Recurring Dreams

I stand at the end of my street when a passenger jet screams by overhead. In a steep bank and at too low an altitude, the plane looks to be desperately trying to reach the end of the runway nearest my house. I cover my ears to prepare for certain impact. And with a gentle but swift motion the airplane's left wing tip makes contact with the ground before the rest of the fuselage crumples on top of it. In a much shorter distance than I than I expect the jet comes to a rest leaning against a tree. There is some smoke that turns into fire but otherwise little commotion. So I wait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

for the sound of sirens and the traffic tie-ups of nearby motorists. Thus begins my latest chapter in a lifetime of recurring dreams.

This is the third in my series of plane crash dreams and the first to be set near my home in Queens. I am always surprised by how vivid they are (I awake each time ready to turn on the television news for information about what I have just witnessed) and how each features the same calmness while I wait for the first responders to reach the site. And there is one other thing that gives me comfort: I never actually see any victims.

Generally I dream in the morning. And more than once I have been able to pinpoint an exact moment of deja vu that's leaped from my dreams to reality. But it is the recurring ones that I remember seemingly forever.

My first recurring dreams innocently involved girls and flying; not necessarily in combination. After I finished college I kept having dreams that involved either misplacing my high school locker combination or not being able to locate the locker at all. These dreams morphed into not being prepared for a final exam that counted for my entire semester grade. From there my sub conscience abandoned school and placed me in a scenario where I had a destination that I never seemed to be able to reach. And now I have started experiencing plane crashes.

Even though it sounds like my dreams quietly transitioned from one episode to another, this is not the case. With each variant I experience at 5 separate instances before that story is quietly retired, never to be repeated.