Excerpt: Perry Normel fun with Liu Syd Dreaming

Perry Normel Fun With Liu Syd Dreaming
Chapter 1
It was a dark and stormy night, as the nights in always ended up being on sojourns into Sino City, the almost totally Oriental section of town, with the rain driving down in such strong torrents that each drop would penetrate deep into whatever surface with which it came into contact, while violent winds whipped the downfall about with such furry as to make one even wetter than if totally submerged, if that were possible, and after experiencing a rain like that, one believed that it was. Fortunately, for Perry Normel, he was comfortably seated in one of the really nice, but affordable, oriental restaurants there in Sino City. It was his annual Thank Goodness It's Over dinner that he had each year to celebrate that the school year was over. To most that was not such a big deal, but to a school bus driver like Perry, that was a major event ushering in three months of joyous vacation before the start of the next school year in the coming Autumn.
As Perry was waiting for his Kung Pao Chicken to arrive, he was idly enjoying folding his paper napkin into various shapes and forms, showing off his skill in the virtually unrecognized practice of Napkin Origami. He prided himself on being capable of making a multitude of interesting items out of something as mundane as a paper napkin. People in other areas of town, like Little Italy and the Barrio Burg, were usually mildly impressed. However, here in Sino City, where the Japanese art of Origami was given the respect it deserves, what Perry was capable of was considered child's play.
Engaging in such a pastime helped Perry to ignore the fact that he was dining alone, yet again. Being in his mid-twenties and without any significant other in his life tended to make Perry a little more melancholy than he thought appropriate. If he were to let his mind to dwell on the entertainment industries image of the typical 'tweenager', he would become morose and antisocial, thinking that Life was somehow cheating him out of happiness. However, Perry refused to believe the media propaganda. He knew that, eventually, he would find someone he could share his life with. Until then, Perry found other things to fill his time, like Napkin Origami.
Perry thoroughly enjoyed his chicken dish, delightfully savoring each bite as though he had never tasted such a wondrous dish before. He made what would have seemed like a simple meal into a major dining experience. Finally, after cleaning his plate as thoroughly as the best dishwasher, he was ready to immerse himself into the experience of his Fortune Cookie.
Unfortunately, when the server, a lovely young oriental lady, delivered the cookie, Perry reached for it with a little too much enthusiasm. That caused the poor little cookie to go flying to the floor and skidding over to a stop, just under the edge, at a table a few feet away.
Sitting at that table was a very lovely young lady somewhere in her mid-twenties. She as dressed in a scarlet red silk brocade dress with gold edging around the neck, cuffs, and bottom hem. In an intricate design around the bodice and what skirt there was of the dress, there were several oriental dragons with a faint gold outline.
When the young lady would stand, the dress was barely long enough to keep from being obscene. Up each side was a slit extending high enough to keep the skirt from hindering leg movement in any way. The dress, in general, fit the young lady's body in such a way as to leave little if any details of the woman's figure to the imagination. She took a form of perverse pleasure dressing in such a way. She enjoyed causing each man who happened to see her to have problems with lust.
But then, that was the kind of lady she was. She had shiny long black hair falling in a silken cascade down her back almost to the hem of her skirt. She had a face that was so lovely men found it nearly impossible to look away. Her eyes were deep black pools, edged in white, that seemed to have a visible fire burning deep in the depths. Her expression, however, made it unmistakably clear that she loathed men with a passion. She delighted in making men suffer the pain of having such a delight so close and yet so unattainable.
Perry, without even paying attention to whomever might be around him, got up from his table, went to where the fortune cookie lay, and squatted down to pick it up. The sound of a chair shifting slightly cause him to look up under the table where the fortune cookie had landed. That gave him a view right up the skirt of the lady sitting there. Perry immediately shot bolt upright, banging his head hard on the table's edge and nearly knocking the table over.
Blushing as brightly red as the lady's dress, Perry rushed back to his table and tried to look and act as though he ad been sitting there the whole time and had been totally oblivious to all that had just occurred. He was as thoroughly embarrassed as a person could possibly be and just wanted to pretend that the whole thing had never happened. The color of his face when coupled with the furtive glances at the other table, however, made it clear that he was the cause of the entire incident.
The lady, on her part, took great offense at what had just happened. Perry had managed to get a look at her in a way that no one was ever allowed. She was absolutely convinced in her own mind that Perry had planned the whole thing just to get an extended stare up her dress where no one was ever allowed to go. She would not let such a flagrant assault on her propriety go unpunished. Perry would pay dearly for what he had just done.
The lady quickly motioned for a server to come over and clean up the spilled tea on the table. While the server was wiping off the table, the lady whispered a request into the server's ear that made an involuntary quiver shoot down her spine and through every fiber of her being. The server quickly finished wiping up and ran, terrified, into the back of the restaurant where she disappeared through kitchen doors. A short time later, an elderly oriental man in ornate traditional Japanese garb came gliding to the table of the lady dressed in red. He seemed to just glide along without moving at all.
When the old man took his seat next to the lady, she quickly leaned over and began whispering in his ear. She would glance at Perry after each phrase so the man would know, precisely, to whom she was referring. The man, for his part, kept a rather bland emotionless gaze aimed at Perry's table without quite looking directly at Perry. It was clear, however, that the two were plotting something against Perry. Every so often the man would breathe a whisper back to the lady and she would nod in agreement.
After a few long moments of discussion, the lady sat back and smiled. The old man took out some strange items from hidden pockets in his outfit, and began some strange ritual. He arranged the items in a specific way, and igniting some incense in the middle of the arrangement, began some kind of barley audible chant.
Suddenly, as the chant reached a crescendo, there was a sudden little puff of smoke that just barely obscured Perry's view of the table. The wisp of smoke quickly dissipated revealing an empty table that looked as though no one had ever been sitting there. Within an instant a server was seating a couple at the table to enjoy dinner together. No one seemed to notice what had just happened and the disappearance of the lady in red and the old man.
Perry, while noticing what had just occurred, seemed oblivious to it. He was aware of the fact that the lady and the old man had just disappeared, but it had no impact on him because he was distracted by what had taken place with his fortune cookie. The cookie had just turned a vivid fluorescent green with a barely audible little pop and a tiny, little wisp of green smoke that vanished instantly.
The little pop split the seam of the wrapper that contained the cookie, making it easy for Perry to remove the cookie. Perry was suddenly aware that the cookie had a pungent smell strangely reminiscent of organic fertilizer fresh from its bovine producer. For some unknown reason, the change in the cookie seemed like the way fortune cookies always changed just before they they were enjoyed by a customer. Perry seemed to be under some strange enchantment that made him ignore what had happened.
Perry consumed the cookie in such a rapid manner that it seemed he inhaled it more than eating it. He was aware that it had a strange taste in keeping with its unique fragrance, but again, Perry ignored it. He seemed much more interested in reading the fortuned contained inside. After all, wasn't that hat fortune cookies were all about?
The side Perry read first was the side that contained the so called 'Lucky Numbers'. It read as follows:

You ask for lucky number.
Here are three I give to thee.
In HEX: 37 37 33 34. In OCT: 67 67 63 64. In DEC: 55 55 51 52.

The characters seem to be printed in a glowing fluorescent green ink that shimmered and sparkled as one red it. Perry could not remember ever having seen such a beautiful printing job before. He wondered, though, at the strange way the numbers were presented and that there were actually three sets. Somehow, he realized that the sets were related to each other.
When Perry finally turned the fortune over, he saw that the actual fortune side was as strange as the number side. It read as follows:

A Dragon Dream makes fool drink bitter tea, but wise makes Dragon Dream end, congenially. Some 'Wakeful Sleeping' seems to be the key to make the Dragon keep from fooling thee.

Liu Syd

The letters of the fortune glowed and shimmered in a bright, florescent, fiery red. Never before had Perry seen anything printed in letters that glowed and shimmered and sparkled like these. Then, there was the fact that the fortune was actually signed. It was most bizarre.
Chapter 2
Perry was very interested in what the fortune could possibly mean. It was so unlike any he had gotten before. The references to dragons and dreams made no sense to him, whatsoever, and the reference to 'Wakeful Sleeping' left him thoroughly confused. He decided to see if, maybe, the server could give him some insight.
When the server came over to take Perry's payment, Perry asked her if she happened to know anything about someone named 'Liu Syd'. Instantly the server screamed and began shouting, "NO!!! Stay 'way from House of SYD!!!" The server kept screaming through hot, terrifying, tears, "NO!!! Stay way from House of SYD!!!" Nothing Perry tried to do or say could make the server stop. Perry left more than double the charge for the meal, and ran quickly out into the night.
The night had changed into a truly peculiar night. The storms had vanished completely, and now the night was very clear and cold, like a night in mid January. The sky, however, was shrouded in a strange velvety darkness that was the deepest shade of black that one could possibly imagine. The buildings and lights could be seen with crystal clarity, but the sky was an almost tangible black that seemed to absorb all light.
Perry made his way home while wondering about the fortune and what it could possibly mean. On the way he thought much of what was said on the little slip of paper in his pocket, and resolved to plumb the depths of its meaning. It would be a challenge, but then he had faced challenges before. Besides, this would give him something to do to keep from getting bored with summer break.
Upon arriving home, he instantly got out his computer and typed in all of the information from the fortune, both the 'Lucky Number' side and the fortune side. As he did so, he tried to think of key words and phrases he could use to find information on the Internet. He would use the GOOGLE Search Engine to find out all he could about what he had. If there were answers, he would find them.
The only meaningful entry he could find for 'Syd' was a restaurant in the Sino City area name 'The House of Syd'. It appeared to be some kind of oriental restaurant slanted slightly more to Japanese, rather than the more typical Chinese or Korean, cuisine. The information he saw made it appear to be a nice and inexpensive place to eat.
The only meaningful entry for 'Dragon' that could possibly pertain to his fortune was an entry for a place referred to as 'The Dreaming Dragon Slumber Hall'. It had the exact same street address as the restaurant. So even though there was no information, other than the address, about the Slumber Hall, it must be related to the restaurant to share the same address with it. What connection they could have with each other, other than dragons being a part of Japanese culture, was still a mystery, but at least Perry had a little, apparently a very little, lead to follow.
However, Perry could find nothing to give him a clue as to the meanings of 'Wakeful Sleeping', 'Dragon Dreams', and 'Bitter Tea'. The only hint he had about 'Bitter Tea' was a reference to an old movie about a Chinese general drinking bitter tea as a way of committing suicide. He even watched a movie trailer for "The Bitter Tea of General Yen".
Barbara Stanwyck starred in the movie about the Chinese Civil War, and it looked like a good movie, but it seemed little if any help in his search for information. Actually, it was rather depressing to have an American Missionary fall in love with a Chinese general just to have him betrayed by a friend of hers to the point where the best the missionary can do is watch the general commit suicide by drinking poisoned tea.
Perry quickly came to the conclusion that he needed to go to the restaurant to pursue things. He could, possibly, find a phone number for the place, but he felt a personal visit would be better. There was possibility that actually going there would give him clues that he would not pick up on over the phone.
Besides, phone calls always felt so impersonal to him. Letters provided a form of intimacy that no other medium could compare with. Personal visits provided a similar, though much different, kind of intimacy that always seemed important to Perry. Phone calls, however, always felt so cold and uncaring that he detested them with a passion.
Having done as much research as he could or one night and having decided to visit the restaurant/slumber hall the next day, Perry turned in for the night. Unfortunately, he found his sleep being continually interrupted with strange nightmares. He had never experienced such a situation before. Usually, he slept through the night uninterrupted by by dreams or anything else. This night, however, he fond himself waking up quite often, at the end of a strange nightmare.
