At night, my dreams became much more vivid as I grew older. In my younger years, my dreams resembled impressionist art which was a bit fuzzy and at times difficult to discern the artist’s objective for the painting. At age fourteen, my dreams were in bold, brilliant color. I began to recognize recurrent dreams of the same or similar scenes and I wondered if what I was seeing was Surrealeum or some replay from my past.
***
I could distinguish mountains and forest, trees and streams. The colors were exciting and bold. I was certain that I saw a young girl running through the tall green grass. I yelled for the girl who I believed to be three to four years old. The girl didn’t answer me, so I gave chase seeking to find her and talk with her. As I approached the little girl, an older girl called out saying, “Hey, I am over here.” When I got there, I saw a young girl about ten or eleven run off towards the stream. I gave chase when I heard the soft cries of a lonely girl sitting by the stream. Before I could reach her, she had also disappeared. All the girls seemed to be somewhat familiar to me, but I was too confused to think straight.
***
I asked Michael who the different girls were. Michael replied, “Surrealeum is of peace and comfort. The girls you saw were not yet at peace and not ready to accept Surrealeum. Until they do, they will be feral and avoid you since you represent peace and comfort in their world. They want your love and forgiveness, but cannot seek what they want at this time. I wondered if everything in Michael’s so called existence was a riddle of one form or another.
That night, I began to look for the same three girls that I had observed twice before. Michael had joined me and explained that the three girls were unique in Surrealeum. You can’t find them regardless of how hard you try. I asked , "Why" and Michael said, “Arianne, they are of you when you were three and I helped your arm. They are of you at age ten when you fell off your bike. They are of you at age thirteen when you had a broken heart at the school dance. You cannot find that which is not lost. Look inside you and find peace and comfort.” I thought to myself that I knew that I had seen the girls somewhere before. To find them, I only needed to look within myself. I learned to welcome myself into Surrealeum and the beauty it held for me. I was again one with myself.
I asked if I was in a Surrealeum dream or a reality. Michael responded, “You are where you want to be.” I understood Michael, but asked, “Am I sleeping or am I awake right now?” Michael replied, “Is the existence of sleep different than the existence of being awake?”
***
I startled awake and sat up in bed. My heart was pounding as my heart beat more than a hummingbird’s heart. I felt comforted at being awake and secure once again in my own bedroom. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom. I noticed that my fingers and mouth were stained from the berry juices. My nightgown had flecks of grasses from the fields and some mud across the bottom of my night gown where I knelt next to the slow running stream. I realized a little more clearly that Surrealeum existed on at least two planes like Michael had tried to explain.
***
I asked Michael if it was possible to see the dead within a Surrealeum dream. Michael replied, “If you seek comfort in those that are lost, you may find them within Surrealeum, but use caution since the dead are not to coexist with life and you represent life. I asked what would happen if I found my deceased father in one of my dreams. Michael said, “Know your father and his love for you inside your heart and not your head. Do not be deceived by death as death always seeks life.” I went to ask another question, but Michael was gone once again. I returned from my dream state to my bedroom. Once again I noticed that my sandals were dirty and the bottom hem of my bathrobe was dirty as well. When my mother asked where I had been, I simply said that I was having a dream and left it at that.
***
I was sitting on my mother’s front porch …when a group of seventeen children under the age of twelve stopped in front of my home. …We seek Surrealeum and understand that you can guide us to peace and comfort.” I motioned the children to approach me on the porch. As I greeted each child, my hand touched their abdomens and we touched foreheads. …One young girl touched my hand and then said, “Thank you Majesty.” I had no idea how she could have known who I was.
***
I sat on my throne of sticks and grasses and pondered what it might be like to give birth to the Surrealbuds. I was eighteen and had never experienced sex much less birth of Surrealbuds. As I sat looking out over Surrealeum, children began bringing me drinks from the slow moving creek. The cold crisp water tasted wonderful inside my dry mouth. The children seemed to know that I was thirsty because a line of more than one hundred children awaited their turn to hand me a drink from their folded leaf cup. I welcomed each drink. When the last girl handed me the last drink, I held the cup up and said thank you. The hundred girls then joined hands and sat in a circle around me and the throne. The girls sat intensely watching me for something to happen.
I felt Michael stir in my abdomen and he said, “It is time to bring forth the Surrealbuds.” I felt a tickle in my throat and I hiccupped. As I did, what appeared to be a flower spore left my mouth and floated into the air. A moment later, I hiccupped a second time and a second spore floated away followed by a third. The little girls seated around me waived large grassy fans keeping the Surrealbuds confined to the circle. It looked like a game of badminton with three shuttlecocks. I was rejoicing to hear the little girl’s laughter and frivolity as the Surrealbuds were welcomed into Surrealeum.