he scheduled it immediately. After the surgery he told her, “Your appendix had wrapped around your small intestines and gangrene had set in and everything smelled of rotting flesh. The infection would have killed you when the peritonitis spread through your abdominal cavity. You were minutes away from death. How did you know?”

Christine was going to tell him about her dream but didn’t want him to think she was crazy so kept it to herself but later she and Alex talked and talked. She was sure the dream was an intervention from above and that her mother-in-law saved her life.


The Fourth Dream

Christine had recoverd from surgery and had gone about her life for several years with no significant dreams but in this one she was walking up the pathway of her house. A young muscular man with long blond hair, dressed all in white, stood at the entry to one side. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said.

“Do I know you?” she asked.

“No, but I know you. My name is Michael. I have something for you,” he said then gave her a hatchet.”

“What is that for?” she asked backing away from him.

He pointed to the tree growing in the yard next to the house. “You need to clear up some of these before we can talk again,” he said as he pointed to the tree.

Christine could see the tree was filled with branches. Several were putting pressure upon the roof of the house. It was obvious the tree needed to be pruned. “How will I know which branches to cut?” she asked.

“Cut out everything leaving only the main branches leading out of the trunk. You must remove all that is unnecessary so the remaining branches get the most nutrients and space to grow,” he said.

“Show me where to cut,” she pleaded but he was no longer standing there when she spoke. She took the hatchet to the tree and started cutting. She worked all night. When she woke up in the morning she was exhausted.

“I don’t think I’m getting up today,” she told Alex.

“Busy night?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you after I’ve had some rest. I need to sleep right now,” she pleaded.

It was several days before they talked. She decided she needed to simplify her life. She started cutting out negative relationships, clean out closets and cupboards, and got rid of all useless items. The process took several years.


The Fifth Dream

She had moved up in her job professionally and was giddy with the possibility of another promotion. She fell asleep one night and started dreaming right away. She was attending a large party. Her boss, who was the guest of honor, was nowhere to be found. Christine climbed the stairs and found her shivering in a corner. “Do you need help?” she asked.

“I can’t do this,” her boss, Dr. Halvert cried.

Christine helped her get up and carefully walked her down the stairs. Instead of staying for the party she escorted her to a limousine waiting at the curb. Christine climbed in with her.

“Where are we going?” asked Dr. Halvert.

“The driver is taking us to the big house,” Christine said.

“I’m too sick and weak to go to the big house,” Dr. Halvert whimpered.

“You’ll be okay. There will be people there who can help you,” Christine answered.

In a short time they pulled up to the big house. Dr. Chan greeted them and escorted them into the foyer. “Christine, you stay here, I must get Dr. Halvert upstairs so she can get ready.”

While Christine was waiting she noticed some hats and shawls on a hat rack close by. She reached for a large blue hat and wrapped a silk shawl around her shoulders. She felt a tap on her back, “These are not for you at this time,” Dr. Chan stated in a matter of fact tone. “This is all for Dr. Halvert.”

At that point Christine woke up.

By the end of the week the County announced that Dr. Halvert had been named superintendent of their district.

Christine didn't get a promotion until five years later.

The Sixth Dream

She had applications in for the promotion and was having trouble sleeping and that is when she had a dream about Jeff again. She and several other thousands of people including their families were heading across the water, to a large terminal and hotel. People were traveling out to the stadium to see a big football game.

Christine knew it would be overcrowded by the time they got there so Jeff suggested that instead of heading to the stadium they would just use one of the hotel rooms and watch it on T.V.

He saw one of the maids leaving Room 457, he caught the door before it locked and we settled in. Jeff went to take a bath. Christine was nervous. Two other members of the family were also in the room. She was so anxious about their breaking and entering she couldn’t see them clearly. I think it was Charlene and Bob. Jeff was bold after he took his bath. The bathroom was a mess with towels and water. The bathtub had a big ring around it. He said, “let’s order room service”. Even the other two thought he was too aggressive.

Christine knew they would get caught and didn’t want to have a criminal record for a stupid mistake. She went into a back room like a janitor’s closet then heard the front door open and the hotel security enter the room. Jeff was angry he wanted to know where his room service was. He and the family members were taken to a holding area in the basement of the hotel. Christine found them later and tried to think of ways to get them free. Jeff said, “No way… we’re going to make them let us go with no charges.”

Christine asked him how he planned to do it. He said, “ I’ve called my friends… they will cause havoc until they let us go.”

His friends were gathering. Their plans were to go in and destroy the furniture, reserve all the rooms and then cancel at the last minute, and to steal the silverware. He said that it was to be an aggressive, no nonsense confrontation of the establishment. He said they can’t keep us out any longer. This was our time and nothing but aggressive action would ever keep us out again.


Intrepretation:
Here was Christine's take on it…. She am applying for the promotion. She thought there are corporate forces trying to stop her. Jeff was saying don’t take no for an answer.

Christine and Alex decided her dreams seem to give messages or precognitive predictions of events to come but were not something she could control or even accurately interpret. She continued to dream, some more lucid than others. Her general rule was if someone was mentioned in the dream she contacted the person to see if everything was alright and used prayer as a way to guide her actions for the rest of her life.

A clairvoyant's gift, like the gossamer gown is fragile and a delicate gift to hold on to.