There were several where he was being attacked by some lady in red who could change to and from a massive fire breathing dragon at will. In others, he was being attacked by some old man chanting evil curses and disappearing, only to reappear somewhere else. Then there were the ones where multicolored fluorescent fortune cookies kept appearing and exploding in great green flashes throwing bits and pieces of cookie all over him. Finally, there were the ones with wicked little dragons carrying teapots containing some type of poisonous bitter tea that they keep trying to pour down his throat to kill him. Because of all of these nightmares, Perry woke up the next morning feeling as though he had stayed awake all night long. Such is the effect of a troubled sleep.
Perry, realizing that continuing to try to sleep would only result in more nightmares, got up, showered and shaved, did what else he needed to do, and left to visit the restaurant. The address that he had turned out to be the address of an old dilapidated building that looked like an abandoned warehouse. All of the windows looked like they were boarded over from the inside. If not for a sign by what looked like the door, Perry would have been convinced that this could not be the right place.
The sign by the door was a nice size, measuring about twelve inches square, and had high quality gold lettering that seemed to glow and shimmer in the light. It reminded him of the glowing shimmering letters of the fortune. It proclaimed that the building was, indeed, The House of Syd Oriental Restaurant and that it was open daily from 11:00 AM to Midnight. Underneath the sign, as a form of confirmation that this was where Perry was supposed to be, someone had scrawled, in a sort of golden yellow chalk, 'The Dreaming Dragon Slumber Hall'. The chalk letters, while obviously done in chalk, still maintained that strange shimmery appearance of the other letters.
Realizing that it was slightly after 11:00 AM, Perry decided to go in. If nothing else, he could at least enjoy a good lunch. He tried to pull the door open, but it responded as though it had been tightly sealed shut for years. Releasing his grip, Perry started to turn to go when the door seemed to open completely on its own. Not knowing what to make of it, Perry decided to go and see what was inside.
As soon as he had entered, the door slammed tightly shut behind him. Perry tried to reopen the door, but he couldn't budge it. Having no other option, Perry turned and continued on inside. The place was filled with a thick dark smoke that made seeing anything almost impossible. Fortunately, Perry was able to quickly find an empty table at which to sit.
A server came by and asked if Perry wanted anything to drink. It was so dark, Perry could hardly make out the form of someone there. The voice seemed as though it were a disembodied voice. Based on the sound of the voice and what little he could see, Perry was unable to tell if the person were a man or a woman. Figuring to make the most of his time, Perry asked if the server knew anything about the Syd family.
To say that the sudden silence was deafening would be a gross understatement. Perry knew he had just made a horrendous spectacle of himself. To the server's credit, the server pretended as though the server had not heard a thing. In an effort to cover his goof up, Perry quickly ordered some Sesame Chicken with tea. It was still a noticeably long time until the gentle sound of voices in the background returned.
It wasn't long after that until the server brought the meal. Perry began to relax when the plate was set before him. His eyes had adjusted to the dark smoky haze enough that he could start making things out a little. He still could not make out whether the server was a man or woman, but at least now he could see that there was, indeed, someone there.
The smells of the other tables and of whatever was causing the thick dark haze were so strong that Perry could not enjoy the fragrance of what was on the table before him. He usually found great pleasure in smelling the fragrances and aromas of the various items that he ordered, but here that would be impossible. He would just have to forgo that aspect of his meal. The good news was that the serving size was generous enough that, at least, he would not go hungry.
Perry gently reached over and poured himself a cup of tea. The cup, and even the pot itself, seemed unusually heavy, as though weighed down by something. The tea itself seemed unusually dark and thick, but then in the haze it was impossible to tell for sure. As Perry lifted the cup to his lips and took a sip, he suddenly smelled the very strong fragrance of bitter almonds. It was to late. Before Perry could react, his head fell unconsciously to the table.
Chapter 3
Perry was extremely well aware of the fact that he had a cross between a chainsaw and a freight train roaring in his head. The pain caused by that sound was so thoroughly filling every fiber of his being that it was impossible for someone to experience any pain greater and still remain conscious. As far as his vision went, his entire range of sight was filled with a burning blood red haze that obscured his ability to see completely.
It was only after several minutes of such torture that Perry realized the reason he couldn't see at all was because his eyes were still closed. Opening them proved to be almost more than what Perry was up to. The excessively bright light of the room he was in seemed to be burning his brain out completely. As he forced himself to look around, he found the source of the sound that was causing him so much grief. It was a little house fly buzzing around his hands.
Forcing himself to adjust to what he was experiencing, Perry was able to work up enough strength to look around him. He was lying on a pale blue futon along one wall of a nearly empty room. The room itself had walls that were the palest pink short of being white. Around the few windows were treatments of a slightly darker pink with contrasting blue highlights. The ceiling was a pale blue with scattered white clouds across it. The floor was a light bamboo hardwood. It was a lovely, though rather feminine, little room.
Sitting in a small chair next to the futon was an extremely beautiful young lady. If Perry had been able to see the one of the ancient goddesses of beauty, the goddess could not have looked any more lovely. She had long black hair with a shiny silken quality that made it absolutely exquisite. Her outfit, though rather nondescript and bulky, hinted at a figure that would be equally as lovely. Perry assumed he must be dead to be in the presence of such an angel.
The young lady was just quietly sitting there with her eyes gently resting, not looking at anything in particular. She appeared to be totally relaxed and at peace. Perry could not recall ever having seen anyone so calm and untroubled.
When the lady happened to glance at Perry, the look in her eyes seemed to bring instant rest and relaxation to every fiber of his body. The pain and suffering noticeably diminished in her enchanting sight. Perry could not understand how, but her gaze was bringing a healing to him that was much appreciated.
The young lady spoke. The sound of her voice was so soothing and wondrous as to make Perry wish he could listen to her voice every second of every minute of every hour of the rest of his life. She said, "You have been through much. You need to rest now. The rest will bring you strength."
Perry felt an almost overwhelming desire to close his eyes and rest as she had said that he should. Instead, Perry asked, "What happened to me? The last I remember was being in a restaurant and taking a sip of tea." It took almost all of Perry's strength to say that little bit.
The young lady said, "A Dreaming Dragon tried killing you with Bitter Tea. Fortunately for you, 'Plei's Aunt Dream' was able to save you. You need to be extremely careful. If you do not proceed wisely, Dreaming Dragon will succeed in eliminating you. 'Wakeful Sleeping' is key for you to beat Dreaming Dragon. Pursue Wisdom, and in your pursuit gain Knowledge, and with the Wisdom and Knowledge discern Understanding. Then Dreaming Dragon will see you as invulnerable. You be safe then."
Perry could not resist asking, "May I inquire about your name?" The strain of comprehending what was going on was taking all Perry could muster, but he had to know what was happening. He knew it had to do with that fortune, and he had to find out what it meant.
"I am called 'Denise', but my name is 'Plei'. That makes me 'Plei Syd', daughter of 'Tah Syd', brother of 'Liu Syd'. Because I am known as being 'Plei Syd', some think I am weak. However, great strength brings great gentleness, but great gentleness brings an even greater strength. My greater strength comes from my great gentleness."
It was obvious that Perry did not understand a word of what the young lady calling herself 'Plei Syd'. The word 'placid' did seem to describe her well, but that did not help him understand the rest of what she said. He was just getting more and more confused. He had hoped that this lady named 'Plei Syd' could help him understand, but that did not seem to be happening.
The one named 'Plei Syd' discerned that Perry needed more explanation, so she tried to help him comprehend what was going on. She began, "You have been exposed to much in short time with no time to ponder. There must be time for you to ponder and cogitate what you have seen, heard, and experienced. You must make such time and use it to ruminate over what has been occurring.
"Be diligent to pursue Wisdom in all you go through. Without Wisdom you will perish. Do not allow yourself to be deluded by Dreaming Dragon and its minions. As there is gentleness in great strength and even greater strength in great gentleness, so there is Simplicity in Great Wisdom and even Greater Wisdom in Great Simplicity. You need to simply be wise.
"Dreaming Dragon will try to convince you that you need great intelligence. Intelligence is nice, but Intelligence is NOT Wisdom, Knowledge, or Understanding. Even the most unintelligent can be wise, knowledgeable, and understanding. You are intelligent enough to prosper. You need not more. You simply need to be wise."
Perry was beginning to realize that he needed to thoroughly think through all that this 'Plei Syd' lady was saying to him. His hope was that he would be able to recall it all when he got the time to think. There was, as well, what she had said about something she called a pleasant dream? What did that mean. Clearly it would take a lot of thought.
Plei Syd continued, "The one know as 'Plei's Aunt' is skilled in 'Wakeful Sleeping'. She has spent time 'Wakeful Sleeping' for you. It is her 'Wakeful Sleeping' that has brought you here. She has saved you from bitter tea. There is much she can do with 'Wakeful Sleeping'. However, you must rest so 'Plei's Aunt Dreams' can work."
Perry asked, "What is this 'Wakeful Sleeping' of which you speak? It seems to be a contradiction in terms. How can one be awake while sleeping, or sleep while being awake?"
She replied, "There is more to being fully awake than just being conscious of what is going on. There is more to being asleep than just being unconscious. While you comprehend not that of which I speak, as you ponder what you have already experienced, it will become more and more clear. One must consciously pursue one's destiny. One can sleep through life while appearing awake. Another can wake through life while appearing asleep. You know there are those that do 'Sleepful Waking'. You have had to deal with them on daily basis. You just have to see other side of same coin."
Perry still could not understand what Plei Syd was talking about, but he realized that she was telling him the answers he needed would be obvious as he thought things through. He hoped that she was telling the truth. He had no way of knowing at this point, but he would certainly think through all that she had been saying. There had to be a way of knowing the truth. He would just have to pursue it.
"You need rest, now. I already speak too much. I be quiet so you rest."
Perry responded, "I still have lots of questions, but yes I need to rest now. I want to thank you, though, for being patient with me and putting up with my questions."
The lady called 'Plei Syd' simply smiled. She was so lovely and so at peace in every way. Something about the way she was told Perry that she had a greater strength than could be imagined. He could see how placid she was, and her name, Plei Syd, seemed to be perfect for her. Perry knew that somehow the way she came across was a fulfillment of her destiny.
She was no longer paying any attention to Perry. Even though she was physically sitting next to Perry, it was obvious that she had somehow transported herself into another world. While she was totally there in case Perry needed assistance, she was totally removed from there and engaged in her own life.
Perry found himself wishing that he could learn to calm down and relax himself into other worlds like that. He had never had seen someone do such a thing before, and he found himself envying her for being so capable. Maybe, if he would just close his eyes and let himself relax as fully as possible, he could do such a thing. He had never tried such a thing before, but now that he had seen it, he found himself wanting to do it.
He realized that the hangover he had awakened with was gone. He was still totally drained of any energy and strength, but he was feeling more rested and comfortable than he had in years. Somehow, his time with that young lady had apparently healed him. He just needed a little more rest to regain his strength. As he slowly closed his eyes, he felt himself enveloped in the most gentle full body caress he had ever experienced. It was like he was being gently held comfortingly in the softest cloud that had ever formed in the sky. It was like he was drifting off into perfect peace.
Chapter 4
Perry slowly started noticing something hard pressing against the side of his face. As he started to ponder what it might be, he gradually became aware of his neck and shoulders becoming ever so slightly uncomfortable. In flexing his shoulders to ease the discomfort, he became aware of the fact that he was slumped over. His face was pressing against a table or something.
