The Shower

The Dream:

I am visiting the house of a young man, a student at De La Salle University. It is an old, 1940s house updated to the 50s, and has quite a dark interior. I've been invited to check out the death of another young man, a suicide.

Sometime after I arrive I decide to take a shower in the ground-floor bathroom. There is a huge plastic tub, and I note that it is green. I lift the lid--it contains not collected water but small, white towels tied in bundles.

The young man comes into the bathroom and insists on taking a shower with me. His father and brothers look in through the window that opens onto the garage and garden. I am embarrassed. The young man and I are unable to even commence showering. He leaves, saying we should shower another time. Now alone, I decide to go ahead and shower.

Back in the living room, the young man's relatives gather round me. I predict that a second young man will commit suicide. Much later, indeed, I am told that a second young man, though not related to any of the characters in the dream, has done so.

People trickle in to hold a prayer session for the first young man who committed suicide.


My Commentary:

On the morning of that day I learned that Richmond resigned from his position; we are both exiting the office December 19. Someone remarked that so many people are resigning from the office--as opposed to retiring. Over my 36 years in this office I have seen this happen all too often, and I view resignation as a form of suicide. The towels inside the green tub are the healing possibilities I could have used on these people--alas, I give that only when people come and ask me.

In this dream, I am both myself and the young man. I am the employee who is retiring, and the young man is what I am or was during the entire time that I was employed. Showering is an act of cleansing; the young man's father and his brothers are our spirit guides.

The last part of the dream is precognitive: another young man will resign from his job.