Straightening up and opening his eyes, Perry saw that he was in a large room filled with tables and chairs. He had, for some unknown reason, apparently fallen asleep at a table in a large restaurant. The restaurant, as near as he could tell was now empty except for him. All of the chairs, except the one in which he was sitting, were upside down on the tables to allow for easy sweeping and mopping of the floor.
The room, itself, had what looked like temporary walls decorated in the traditional Japanese artwork found on the walls of upscale Oriental restaurants. The ceiling, as well, looked temporary and done up in Oriental restaurant style. It looked as though someone had sectioned off a large portion of a warehouse to be the main room of an expensive eatery. There were the doors leading to the kitchen area and the restrooms, of course, but little else except an enormous number of tables and chairs.
Looking around, Perry could see no one other than himself. Fearing he may have gotten himself locked in for the night, Perry jumped up and spun around to get a good look at the entire room. Behind where he had been sitting were the doors to the outside and the counter with the cash registers. An older, though still very lovely, Oriental lady was standing behind the registers straightening things up.
Perry, as he walked over to the registers, noticed that the air in the place was crystal clear. It was the antithesis of what it had been when he had originally entered. Now, instead of being unable to see a thing, Perry could see everything exceptionally well. He was amazed at how large and how wonderfully clean the place looked.
When he arrived at the counter, Perry apologetically said, "It looks like I ended up staying a little longer than I originally intended."
The lady, seeming to be the nicest lady a person could ever hope to meet, replied, "Not a problem! Lots of customers enjoy themselves so much here that they tend to stay. I hope your time here has been enjoyable enough that you will consider retuning again, later?"
Her question caused Perry to try to remember what had happened since he had entered. He could recall the smoke filled room so dark he could barely see his hand in front of his face. He recalled waking up in the very light and airy room where the young lady Plei Syd had been, but there seemed to be nothing else except those two memories.
In a startling revelation, Perry suddenly realized that his time with Plei Syd had been some kind of dream. It had been so vivid and so real that he found it nearly impossible to believe, but it had, beyond all doubt, been nothing but a dream. Perry could not comprehend how that could be, but that was the only possible answer. The question was "What else had happened?". Perry could remember nothing else.
"Everything was very nice," Perry lied. It was an automatic type of response that came from years of being polite and sociable. "How much do I owe for what I had?" he asked.
"No charge. Tea is free and rest of meal untouched, so no charge," the nice lady responded.
"Why, thank you very much," Perry graciously responded. He was indeed very thankful that the lady was, apparently, being so understanding. Few people he knew would be so understanding in similar circumstances.
"I must confess that I have not been as open I maybe I should have been," Perry confessed. "I did not just come here for lunch. I was trying to use lunch as a way to meet someone who could help me with something that is puzzling me. Would it be possible to talk to someone who might be willing to talk with me? Perhaps, someone in charge?"
The eyes of the lady involuntarily shot toward the doors in the back though nothing else showed any reaction at all. She smiled politely and said, "The owner, Liu Syd, has gone to bed already. Maybe, I can be of assistance."
"Quite possibly you can. Are you, perhaps, related to Mr. Syd?" inquired Perry.
"I happen to be his wife, Ay Syd. I was Ay Syd, distant cousin, but we got married several years ago. At that time I was very difficult to be around. Fortunately,
that different now."
Not knowing quite how to respond to that and being a little reluctant to just start discussing the fortune, Perry asked, "What led you to change how you were?"
"It happened when Denise was born. We call her Denise. She is daughter of Tah Syd, Liu's brother. She only relative, so we call her Denise. That made me Aunt Ay Syd. Much more soothing than Ay Syd, you think?"
"Yes."
"That is how change happen. Kind of funny, isn't it. Since real name of Denise is Plei, that make me Plei's Aunt, as well. So I try to be that. Pleasant, that is. I hope it working."
Perry was mildly amused at the way Ay Syd just seemed to ramble contentedly along about her family like that. "Ma'am, personally, I think you are doing a great job at being 'Plei's Aunt', so to speak."
"Please, call me Aunt Ay. Now what can I do for you?"
Being put on the spot by Aunt Ay's direct question, Perry decided to ask about something that Plei Syd had tied to Plei's Aunt already. "Do you know anything about something called 'Wakeful Sleeping'?" asked Perry.
A mild smile barely touched Ay Syd's lips. She knew that Perry was being careful. She knew, as well, all of the details that he was being careful not to blurt out. "I think if you want to learn 'Wakeful Sleeping', you best talk to Liu, but he sleeping. Maybe, you come back tomorrow 'round lunch time?"
Perry was glad to finally be making what looked like progress. "I would be happy to return tomorrow. Should I just come in like I did today, or should I go around to a back door?"
"I give you special directions." With that Aunt Ay pulled out a napkin and began drawing a map. It showed a few easy to recognize streets and the way to something resembling an alley. "You follow streets to this alley. Then you go through the door down the alley and follow the signs to get to Liu. He be waiting for you," she said. The map on the napkin looked easy to follow to the alley, but there was no indication of which door to go through. There was, as well, no indication of what sign to look for.
Perry asked, "How will I know the right door to go through?"
She replied, "Door will appear way you know it should. You know how it look. You no miss it."
Perry was surprised at what he heard her say. She seemed to be saying that he already knew how the door would look. That he would recognize it instantly and know for certain it was the door to go through. He had no idea how that could work. Rather than pursuing that, however, he decided to continue on. "What will the signs that I should follow look like?" he asked.
With that Aunt Ay gave a little laugh. "You make joke. It obvious what signs you follow. They unmistakable to you. Just follow path and it take you to Liu. So easy child do it." She was so certain that Perry could not bring himself to admit to doubting what she was saying.
Perry let his questions about the alley and how to get from there to Liu lie hidden in the back of his mind. Instead, he gently started making small talk about what he could see around the restaurant. Aunt Ay sensed that he was still very much confused, but she knew he needed to learn to trust even when he couldn't see. Knowing that, she simply let her soothingly nice nature take over, and she gently rambled on in small talk.
After a polite length of time, Perry let the conversation wind down and he left to go home. He bid Aunt Ay goodnight and went back outside. The night was strangely clear and yet thoroughly dark as it had been the night before. Everything was clear and easy to see, but the sky was so absolutely black, it felt like it was sucking the light out of everything.
As Perry walked back toward where he lived, he glanced at his watch. He could not believe what he saw. The watch showed that it was now 2:00 AM. Doing some quick arithmetic in his head, Perry almost stopped dead in his tracks when he realized that it had been 15 hours since he had first entered the restaurant. He figured out, earlier, that he had apparently been asleep for part of the time, but 15 hours? It nearly blew his mind.
Then there was that strange dream he had while apparently sleeping. He was at least as confused about that dream as he was about everything else. It had seemed so real, and yet it was so obviously a dream. The young lady named Plei had appeared as such a goddess of loveliness. He could not get that dream out of his mind. What could it all mean?
Arriving home, Perry, in spite of all the varied thoughts vying for his attention, forced himself to go to bed. He found that he was physically tired enough, and mentally relaxed enough, that he could easily fall asleep. He felt more rested than he could remember ever having felt before, yet he could barely keep his eyes open. His sleep, however, was cruelly disrupted by variations of the nightmares he had the night before. It was good that he felt so rested. He was getting so little sleep between the nightmares that it was almost useless to continue trying to sleep.
Chapter 5
After he realized that continuing to try to sleep was accomplishing nothing, Perry decided to stay up and think through, as best he could, what had been going on in his life the last few days. He wasn't getting anywhere with trying to sleep, so why not use the time to try to figure things out.
He got up, got ready for the day, got dressed, and over breakfast started trying to comprehend what was going on. He began trying to analyze the fortune he had gotten. The 'Bitter Tea' referred to in the fortune could, possibly, mean the tea he sipped at The House of Syd. It had certainly smelled like bitter almonds, and it had knocked him out for about 15 hours.
Perry began thinking that who ever had given him that tea had actually planned to kill him. It was lucky on his part that he only had a tiny sip. A full swallow of that stuff would, quite likely, have bought him one of those little four foot by seven foot farms on Boot Hill. He had, indeed, been foolish to drink without having a better understanding of what he was drinking.
Following the text of the fortune, that brought him back to the topic of Dragon Dreams, or, as Plei Syd had spoken of, a Dreaming Dragon. The Dragon Dreams might refer to the nightmares he had suddenly begun having. He could not forget those nightmares, and he could not remember ever having a nightmare before. Obviously, the nightmares were Dragon Dreams of some sort.
The question then became one of how to make them end congenially. That brought him back to 'Wakeful Sleeping'. Maybe, just maybe, that 'Wakeful Sleeping' stuff was some kind of reference to his dream of Plei Syd.
At the time, he actually thought he was fully awake. Yet, later, he realized that he had been sleeping, and it had all been a dream. Perhaps that 'Wakeful Sleeping' was a way of saying one is fully conscious, like being fully awake, while being in the midst of a dream. A kind of 'Wake Dreaming' if you will. That seemed to make some sort of sense.
That would, as well, help to explain what Plei Syd had said about being conscious. Her exact words were very confusing, like some form of difficult riddle, but this idea of being conscious of the fact that you are dreaming, when in fact you are still very much asleep, seemed to bring at least some kind sense to her statements.
Something that Perry found interesting was Plei's references to something she referred to as 'Plei's Aunt Dreams'. He had met Aunt Ay Syd, who said she was referred to as Plei's Aunt. Was it possible that Aunt Ay had somehow had the dream of Perry meeting Plei Syd in that pink room with the sky ceiling? That seemed like something too strange to be true. Plei Syd said that the 'Plei's Aunt Dreams' had saved Perry's life. He would have to consider the idea of 'Plei's Aunt Dreams' again later. He still couldn't comprehend it all.
Turning the paper over brought the so called 'Lucky Numbers' side up again. It was strange that the paper made reference to three sets of numbers instead of one. The three sets of numbers seemed to have some pattern to them, and whatever that pattern was it seemed similar between each of the sets. Maybe that meant that the numbers sets were related to each other.
Perry let his mind wander on the 'HEX' set and thought that the numbers might be the computer representation of the numbers '7 7 3 4'. That seemed like a curious coincidence. The computer representations were in a number system called Hexadecimal which those so-called hackers usually referred to as Hex.
Perry began to wonder if maybe the 'DEC' might stand for Decimal. If that were true, then trying to translate the Hex representation into a Decimal representation would result in the numbers '55 55 51 52'. Just as Hex was the first three letters of Hexadecimal, Dec was the first three letters of Decimal. Perry noticed that as being another curious coincidence.
He began to wonder what word related to numbering systems might begin with the three letters 'OCT'. The only word he could think of was the word Octal. If that were true, the Hex numbers would translate to '67 67 63 64' in Octal. That meant the Octal set represented '7 7 3 4' just like the Hexadecimal and the Decimal sets. Three sets of numbers all representing '7 7 3 4' in the different numbering systems was too much to be just a coincidence, but what did the '7 7 3 4' mean?
There was too much tying all of the references of the numbers together. Usually, the 'Lucky Numbers' were taken to be some kind of lottery number system or something. These, however, were too patterned and interconnected to be just lottery numbers. Unfortunately, Perry still did not understand enough to know what it all meant. He did, vaguely, remember as a preteen using that particular set of numbers, the 7 7 3 4, as a coded way of cussing, but what could that have to do with anything?
When he had reached a point in his pondering where nothing was becoming any more clear, he decided to get ready for meeting with Liu Syd. He was dressed in sort of a business casual style with nice shirt, cuffed slacks, and well polished shoes. He did not even own a coat and tie, so anything more formal would have been impossible. He felt confident that 'business casual' would be fine.
After checking to make sure he looked fine, Perry got out the napkin with the directions on it. He grabbed his handy map book of the city off the shelf, and he began looking for the location to which the directions would lead him. In the process he was, as well, plotting out the easiest way for him to get there. Aunt Ay's directions were nice, but Perry saw ways he could go that would make the journey much easier and faster.
The last part of the directions would lead him to a point that appeared to be the middle of a block. That would be where the entrance to the alley would begin. Perry felt a little concerned about going into an alley looking for a door he didn't know to follow signs he didn't know to get to a man he had never met, but Aunt Ay had assured him that he would know all of this when the time came. He prayed she was right.
When Perry had mapped out his course as best he could, he left to meet with Liu Syd. The way to the alley proved to be extremely simple. It was in a particular area in Sino City where he had never been before, where westerners like him appeared as odd as a three-dollar bill, but no one seemed to notice or care, so why should he. Once there it was easy to recognize the mouth of the alley, but it made a sharp turn a short way down making seeing much of the alley impossible. Perry would have to go in to get a good view.
As it turned out, the alley made many twists and turns as it wound its way between not just two, but several, buildings. Each building seemed to have several doors opening out into the alley, but all of them looked nondescript and totally uninteresting. Perry, going farther and farther into the alley, began to wonder if he would, indeed, be able to recognize the proper door when he came to it.
When Perry had gone what he estimated to be half-way down the twisting and turning alley, he saw a door that, when he first glimpsed at it, seemed to have an image of a Sleeping Dragon on it. The Dragon seemed to be beckoning to him to enter that particular door. However, when Perry looked up and down the alley and then at the door again, the image of the Dragon was gone.
The door, though, somehow seemed to still be beckoning to him. He could not resist the urge he was feeling to go through that particular door. No other door appeared to be appropriate, but that door sure did. Aunt Ay had been right. Perry knew the proper door to go through, even though he had never seen it before.
The door opened into some form of passageway that had many twists and turns. It went, as well, up and down staircases on an unpredictable but frequent basis. Opening into the passageway were door after door after door. It was truly a maze that made keeping track of where he was impossible for Perry. If it weren't for the signs he saw every time he had to choose a way to go, he would never have been able to find his way.
Every so often he would pass a door that had an image of a Sleeping Dragon on it similar to the one on the door in the alley. At each intersection where he had to choose which way to go, an image of a Sleeping Dragon on the wall pointing the way Perry should go. Every other way seemed totally uninteresting and nondescript. The ways marked by the strange signs were beckoning Perry so strongly that he could not resist the urge to go the way that was so clearly marked.
The last door he went through led him into a very large windowless room with no distinguishing features of any kind. The only entry and exit was through the door Perry had just come through. The only things other than bare floor, walls, and ceiling were an elderly Oriental gentleman sitting on a pillow with another pillow sitting on the floor directly in front of him. The man appeared to be as old as the hills and twice as dusty. He appeared, as well, to be asleep.
The second pillow, sitting in front of the old man, looked identical to the one on which the old man was sitting. The empty pillow almost seemed to be calling to Perry to sit on it. Not knowing what else to do, and not wanting to upset the old man by waking him, Perry sat down on the empty pillow facing the old man.
Instantly, Perry was overcome with the urge to let his eyes close so that he could drift off to sleep. Perry did not want to sleep, but he could not think of anything else to do. The urge to sleep was so strong that Perry found it impossible to resist. As his eyelids gently descended, he slipped immediately into a very restful dreamlike state. At that point the old man was not the only one peacefully sleeping in the large almost totally empty room.
Chapter 6
Instantly, Perry found himself sitting on a very ornate Oriental cushion set on a patch of grass in an extremely large and beautiful garden. Directly in front of him was a young man, a few years Perry's senior, sitting on another very ornate Oriental cushion identical to the one upon which Perry was seated. The other man looked alert and attentive and was gazing intently at Perry, as though trying to discern all there was to know about him.
"A thousand pardons. It is not polite for one to stare in such a manner. Please, forgive me. It was not my intent to be so impolite," the man said. "My name is Liu Syd. I believe you may have come to know of me. I am the eldest brother of the one known as Tah Syd. Perhaps, you have come to know of him, as well. The one who is my brother and I are, perhaps, not as close as two brothers should be, but we are quite close as compared to other sets of brothers of whom I have come to know.
"Tah Syd has an only child, a daughter. The one who is my wife and I often refer to the one who is the daughter of Tah Syd as Denise. The one who is the daughter of Tah Syd happens to be the only child of any of any of those who happen to be brothers and sisters of mine. That is why the one who is my wife and I refer to the one who is the daughter of Tah Syd as Denise. The real name of the one who is the daughter of Tah Syd happens to be Plei Syd. It is my belief that the two of you may have already met. If not, the one who is my wife tells me you have dreamed of meeting with the one who is the daughter of Tah Syd. Either way, you have become aware of the one who is Plei Syd.
"Concerning the one who is my wife, from whom you learned of meeting with me, she was a distant cousin of mine. I became married to her many years ago. For many years, from a time before I became married to her, she had been known as a rather caustic individual. Ay Syd tended to be discerned as caustic and unpleasant by just about everyone she happened to be around. I, however, discerned how I could effectively work with her in a way that was most helpful. So I became married to her.
"A while later, when Denise was born to the one who is my brother and the one who is his wife, that made the one who is my wife an Aunt, by virtue of her being married to me. Since becoming Aunt Ay Syd, the one who is my wife has been discerned as being much more soothing and comforting by those with whom the one who is my wife comes into contact. Now others do not mind being in the presence of the one who is my wife. When the one who is my brother Tah Syd gave the one who is Denise the name of Plei, that made the one who is my wife Plei's Aunt. Now the one who is my wife is so congenial and nice that people actually look forward to being in the presence of the one who is my wife. It has made the relationship I have with the one who is my wife much more enjoyable in nature."
When remarking about how much more congenial his wife had become, Liu Syd had a little impish smile on his face. It was clear to Perry that the change in Ay Syd's personality had been a tremendous improvement. Perry could only imagine how difficult living with her had been before the change.
Liu Syd continued telling of himself and his family. "The people that are members of the family of Syd are many in number. It is the belief of those who would know such things that the number of members of the family of Syd living around the world at the present time is well into the thousands. For the most part, the members of the family of Syd tend to be a quiet, hard working people who keep to themselves and do that for which they were destined. Many relatives there are, who happen to be cousins and such, of which I have never even heard, much less experienced the joy of meeting personally. Such is the way of a family that prospers well in fulfilling the destiny for which it exists. One must rely on the integrity of others to provide a framework through which organization and function can be properly maintained."
The manner in which Liu Syd was talking, with the multitude of redundant phrases like "the one who is", required of Perry his complete attention. Perry was not used to listening to such grammatical gymnastics, and it was easy for him to become confused. Perry, however, was managing to understand what was being said in spite of how strangely it was being stated.
Liu Syd continued on. "Many years ago, when the one with whom you wish to converse was barely of an age and wisdom to be able to function as more than just a fool, the one who was the most involved in serving to keep the family of Syd properly organized and functioning well conferred upon this one of barest capability the title of 'Ayl Syd' along with all of the duties and responsibilities required to maintain such a position within the family of Syd. It has been a true labor of love, for there is nothing to do but serve the family of Syd with nothing in return."
Though what Liu Syd was saying could be taken as a form of complaint, his tone of voice and his facial expression made it clear that he enjoyed being the Ayl of The House of Syd. It seemed to Perry that what Liu was saying that being Ayl made Liu the slave of all the other members of the family of Syd, and that he enjoyed being such a slave.
As Perry repeated the title 'Ayl Syd' over and over in his head, he noticed how similar that tile was to the Spanish title 'El Cid'. In Spanish history, 'El Cid' was the great leader that led his people to greatness by ending the control of the Moors in Spain. Even though Liu Syd made it sound as though he was nothing but a worthless slave, the similarity led Perry to believe that Liu Syd was the great leader and patriarch of The House of Syd.
If that were true, then Perry needed to make sure that he was as humble and respectful as such a great leader deserved him to be. It would not be appropriate for him to, in anyway, slight, embarrass , or impose on Ayl Syd. Such a great leader deserved the greatest honor and respect that Perry could give. Perry suddenly felt ashamed for trying to use Liu Syd as a means of getting information about something as trivial as a throw-away fortune from a dime-a-dozen Fortune Cookie.
Liu Syd, apparently, did not notice that Perry had just had an epiphany about who Liu really was. Instead, Liu was continuing on with his talk about his family. "For the most part, the family of Syd is fulfilling the destiny for which it exists. Unfortunately, there is one upon whom my efforts to serve the family of Syd seems wasted. The name of that one happens to be Rayn Syd. As one would conclude from such a name, that one tends to be full of rottenness and disease to the well being of the family of Syd.
"That one for which I have such great concern is, fortunately, a very distant cousin to the one who is Plei Syd. The two are of a similar age. I know not for sure which one is the elder of the other. I do know that the two of them are much more similar than one would believe of such distant cousins.
"The one who is Rayn Syd has an interesting view of herself. That one who is Rayn Syd believes that she is actually an incarnation of the great Ruler of The Dragons that is believed to have lived in the days of old. The one who is Rayn Syd dresses in ways that emphasizes the belief in dragons. The one who is Rayn Syd will even pretend to be dragon-like in as many ways as she can imagine.
"But here the one who is the servant has been usurping the conversation from the one who visits. Please, forgive the humble servant, and share what is on the heart."
Perry realized he needed to apologize for the way he had been behaving. "Master Ayl, it is I who have been behaving in such an atrocious manner. It is I who must lower my head in shame. For I have forced myself on the House of Syd in a most abrasive way. I have barged in and annoyed the wife of the Ayl Syd while she was fulfilling her purpose." Perry hoped that his attempt to use the phraseology of Master Ayl might help make Perry less loathe some in the Master's sight.
"I have interrupted the Master, wasting the valuable time that the Master needs in administering to the House of Syd. Such a position requires all of the time that the one who is Ayl can give, and I have broken in and stolen a significant quantity of that time in pursuit of trivia.
"I have interrupted the Master while he was engaged in duties that can be accomplished by none other. I have stolen resources from the Master that can never be recovered. I deserve to be placed where those unworthy of consideration are sent to spend out their days. Please, forgive me, Master. I have nothing left to do but shrink away in embarrassment." With that Perry bowed his head in shame and wished that he could just melt away into nothingness.
Chapter 7
Having listened with the greatest of patience and attention to what Perry had said, Master Ayl responded, "Nonsense! The servant of all can not be greater than the least of those he serves. You have done that which you needed to do to get assistance with that which now troubles you the most. It is not a shame for one to seek the assistance of others with wisdom in the area where the one has need. You have apologized much for that which required none. I accept that which you have given, and I now stand ready to lend what assistance one of such a lowly state as I can offer.
"In discussion wit the one who is my wife, it is clear that you have tasted the bitter tea of foolishness. Such would have been a disastrous end for one of such potential. However, fortune did smile upon the one and bring forth an advantageous opportunity. For the one overcome by foolishness did happen upon the giftedness of the one who is known as Plei's Aunt.
"It was the dreams of the Plei's Aunt one that opened the door to a much greater opportunity than otherwise would have been available. For that which was intended for the greatest of evil that one can endure has been transformed into an opportunity of great advancement and growth into the being one has been destined to become. It has been the Plei's Aunt Dreams that have transformed the situation to one of great benefit.
"The following of the Signs of The Dragon show that there is a need of assistance. Such is not seen by those for which life is progressing well. Only those who have need of the quest for development can discern the way the Sleeping Dragon will lead. It is clear that the one who has come has a trouble of the heart that can only be lightened with the assistance of others.
"Pray tell me, oh one with the worlds weight dragging him down, what troubles the heart and makes one to seek such assistance?"
Perry realized that the Master was asking him to explain all that had lead him to the garden. He decided that if the Master wanted to know what brought him there, he had best start at the beginning. That meant going back to the faux pax in the restaurant that had occurred two nights prior.
"It started two nights ago. I was enjoying a nice dinner in an Oriental restaurant that I consider to be a place of celebration. I was celebrating the end of another school year of bus driving. At the end of the meal, I made a most horrid blunder.
"When the server brought the Fortune Cookie that I consider the dessert of a meal well enjoyed, I accidentally knocked the poor thing onto the floor. It slid under the edge of a nearby table where a lady dressed entirely in red happened to be sitting."
Master Ayl, though he seemed to be lost in some form of private meditation, simply asked, "What did this lady happen to look like?"
"Master, I really did not get a good look at her. I was caught up in my own little celebration. I think, though, that she was a extremely attractive young lady, like the one known as Plei Syd, though much more emphatic in appearance. If I remember, she was wearing a red outfit that was covered with the images of dragons, the dragons were drawn by the faintest of gold outlines on an otherwise entirely red outfit."
The Master nodded in a knowing way. Perry was certain that Master Ayl recognized who the lady was, even though the description was so poor. The Master, having had his curiosity satisfied, asked Perry to continue.
"Without realizing the outcome of what I was doing, I got up and retrieved the cookie. Unfortunately, just as I grabbed the cookie, the lady happened to shift in a way that caught my eye, and I glanced at her in a most inappropriate way. Instantly realizing what I had done, I immediately stood up, banging my head sharply on the table, and went back to my own table."
The Master remarked, "A most regrettable accident, but just an accident, none the less."
Perry continued, "Unfortunately, the lady did not see it that way. I think she must have thought I did it deliberately. She got an older gentleman, who apparently was some form of magician or something, involved. He came over to her table and started doing some form of strange ritual, with incense, chanting, and hand waving. I don't know what it was all about, but I know that at the end, they both vanished in a puff of smoke."
"Ah so! She got him who causes woe involved. It is not surprising that one such as her would do such a thing. Tell me did something with you noticeably alter in nature?"
Perry tried to think of what changed. It was then that he realized how peculiar the Fortune Cookie had become. "Why yes," he said. "Th Fortune Cookie was different from any such cookie I had ever had. It suddenly had an intense smell of organic fertilizer. When I ate it, just before reading the enclosed fortune, it had a peculiar earthy taste like one would expect if they were, indeed, eating such a substance. Looking back on it, I can see how strange it was, but at the time i just seemed to overlook it.'
The Master commented, "Such is the way with such spells when one comes under their influence. Though I discern that to be just a part. What more stood out as different from the norm."
Perry went on. "The side that normally has a set of about six 'Magic Numbers' on it actually contained three sets of four numbers each. As I later analyzed the numbers, I saw that they really represented the number '7734' in three different ways. I have never noticed a fortune with numbers like that before.
"The number, '7734', is a number that I as a child used to represent the word 'Hell'. Seeing that number represented in three different ways made me think that, perhaps, whoever produced the Magic Number part of the fortune was using the number the same way. The question 'Why three times?' instantly popped into my mind. Could it be referring to three different kinds of Hell, or could it be referring to just one Hell experience in three different manners? I have been unable to figure it out, but I feel it is significant."
The Master let the faintest glimmer of a smile shape his lips. "I am impressed. It is one thing to ponder the different possible meanings of a number such as that. It is quite another to be able to discern that the three sets of numbers presented reduce to that number. The number of ones able to make such a determination is noticeably smaller than the number of those who would not be able. Is there not more, however, than just the number?"
Perry continued. "The fortune side spoke of a Dragon Dream making a fool drink Bitter Tea. Some people think fortunes never come true. I am proof that one came true. It went on to speak of the wise making Dragon Dream end congenially. I have no idea what that part means.
"Since receiving that fortune I have been plagued by nightmares of dragons, exploding fortune cookies, and pots of poisoned tea. Those nightmares always end in me waking in a sweat as I am about to die. That is possibly what is meant by the Dragon Dreams, but how can one make them end congenially? I am not able to get the rest I need because of all of these nightmares. I wish I could make those nightmares end in a way that would give me rest.
"The fortune talks of something called 'Wakeful Sleeping' as being the key. I think that might mean becoming consciously aware of the fact ones dreaming while they are in the midst of a dream, but how is that done? When I as at the House of Syd, I experienced something like that in meeting Plei Syd, but I really don't understand it. Was my meeting of Plei Syd just a dream, or did I really meet her? If that is what 'Wakeful Sleeping' is, how can I do it consistently and use it to fight off the Dragon Dreams?"
"Of course, you are probably well aware of all that happened when I went to the House of Syd. I found out about the House of Syd by doing research on the name Liu Syd that was at the end of the fortune. I had never actually seen a fortune signed before. I figured if anyone could help me understand what the fortune meant it would be the Master. That is what drew me to the House of Syd. I came in search of answers of what it all means."
"It was there that I drank the Bitter Tea and fell unconscious at the table. It was while unconscious that I, apparently, met with Plei Syd and was healed of the effects of the tea. I have been led to believe that to be the effect of the one who is Plei's Aunt having Plei's Aunt Dreams for me. After waking, I met the one known as Plei's Aunt and, as you a probably well aware, she was the one who gave me the directions that led me here.
"I found her explanation of how to meet the Master most confusing at the time. She told me to go to the alley, go through the door, and follow the signs to where the Master was. I did not know, at the time, how I would know the door, or what signs I should follow. She said that I would know them at the time. I, obviously, was able to follow her instructions, but I still do not understand how I knew the door and saw the signs. It is all still a mystery to me."
Chapter 8
Perry readily admitted, "When it comes to analyzing things and making decisions when you can not clearly see the outcome and dealing with human nature rather than just technical stuff, I am the most simple minded person who ever lived. When they handed out brains, I must have thought they said trains, and I certainly missed mine. I have absolutely none of what people refer to when they talk of 'Common Sense'. I am but the most foolish of those considered to be fools.
"That is how I was so easily tricked into drinking Bitter Tea. I have no wisdom whatsoever. I have no value at all. I am nothing more than a cockroach in the big kitchen called Life. I scurry about stealing crumbs and trying not to get crushed and accomplishing nothing. I am by far the most to be pitied.
"Yet, I have a burning desire to make something of my life. If given the opportunity, I would do whatever it takes to change. It's just that I can not see what to do or how to do it. I need some form of guidance to go on.
"I wold be willing to study and thoroughly think through everything presented to me. I know that th best way to learn things is to actually go through them, and I would be willing to go through anything to change. If I study enough and do enough, maybe I can learn, and if I learn, maybe I will finally understand some of this, and maybe if I can understand, I will finally be a wise person."
The whole time Perry had been talking he had noticed that the Master had a quiet, disinterested, type of look on his face. The Master looked as though his mind was millions of miles away, even though he was there politely listening to Perry ramble on and on. The Master was exceedingly polite, as Orientals always are, but still there was that feeling that the Master couldn't care less.
"Forgive me, Master," Perry quietly said. "I am just dragging you down into my folly with me. I have no one but myself to blame for my folly. I cannot expect others to help me get out of things that are of my own causing. They have problems enough of their own. I have no right to impose and demand that others help me.
"You have the House of Syd restaurant to care for. You have, as well, the entire family of Syd to administer and care for. It is totally uncalled for to have me here wasting your precious time putting up with my foolishness. This irresponsible uncaring cockroach should just scurry back to his hole and leave those who are working free to do their work."
Master Ayl opened his eyes and looked deep into Perry's eyes. After several seconds, the Master broke off his stare and again began to talk. "It is hoped that one such as you can be forgiving enough to let me agree with what you have said. You are, indeed, one of a rather simple mind. However, being one of such a simple mind is not, in and of itself, a matter which one should look down upon with shame and disgust.
"You have described yourself as little more than a cockroach in the great kitchen of Life. Do you not know that cockroaches are found in every house? One knows with certainty that one will find the cockroach in the poor man's hovel. There the filth and foolishness that breeds such vermin is a constant companion to all who are there. It is of no surprise that cockroaches flourish there.
"Yet, the cockroach is found in the palace of the king, as well. In the elegance of such surroundings, it is impossible to eliminate even one so simple minded as the cockroach. It survives regardless of how hard one tries to eliminate it. In fact the more one tries to make the palace cockroach free, the more the cockroach multiplies. Even the king, himself, has seen the poor creature scurrying for shelter.
"By the same token, the simpleton is found in every place under the sun. It is of no shame to be uneducated. All are uneducated when they first enter the world. The problem comes when the uneducated loses the desire to gain the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom that will improve his lot in life. For such a one there is no hope. He will but revel in his foolishness, and will revile any who seek to effect a change.
"The one, however, who is willing to learn will grow in Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom. He will develop and grow in ways that will amaze those around him. There are no limits to the heights he will reach, as long as he keeps reaching. Try to teach a simpleton, and he will learn and become educated, but try to teach a fool, and he will reject the teaching and rather revel in his foolishness."
Perry was listening intently. He knew that Master Ayl was an extremely wise man, and he knew that if he could take what the Master was saying to heart, he to could grow in wisdom. He just hoped he had what it would take to learn from one like Master Ayl.
Master Ayl could see that Perry was carefully pondering all that the Master was saying. There was, indeed, much hope f the one that spoke of being a cockroach, but then the Master had discerned as much the first day he had met Perry in the palace in Japan. That, though, was something of which Perry had yet to learn.
The Master continued, "One has undoubtedly heard of the so called 'Diamond in The Rough'. Even a diamond in the rough, though in the rough as it is, is still a diamond. In the rough it looks dirty, uninteresting, and absolutely worthless. If, however, one takes that diamond and spends but a moment's worth of time polishing it, it will become a magnificent gem that is worth more than a king's ransom. A little bit of idle time spent polishing, and one ends up with a fortune at his disposal. One must take care not to fail to recognize one's potential, as unpolished as one might be."
With that the Master gave a mischievous little grin, and began giving Perry some assignments to see if Perry was as serious as the Master knew him to be. "Now then, my little cockroach, it is time for the quest to begin. The first thing is to write down each and every dream which comes through the night, or through the day if one be so sleep inclined, in the fullest of detail. Make sure that nothing is omitted or overlooked in the writing.
"When within the dreams of which one will write, if one finds one's self awake, take care to exercise one's will in a positive manner. For thus, one makes the dream go well, and a dream that goes in such a way benefits the dreamer more than realized. A congenial ending brings much progress, but a tragic end leaves nothing but grief.
"When, as on the quest one progresses, the time to return to the garden is at hand, enter not in solitude, but rather bring the companion, as well. For it is important that one shares such important occurrences with the companion of one's dreams.
"As for the return to the garden, the proper gate must be used when next one enters. The gate of entrance just used will not open again. However, the proper gate opens at will. Though, one must have the proper key and use it in the proper way."
Perry was visibly confused by what he was now hearing. It was as if Perry were in school again and getting assignments from his teacher. Could it be that the Master was giving his student homework to be completed by the next class? Even if such were the case, the assignments sounded so confusing.
"Forgive me, Master, for I am but lost in the pit of confusion. How can one find himself awake within a dream? If I awake within a dream, does that not end the dream? Even if I could awaken within a dream, how can I control its outcome? Dreams are ... dreams.
"I fail to understand, as well, you words concerning the garden. I asked Plei's Aunt about 'Wakeful Sleeping' and she said I needed to talk with the Master. It was Plei's Aunt who told me how to get here. What other way is there? Is there some other alley that leads to a door that is locked? I have no idea of how to find such a door or its key. Yet, you speak as though it is obvious to me.
"Then there is the talk of a companion. I am almost ashamed to admit that I have no companion. There is no one for me to share my dreams with. I am but a lone stranger wandering about in a strange lonely world. How can I bring a companion with me when I have none?
"I am afraid that if I were a student and you were the teacher, at this point I would be failing the class completely. There is so much that I fail to understand. I feel as though I am being buried alive underneath a mountain of information that should be common knowledge to me. My only hope is that one such as you would have pity on me and spoon feed me the lessons in pieces small enough that even someone as ignorant as I could comprehend."
With that Perry could do nothing but hang his head in shame. Here was the great leader of the entire family of Syd, and Perry was wasting the time of one so great. Perry just wanted to sink into the ground and vanish into nothingness. He could not imagine how conceited and arrogant he must have come across as being to boldly come to one such as Ayl Syd only to be shown as such a fool in failing to understand what the Ayl was speaking of in such a simple way.
Chapter 9
Master Ayl smiled. "Ah so, little cockroach views himself through eyes of others rather than seeing himself as he truly is. A servant, such as this lowly one from the House of Syd, does what is profitable in advancing the family that he serves as a part of fulfilling his duties. When that which the servant engages becomes counterproductive, the wise servant refrains from continuing in such a direction.
"As long as the cockroach continues to evolve, it is in the best interest of the servant to provide that which will further the evolution of the cockroach. However, the moment the cockroach reaches the height to which he can evolve, the servant will desist from giving any heed to such a one.
"If the servant serves the cockroach well, the evolution of the cockroach will result in a metamorphosis into a most beautiful of beings. If the cockroach lives up to his potential, the cockroach will develop as fully as is possible. Thus, it is a quest to see which will most effectively fulfill his own respective destiny. Will the servant fulfill his destiny in proving to be wise enough to know when to desist in providing resources to the cockroach? Or, will the cockroach show himself greater than the servant by fulfilling his destiny in evolving past the point where the servant can be of any further assistance?"
The Master then went on to deal with Perry's concerns. "The one who sees himself as but a cockroach in the sight of others engages in 'Wakeful Sleeping' already. For consider how the cockroach encountered the one that is known as Denise. The one that is Plei Syd was of such a calm nature knew better than to react to the presence of one so lowly as a cockroach. Thus, the one who sees himself as but a cockroach in the sight of others was able to continue evolving.
"Then there is the visit to the garden that the one who sees himself as a cockroach in the eyes of others has made. If the reality of the moment be seen for what it actually is, then 'Wakeful Sleeping' is but the resource that makes such a visit even a possibility. For it is a certainty beyond contradiction that the lowliest of servants in the House of Syd has seen many more years than appearance would indicate. The appearance of the garden, as well, points to the 'Wakeful Sleeping'. The garden is considerably more than an empty room in some old abandoned warehouse would seem.
"Then there is the concern of knowing a true companion when such a companion enters one's life. There is wisdom about such things that has been repeated so many times by the wise and the fool alike that many find wisdom in it no longer. Such as those have failed to ponder the wisdom sufficiently. It is said, 'A friend in need is a friend in deed'. As one who seriously ponders such a statement is quick to note, it is a two edged statement. If one should find another who has a need and the one fulfills the need of the other, then the one could be considered the friend of the other. It is equally true that if one should have a need and another finds that the one has the need and fulfills that need, then the one has found a friend in the other. True friendship encompasses both sides of the wisdom contained therein. Thus, if the one and the other should both fulfill the needs they find in each, they are true friends in deed. That is how one comes to know one's companions.
"These two concepts are obvious even to the most casual of observers. There is a third concept that is necessitated to get the most benefit of the time one spends engaging in enlightening activities and the time one spends with the other who is one's companion. One must cultivate the ability to cogitate and ruminate with effectiveness.
The Master stopped and gazed deeply into Perry's eyes. Perry had been listening closely to all the Master had been saying, and it had started to sink into his consciousness. Perry realized he would have to think all of this through in detail when the opportunity availed itself to understand things more thoroughly, but he was understanding enough that he was no longer feeling totally overwhelmed by it all. The Master was able to discern that Perry was comprehending more than he may have believed himself to be comprehending. The Master was well pleased.
Perry kept his eyes on Master Ayl as the Master continued the discourse. "It has been said, 'He who has eyes let him see'. To truly see one must really look. Any fool can see. The wise discerns much by truly looking. To see all there is to see, one must cogitate to look so well.
"The same goes on to state, 'He who has ears, let him hear'. Again, to truly hear one must really listen. Any fool can hear. The wise has trained the ears to truly listen. To understand what one has heard, one must ruminate.
"That is the rationale to justify the writing down of all that is dreamed. One must ponder to discern all that the dream contains. That would involve all that was seen and heard. To discern the wisdom found within that which was seen and heard, one must consider, as well, in what manner it happened to be seen and heard.
"To ponder and discern that which is wise, one must know that which happened. As a means of ensuring that one discerns the truth, one must remember it all. The way to ensure one's memory would be to write down all that was experienced. Then it is but a matter of pondering all that was written.
"One whose life is sustained by the fruit of the field knows the food comes only through work. As any who has considered the process is well aware, the only outcome of a well tended field is that which was planted. The reaper brings forth only that which was sown.
"If one puts forth what one has to offer in Wisdom, then in proportion to one's effort put forth one will regain Wisdom. It takes but one seed to produce a plant. Yet, the plant produces seed beyond number. The sowing of a little Wisdom produces Wisdom consistent with one's level of endeavor. Sixty, eighty, or one hundred fold based on how the field was tended.
"In the same manner so it works with foolishness. The more foolishness one sows, the greater the folly one reaps. It matters not the type of foolishness. Any, when planted in the soil of one's heart, will bring forth a great crop of folly.
"One must exert great care in tending the field of the heart. One must aid the advancement of the Wisdom as it matures. At the same time, one must be diligent to quickly and decisively weed out all foolishness as soon as its head shows above the surface of the soil. Take care to only sow that which will bring benefit. Weed out the folly. What will be left will be a harvest of Wisdom that will bring forth great profit."
Perry's greatest concern was gaining entrance back into the garden. The Master could sense the uncertainty. Therefore, Master Ayl spoke to the concern. "The road to the garden transforms to fit the traveler. The path shown by the one who is now Plei's Aunt was the simple path that can be traversed by a child. It could be used by any, but it is specifically for the one too simple to use another way. However, if one is evolving as one should, it is clear that the path of the child will no longer lead to the garden.
"Part of developing Wisdom is being able to discern one's way when the road in unclear. When one can discern the way, the garden will be the certain destination. Wisdom will lead the way. Knowledge will make the gate obvious. Understanding is the key. For the one who has grown, getting to and entering the garden is the simplest of simple endeavors.
"If the garden does not become an easy destination, then it shows that one is just wasting one's time. The Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding that allows entrance to the garden possible is of the most elementary level. Failure at getting to the garden shows a lack of Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding that results only in folly. Waste not one's time in folly. Spend the time alloted to pursuing Wisdom. Otherwise, one will lose the way."
Though the Master had a unique way of saying it that required at least some level of understanding, the intent of what was said was clear. If Perry grew in Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding, he would get back to the garden without even trying. If Perry did not make it back to the garden, to pursue trying to learn from the Master would just be an unforgivable waste of the Master's time.
Perry would have to be very careful to accomplish the tasks the Master had set before him. It would take a lot of diligence. He would have to train himself to cogitate and ruminate. He would have to grow to show the Master that Perry could develop to the point of living at his fullest potential.
Perry had already been trying to think things through. The getting from 'Thinking things through' to 'Cogitating and ruminating to discern the truth' would be, perhaps, just a deepening of what Perry was already doing. It would, hopefully, be just an extension of his current capabilities.
As for the 'Wakeful Dreaming', if it was true that dreams of that sort was how Perry met Plei Syd and Master Ayl, then there was an excellent chance he would be able to learn the technique and be able to use it to his benefit. Apparently, it was not that difficult. Perry needed, though, to learn how to do it unassisted. If the rest of the things he was getting involved in were things that just occurred as he developed, maybe, as he developed, the 'Wakeful Dreaming' would just happen. If nothing else, at least Perry was gradually getting better at being able to cope with uncertainty.
Chapter 10
Master Ayl stood and turned to face Perry. Not knowing what was going to happen next, Perry stood an faced Master Ayl. The Master smiled broadly and said, "Little Cockroach, I have laid quite a burden on you, but I am convinced that you are up to the task. Unfortunately, it is time for me to move along. The is much to tell and much to learn, but other duties require attention first. Where ever you fare, fare well." With that the Master bowed deeply from the waist.
Perry responded, "Thank you so much for all you have already done, Master Ayl. I trust that I will prove worthy of the confidence you have placed in me. I will do all that is needed to bare your load with the dignity and honor it deserves." Then Perry bowed low from the waist. He bowed so low that all he could see was the ground. Holding the bow for long enough to show proper respect, Perry then straightened up.
When Perry straightened back up, he noticed that Master Ayl was no where to be seen. In addition, Perry noticed that there was only one cushion where, formerly, there had been two. Knowing not what else to do, Perry sat back down on the cushion to ponder the sudden silent departure of the Master. Closing his eyes for just an instant, Perry was surprised, upon re-opening them, to find that he was sitting on the asphalt of an alley.
Perry was sitting on the ground at the end of a blind alley. As he looked around, he saw no doors or entryways into the alley. It did proceed about a hundred feet in front of him and then took a sharp turn to one side preventing him from seeing the street the alley spilled into. There were no doors into the alley at all. There were only fire escapes coming down the side of the building. The alley was not used for anything more than a way to get out in case of fire.
When Perry went down the alley and back to the street, he noted that the alley had no doors whatsoever. Perry thought that to be very strange. What made it even stranger was the fact that the alley was the exact same alley he had entered to find his way to Master Ayl. That seemed impossible, but then the entire meeting with the Master had seemed impossible. It was obvious that Perry had much to ponder.
Deciding to take his time going home, Perry began meandering through the city as a way to clear his mind. When he passed a rather small, hole-in-the-wall, bookstore, he stopped in and purchased a small but nicely ornate journal that had an Oriental look to it. Perry figured that if he was going to use it for carrying out Master Ayl's assignment, it might as well have a look to it that would remind him of its purpose.
As Perry continued on his meandering journey home, Perry found himself passing a store specializing in various forms of pens. Stopping in, Perry saw a pen that had a barrel decorated as though it were a scene from some exquisite garden. Perry could not resist purchasing the pen as a reminder of where he had first met Master Ayl and the place to which he would return when he had developed enough.
Perry's relatively random path home eventually led him through the community where his parents still lived. Passing the bank that was just a few blocks from his parents house, Perry noticed several police cars around the bank and crime scene tape stretched all around to keep people away. Apparently, the bank had just been robbed.
Letting his curiosity get the best of him, Perry wandered over to where he could actually see in the bank. Perry, as he looked through the bank window, realized he was seeing his mother inside talking to a man that was easily recognizable as a detective of some sort. Instantly, Perry, ignoring the tape in the way, sprinted to the door of the bank and tried to force his way in.
A uniformed officer was blocking the door and forcing Perry to stay outside. The officer was trying to convince Perry that he needed to get back behind the tape. Perry, for his part, was screaming at the officer about having to get in to where his mother was. To make matters even worse, if that were possible, Perry's mother came over and started screaming at the officer, as well, to try to get him to let Perry in.
Seeing that the situation was rapidly getting way out of hand and threatening to compromise the investigation of the robbery, the detective who had been talking with Perry's mother came over and told the officer to let Perry in. The detective would take responsibility. Having gotten the officer to let Perry in, the detective warned Perry not to even think of touching anything, and not to make so much as a breathing sound unless specifically spoken to.
Leading Perry and his mother back inside to a more quiet place away from the door, the detective turned to Perry and demanded, "NOW! Who are you and what the ... uhm ... what are you doing here!"
Perry responded by saying, "My name is Normel, Perry Normel. I am the son of my mother, here. I happened to be walking by and saw her through the window."
When Perry had said his name the detective had noticeably perked up. He asked, "Did you just say that your name was Para Normal??!"
"No, sir. I said my name was NorMEL, Perry NorMEL. My first name is Perry, you know, like Perry Como?"
The detective had a rather peculiar look on his face. "Mister Nor-MEL, would you, PLEASE, tell me the name of your mother!"
"Sure, sir, her name is NorMEL, Abigail NorMEL, though everyone calls her AB."
"Her name is Abigail Nor-MEL, but everyone calls her AB Nor-MEL?"
"Yes, sir."
Perry heard the detective mutter under his breath, "When she said her name, I thought she was saying, 'I'm abnormal.' I guess she wasn't just giving me a hard time after all."
Turning to Perry's mother, the detective said, "Mrs. Nor-MEL, I owe you an apology. I am deeply sorry for how as was responding to you. I mistakenly thought you were just giving me a had time by claiming to be abnormal."
Perry reached out and sympathetically touched the detective's arm. "Sir, she tends to do that just to see how people will respond. Before she married my father, her name was Seize. She insisted that people call Abbie because she taught preschoolers the alphabet. She thought it appropriate for someone like her to be called Abbie Seize."
The detective responded, "Why am I not surprised. Mr. Nor-MEL, would you be willing to do me a BIG favor?"
Perry was uncertain about what he might be getting himself in for, but he knew the detective had already had a time with Perry's mother. She seemed to get a sort of perverse joy out of saying and doing things in ways that were technically right, but that would be misunderstood in a way that would make it clear they were being misunderstood, like insisting on introducing herself as Ab Normel so people would misunderstand and think she was warning them that she was abnormal.
Perry decided to have mercy on the detective and help in whatever way he could. Perry responded to the request with, "Sure. What can I do to help?"
The detective looked noticeably relieved. "Would you mind assisting me in getting a statement from your mother?"
"Sure. No problem, sir."
At that point, another detective came over and said, "Captain, the loan officer's office has been cleared. You can start using it as a place to take statements."
The detective who had been talking to Perry and his mother responded, "Thank you, Lieutenant ." Turning to Perry and his mother, the Captain said, "If you would please, follow me." The Captain then led the way to the loan officer's office.
There, in the relative quietness of the office, the Captain began getting a statement from Perry's mother through Perry. As it turned out, Ab Normel had missed the entire event. She had gone into the Ladies Room just before the robber had entered the bank, and she did not leave the Ladies Room until after the robber had already left the bank. She had been where she could not see or hear anything during the entire robbery.
During his mother's statements, Perry kept having to stop and refocus her on the task at hand. She kept trying to get off on diversions about how the bank had changed over the years, the decor in the lobby, the cleanliness of the Restrooms, and the friendliness of the people who worked there. Without Perry's help, it was clear that the Captain would have been driven to total exasperation by the ordeal.
As it was, Ab Normel was able to complete her statement in only about half an hour without troubling the Captain over it at all. It did take noticeably longer than it should have, but with Perry's help, the Captain had to do little more than write down the pertinent fact that Ab Normel had been in the Restroom at the time and missed the whole thing. The Captain thanked God for Perry's assistance.
Perry's mother, however, was a little upset over the whole ordeal. It was bad enough that she missed out on what would have been an exciting adventure for her, but to make matters worse, she was now being denied the opportunity to do the business for which she had come to the bank in the first place. Then there was the fact that this ... this ... Captain was detaining her and making her miss her favorite TV shows. At least she had fun in the beginning seeing the Captain respond to her saying her name was Ab Normel. She loved the way his face contorted when he misunderstood and thought she was claiming to be abnormal.
When the Captain was satisfied that there was nothing of any real significance to be gained by questioning Ab Normel any further, he thanked Perry and his mother for their assistance in the matter. As a required, though in this case unnecessary formality, he obtained contact information from both of them, gave them each his card, in case they should think of anything pertinent to the investigation, and warned them VERY STRONGLY not to talk to anyone about what had occurred.
As the Captain escorted the two of them out of the bank and back beyond the crime scene tape, he felt a sense of relief at sending them on their way. The Captain just hoped he would never have to deal with either one of them ever again.
Chapter 11
Perry walked his mother back home and spent a little time with her and his father, Foley. It was a pleasant time, as it always was, when he could enjoy their company. After Perry had graduated from college and, more as a lark to keep from getting bored, took a job driving a school bus while he looked for a real job, he had grown to appreciate his parents company more than he ever would have imagined.
His parents, at least in the beginning, did not think much of his school bus driving, but when they saw how much he seemed to enjoy it, they accepted it as being good for him. His father, Foley, was a firm believer in the old maxim that if a man did what he enjoyed, he would never have to work a day in his life. In the few years the Perry had spent driving the school buses, Foley could see the truth of that maxim. Fortunately, Perry earned enough money being a school bus driver to keep himself financially solvent. Perry certainly was not getting rich by any stretch of the imagination, but he was earning enough to keep himself satisfied. He and his parents agreed that being satisfied was much more important than making lots of money at a job that one hated. It gave Perry, as well, lots of time to spend with his parents. That made it work out well for all concerned.
After leaving his parents, Perry went back to his apartment. There he started making use of his new journal and his new pen to record all that he could remember about the events that had occurred over the last three days. The time he had spent in the bank with his mother and the Police Captain had convinced him of the need to make careful note of everything he could possibly recall about what had happened.
Perry was careful to record every possible detail about the Fortune Cookie incident. He wrote about the appearance of the Lady in Red. He wrote about the dropping of the cookie. He included the bumping of his head and spilling tea all over the lady's table when he suddenly stood up. He even described every detail he could possibly remember about being cursed by the old man. In writing it down, Perry had become absolutely convinced that the old man had, indeed, somehow managed to cursed him in some way.
After writing down every little detail about what he had seen and what he had heard during the Fortune Cookie incident, Perry went on to write about his adventures at the House of Syd. He wrote down every little detail he could recall of the building, going inside, the atmosphere, the server, the faux pax of asking about Liu Syd, and the meal the server brought. Perry even described, as best he could, the sipping of the bitter tea.
Perry made sure that he recorded all that he possibly could of the 'Wake Dream', for he had decided to refer to those strange kind of dreams as 'Wake Dreams', in which he met Plei Syd. While Perry tried to recall every possible detail of the dream and his conversation, within the dream, with Plei Syd, He found himself beginning to discern more of what Plei Syd had been meaning by what she had said. Gradually, things that had made no sense whatsoever in the beginning were becoming more and more sensible.
When Perry started writing about his awakening with his head on the table, he remembered what the Master had told him about Ay Syd. It seemed almost too incredible to believe that the lady Perry had come to know as Aunt Ay could be the same caustic individual the Master had described her as. Perry found himself being thankful that the brother, Tah Syd, had the good fortune to have a daughter like Plei. It was so much better dealing with the one who was Plei's Aunt than to deal with one who would be Ay Syd.
It seemed to be taking Perry a long time, but as he recorded all he could possibly remember about what had occurred over the last three days, he was finding that much of what had been so confusing was becoming clear to him. That was becoming even more evident as Perry continued to write and reached the point of writing about his meeting with Liu Syd.
The whole experience of following Dragon Signs to get to the Master and suddenly finding himself transported into that garden was phenomenal to Perry. He found that writing of his experience in meeting with the Master was helping to clarify so much. Perry now had a better understanding about what 'Wake Dreams' were like. He still had much to learn about them, but at lest now he had a good idea of what they were and what it was like to experience them.
Perry realized, however, that he still had much to learn. For instance, how was it possible for the long maze-like alley that had led him to Liu Syd to suddenly become a short blind alley with no doors. Then there was the question of how Perry had been transported from the nearly empty room in the abandoned warehouse to the asphalt of that blind alley. While Perry realized that he now understood much more than he had understood before, he realized that he had not even begun to understand as much as he would have to in order to get back to the garden.
When Perry had finished writing all that he could possibly remember, he decided that he needed to go to bed. It was so late, and he was so tired, that it would be much better for him to get a good night's sleep and ponder the things he had written in the morning. His only wish was that he would have a restful sleep instead of one constantly being interrupted by Dragon Dreams. Just before closing his eyes and committing the day to history, Perry commanded himself to have a Plei's Aunt Dream to give himself rest. He had little idea, as his eyes closed for the night, what that command would mean to his life.
Perry, as his body was lying asleep in his bed, slowly became aware of the fact that he was sitting, enjoying some prime rib, in a restaurant he had never ever been in. Across the way he saw a person that he somehow knew to be Tim Mitchell, whoever that was. How he could be aware of all of this left Perry wondering what was going on. He had a strange feeling that this had to be a dream.
Suddenly, Perry was fully aware of being in a special restaurant having a special meal for some special reason that would become apparent as the dream progressed. This was so obviously a 'Wake Dream' that Perry could not miss the significance. He had been told by the Master to consciously make such dreams end congenially. Perry would have to do whatever he could to do as the master had said.
Perry picked up the menu he saw on the table before him. As he opened the menu, Perry's eyes fell on the page listing appetizers. There, standing out as though it were written in letters six inches high, was a listing for something called Catfish Fingers. Perry glanced up and accidentally locked eyes with Tim Mitchell across the way. Tim smiled back and nodded knowingly. That caused Perry to wonder what this was all about. What did Tim Mitchell have to do with anything, and what in the world were Catfish Fingers?
Perry suddenly had an epiphany. If this were, indeed, a dream and somehow he was supposed to be able to control how it turned out, then he must be able to make conscious decisions about what would happen in this dream. To test his conclusion, Perry decided that he would see what these Catfish Fingers were all about. He would learn what they were and where they came from. In doing so, that would show him what this 'Wake Dreaming' was all about.
Instantly, Perry found himself in a hallway, apparently in the back of the restaurant, outside of what he somehow knew was the kitchen. There seemed to be a commotion coming from inside the kitchen. It sounded as though there was some kind of fight going on or something.
When Perry opened the door to the kitchen, he was totally unprepared for what he saw. There in the middle of the kitchen were half a dozen cooks all holding some kind of knife or cleaver or some such as though they were in a serious brawl. While they were all well armed and obviously fighting, Perry could not see what they were fighting against. Stepping a little farther in to get a better view, Perry saw, on the floor a few feet in front of the cooks, a large catfish.
Perry looked at the catfish intently, for he realized that the catfish was significant. The catfish was somehow standing on the fins of his tail as though they were some form of legs and feet. In place of the fins that would usually be protruding out to the side up near the head, this catfish had two arms sticking out. Each arm ended with a hand that had four large, well formed, fingers and an opposing thumb. In the one hand the catfish held a large butcher knife. In the other he held a large meat cleaver.
It was clear that this was a fight between the cooks and the catfish, and apparently the catfish was fairing pretty well. One or two of the cooks had bloody cloths wrapped around their hands making it clear that the catfish was dangerous. That was why the cooks were holding their distance. They didn't want to sustain any more injuries.
However, it looked like just a matter of time until the cooks would win. The catfish was out of water and having trouble breathing. He was growing visibly weaker by the moment. If the cooks would just be patient, the catfish would soon pass out. Then the cooks could do whatever they wanted with him.
Chapter 12
Perry suddenly understood where Catfish Fingers came from. The cooks would simply cut the fingers off the hands of the catfish and cook them up. This time, though, things had not gone well. Instead of the catfish getting his fingers cut off, the catfish had somehow managed to get hold of a knife and a cleaver and was defending himself.
Being the type of person that Perry was, he could not just stand idly by and watch the catfish die. Instead, Perry knew he had to do whatever he could to help the catfish survive. Perry grabbed a loose butcher knife from off a counter next to him, and jumped in between the cooks and the catfish. Perry was facing the cooks holding the knife in the most threatening way he could. His one hope was that the catfish would understand that Perry was trying to help, and that the catfish would not stab Perry in the back.
To say the least, the cooks were surprised. As Perry glanced past the cooks toward the door, he saw Tim Mitchell glance in and smile approvingly. Apparently, the reason Tim Mitchell had shown up was to encourage Perry to help save the catfish. Who would have imagined that someone who regularly participated in National Novel Writing Month would care so much for just a fish, and a catfish at that. Perry was encouraged by Tim's concern. The people who engaged in National Novel Writing Month seemed a lot nicer than Perry would have assumed. So much for assuming.
The cooks started shouting for Perry to get out of their way and let them do their job. It was not right for customers to interfere in such a way. Perry realized that if he was to succeed, he would have to do something to convince the cooks that he meant business. Keeping his eyes on the cooks, Perry bent down, grabbed a loose knife that had fallen to the floor, and threw the knife at the cooks in a way that caused it to take the Chef's Hats off of three of them and pin the hats to the back of the door.
The cooks stepped back several steps and began cursing and threatening revenge on Perry for what he had just done. Perry, however, was not about to let himself be intimidated by a few belligerent cooks. He made it clear, through the way he looked and the way he moved, that he was the one in control. He was going to save the catfish and there was nothing he would let the cooks do to keep that from happening.
The cooks were making it clear that they were unhappy with the whole situation, but they seemed powerless to change it. Finally, Perry demanded to know how much the catfish cost. When the one who appeared to be the head cook shouted back an answer, Perry reached in his pocket, pulled out about three times what the catfish was worth, and threw the money at the cooks, demanding that they leave him and his catfish alone.
The cooks grabbed the money and ran. It was then that Perry turned to look at the catfish he had just purchased. The poor catfish looked as though it was about to die. Perry hastily grabbed up all of the knives and cleavers that were lying around and through them into a trash can nearby. The catfish, however, was not convinced. He continued to wave the butcher knife and the meat cleaver in a threatening way.
Not knowing what else to do, Perry went over to the sinks and grabbed a big clear bowl and filled it with water. Bringing the bowl full of water over to where the catfish was, Perry tried to show the catfish that he wanted to help. The catfish, still fearful of being killed, lunged at Perry. If Perry had not jumped out of the way, the catfish would have succeeded in running him through with the butcher knife.
Perry backed away from the catfish and the bowl. He knew that the catfish was filled with fear and did not realize that Perry was merely trying to save his life. Perry decided that the safest thing to do, for the time being would be to let the catfish alone. Looking around, Perry started putting all of the pots, pans, platters, and whatever else back where they belonged.
The catfish watched warily as Perry continued cleaning up the kitchen. Though the catfish knew he could not survive much longer, the catfish was not going to die without putting up as much of a fight as he could. Yet he found that he was unable to bring himself to the point of attacking Perry when all Perry was doing was straightening up the kitchen.
Perry, after he had straightened up the kitchen as best he could, began washing and disinfecting everything he could. He was extremely careful not to get within striking distance of the catfish as he cleaned and disinfected. He was hoping that as the catfish continued watching him, the catfish would realize that Perry meant him no harm.
The catfish, though he did not understand what Perry was doing, was not about to give in. The catfish was continuing to get weaker and weaker, but he made it clear that if Perry got close enough, the catfish would kill him. Little did the catfish realize that his best course of action would be to let Perry help him.
Perry continued cleaning, scrubbing, and scouring. He was managing to clean the kitchen better than it had been cleaned since the restaurant had opened. Somehow the cleaning of the kitchen was giving Perry a satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment that he had never experienced before. Perry did not understand it, but it sure felt good.
The mindless nature of the cleaning gave Perry a chance to ponder what was going on. Here he was in a dream and yet feeling as fully conscious as if he were fully awake. He found that he was able to control the dream just by making conscious decisions about how he wanted the dream to go. It was that conscious decision making that had enabled Perry to throw the knife and pin the hats to the back of the door. It was that conscious decision making that had enabled Perry to have the money to pay off the cooks and get them to leave. He did not understand it, but it certainly seemed to be working.
Perry suddenly had another interesting thought. The fact that Perry did not understand how color TV worked did not stop him from enjoying watching. The same went for other things like movie special effects, computers, and a multitude of things that came to mind. Having to thoroughly understand something was not necessary to make use of it. One simply had to know what to do to get the results that one wanted.
That made coping with what he was experiencing much easier. Some people never made the connection between not knowing how something worked and being able to use it anyway. Often people would do it without realizing it, as Perry had been doing for years. Others became unable to use anything that they could not understand. Some realized, as Perry had now realized, they were using things based on faith.
That still did not explain how Perry was reaching new levels of understanding just in time to use them to get him out of trouble, but it did make him more comfortable with the path his life had suddenly began taking. He did not feel as anxious and fearful of the unknown as he used to feel. In place of the anxiety and fear he was now experiencing a sense that, even though he did not know what was going to happen, he could rest in the certainty that things would work out well.
If only the catfish could trust Perry at this point, that would make things go a lot easier. Instead, Perry had to keep doing anything he could think of there in the kitchen as he waited for the catfish to die. Perry hated doing that, but he could not bring himself to leave. He had to do what he could to help the catfish, even if it only meant helping to bury the catfish.
Perry just happened to glance over at the catfish as the catfish wavered and fell to the floor. Rushing over to the catfish, Perry picked up the catfish and dropped him into the bowl of water. Perry's only hope was that he had been in time placing the catfish in the water.
After a few long moments, the catfish began to move slightly. Gradually, the catfish began moving more and more. The skin of the catfish slowly returned to its natural color. It was clear that the catfish was well on the way to a complete recovery.
Much to Perry's surprise, all indication of any arms and hands had disappeared completely. The catfish looked and acted like any other ordinary catfish. All of the peculiarities that Perry had observed when the catfish was defending himself from the attacks of the cooks had disappeared completely.
Perry knew that if he left the catfish there, the cooks would come back and kill him. Therefore, Perry would have to take the catfish with him. As Perry picked up the bowl and began to leave, the catfish realized that the cooks would no longer be a threat. Perry could have sworn that he saw the catfish begin to smile.
When Perry found his way to the back door to the restaurant, he found that Tim Mitchell was holding the door open for him. Perry had no idea what Tim Mitchell was doing in this dream, but it certainly gave Perry confidence that he was doing the right thing. Maybe, someday, Perry would learn something about National Novel Writing Month, until then Perry would just have to accept whatever Tim was willing to do for him.
As Perry slowly made his way down the street, he felt himself becoming more and more tired. Finally, Perry reached a point where he was so tired he had to sit down and rest. He carefully set the bowl containing the catfish down on the steps of the building they happened to be in front of. Perry then sat down next to the bowl and just let his eyes gently slide shut. At that point, Perry was back to sleeping peacefully in his bed.
Chapter 13
When Perry awoke, he had this vivid memory of saving a poor little catfish from being butchered in the back of some Greasy Spoon restaurant. Perry grabbed his journal from the nightstand and began writing down the details of the dream. He couldn't understand anything about the person, Tim Mitchell, that had appeared in the dream. Perry somehow knew his name and that he was involved in novel writing, but Perry could not understand how he knew that information. Wake Dreaming was interesting, but it, apparently, had its little quirks, as well.
Perry wrote down what he had learned about the origin of catfish fingers. They, obviously, were cut from catfish hands. It's just that Perry had never seen a catfish with hands before, but then Perry had never fought a bunch of cooks to keep them from killing a fish before, either. It had certainly been an interesting dream.
After he had written down the dream in detail, Perry got cleaned and dressed and ready to go out and find breakfast. Opening the bedroom door, Perry was surprised to see a clear bowl containing water and the catfish that Perry had seen in his dreams. Perry walked over to the counter where the bowl was and peered in curiously. There was no mistaking that it was the same catfish. It had that same joyous smile it had when Perry had carried it out of the restaurant in the dream.
The part that Perry found so confusing was that all of his connection with the catfish had been in the dream. Perry could not remember having seen the catfish before, and he certainly could not remember bringing the catfish, in its bowl, into his apartment. Perry had no idea of where the catfish had come from or what it was doing there. It was as though the dream had dropped the catfish off on its way through the night.
Perry realized that a clear cooking bowl like that was not a fit home for a catfish. He knew, as well, that if he was going to keep the catfish, he would have to learn how to feed it properly. The alternative would be to get rid of the catfish, but Perry did not know any place to take it, and Perry could not even think of killing or cooking it. Especially after all the two of them had shared in together during the course of the dream.
So much for breakfast. Perry grumpily realized that he would have to take care of the catfish, instead. Carefully covering the bowl with a makeshift lid of plastic wrap, Perry then picked up the bowl and began heading toward a pet store he knew of a few blocks away. If anyone would know how to care for a catfish, the guy that ran that store would. That guy knew just about everything there was to know about any animal just about anyone could think of.
When the Pet Guy saw Perry coming into his pet shop with a clear bowl containing a catfish, the Pet Guy instantly stopped what he was doing and went to see what Perry wanted. As the Pet Guy got close enough to get a good look at the catfish, he stopped in his tracks. The Pet Guy had heard of fish like that, but he had never actually seen one before. Few ordinary people had ever been that close to such a catfish. The Pet Guy wondered if Perry even knew what he was carrying in that bowl.
Perry asked, "Do you happen to know anything about a fish like this?"
The Pet Guy responded, "I know all the published facts, AND all the rumors. What would you like to know first?"
"What do I need to take care of my cute little buddy here? I need to know about the equipment, the care, and the feeding."
The Pet Guy led Perry over to where there were some nice tanks. "These are the best for a cat like you have. The larger ones give a better environment, the smaller ones are easier to move around. The small one here can even be carried similar to the way you're carrying the bowl. You will have to change the water twice a week and rinse the gravel and other tank inserts. The larger tanks require air and filter systems. The two smallest tanks won't need them if you keep the water fresh. Any questions?"
Perry sprung for the obvious. "What does my pal here eat? I need to know the cost, as well."
The Pet Guy went an aisle over and grabbed a bag of special fish food. He told Perry the cost of the food and how to serve it. The cost worked out to a reasonable $2.00 a meal. That seem