Breakfast Table

"Jimmy, get down here—breakfast's ready. Do you want your eggs scrambled? Jimmy?"

"Mom, I'm coming."

"Do you want your eggs scrambled?"

"What?"

Mom sighs, breaks six eggs and scrambles them with a fork. "Larry."

"Yes, dear?"

"Breakfast is on the table."

"All right."

"Elaine, Elaine?"

"What, Mom!"

"Would you like scrambled eggs?"

Elaine says to herself, "Barf. How can I skip out of here without having to eat Mom's awful scrambled eggs?"

"Elaine! Do you want eggs or not?"

"No, Mom."

"But Elaine, you'd better eat something. You need a good breakfast."

Elaine appears at the breakfast table. "You know I hate eggs."

"Since when?"

"Mom! I've always hated them!"

"Just sit down, Elaine, and eat your eggs."

Elaine thinks, She just doesn't listen to me.

"Honey?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Could you make me some bacon?"

Mom says to herself, under her breath, "Every morning I go through this. I change the menu around to accommodate them and they always want something else." She is now munching on a piece of toast. "Why, I'm not even hungry at seven in the morning!"

"Mom, did you make my lunch?"

"Yes, Jimmy. It's by the toaster."

Jimmy looks into the bag, "Ah, not another ham sandwich."

"What's wrong with ham? You've always loved it."

"I've never even liked it much."

"Well, it's good for you, eat it anyway . . . Elaine!"

"What!"

"Why do your eyes look so weird—funny and dazed looking? Are you on drugs? If you are you can tell me, you know."

"Mom, I'm not on drugs." She thinks, You might drive me to it.

"It's just a new shade of make-up."

"Well, it makes you look sick."

"I like it."

"Dear, is the bacon ready yet?"

"Almost, Larry."

"Could you get me a glass of orange juice while you are standing there?"

Mom says to herself, I'm trying to cook his damn bacon and now he wants me to get his juice, too.

"Mom, I won't be home in time for dinner tonight. I have cheerleading practice."

"Again? It's the third time this week, Elaine."

"Dear, is the bacon ready yet? I've only got five minutes."

Mom sighs. "Bye, Jimmy. Have a nice day at school."

"Bye, Mom."

"Jimmy! You forgot your lunch! Honestly, that boy would forget his head if it wasn't attached to the rest of him. Elaine, could you catch up with him and give him his lunch?"

"Mom—all right. I'm out of here."

"Thanks, have a nice day."

"Dear, what's for dinner tonight?"

"I don't know, Larry. What would you like?"

"Oh, whatever you cook is always fine."

"How about chicken?"

"Ah, we had chicken two nights ago."

"Well, dear, you said anything is fine."

"Oh, honey," he kisses her good-bye, "Whatever you cook is fine. I know you'll come up with something especially tantalizing. You always do."

Mom sighs. Everyone is gone. She begins stacking the dishes, thinks about her dinner and remembers that her art class is tonight. "Maybe I'll cook a casserole and they can pop it into the microwave tonight when they're hungry." Mom begins to wash the breakfast dishes.

Part Two

In another time, place, galaxy, very far away from here in a parallel place with a parallel family:

"Janetta?" (one of her many roles is mother)

"Yes, James?" (one of his many roles is son)

"If you are ready for breakfast, I'll make your favorite—French toast. I'll make enough for everyone."

"Thanks, James. I would really like that. I'll be down in twenty minutes."

Janetta sits in her meditation posture. She focuses her attention and relaxes deeply. In a few minutes her mind is calm and she soaks in the energy of contacting the spirit. Coming out of her meditation period, a flood of inspirational ideas present themselves to her . . . Great, a full day of painting ahead of me. I can't wait to get to it.

Lawrence is making the beds. (One of his many roles is father.)

"Janetta, I got a great recipe for dinner tonight. I'll try it out on the family. I know you will like it."

"Well, what is it, Lawrence?"

"It'll be a surprise." Lawrence gives Janetta a playful hug. "I hear that James is making breakfast. I'll finish making the beds and go down and give him a hand."

Elainna finishes her stretching after her meditation session. She makes her bed, gathers her school supplies and heads down the stairs to breakfast. She helps James set the table and pours everyone juice. "I'll have time to do the breakfast dishes. Thanks for cooking, James."

"Morning, Janetta."

"Morning, Lawrence."

"Morning, James and Elainna."

They all sit around the table, hold hands for a minute or two and look into each other's eyes.

Janetta clears her throat. "Did anyone have an interesting dream last night?"

"I did. I had a very vivid, peculiar dream."

"Tell us about it, Elainna."

"The dream begins with me flying. It was exhilarating. A doorway of light presented itself to me and I decided to fly through it. I flew into another dream, another place. We were all sitting at the breakfast table just like we are now. It looked like our family, the four of us. Yet, there was a difference, something was askew. There was a woman who resembled me to a very close detail. The dream was so strange and I couldn't figure out what was happening. Our family—or the people who closely resembled our family—looked angry. I couldn't figure out why they were angry. After all, they were just sitting down for breakfast. The woman who looked like your double, Janetta, seemed to be waiting on everyone. Everyone was just sitting there; no one helped her. If that wasn't strange enough, they kept calling her mom, which I gathered was short for mother. I couldn't imagine why they would call her by one of her roles and not by her name. It was really a sad dream. No one really listened to the other. Everyone was angry and disconnected. I wondered what was going on with those people."

Lawrence thinks, Sounds like a nightmare to me.

Janetta pushes back her curls which were falling into her face.

"It is sad, Elainna. Why don't you try to go back there in your dreams tonight? Instead of being an observer, maybe you could be a participator. Ask questions, bring some of your energy into the dream. Your dreaming skills are developing very well."

"I might try your suggestion. I'll discuss it in my dream class tonight. I love my dreaming class. I have been able to remember that I am dreaming in almost all of my dreams lately."

"Maybe we both can work together on this strange dream that you had last night. See what it's all about. Would you care for some help?"

"Yes, Janetta. Let's meet in dream time and investigate together."

"Tonight, then, Elainna."

The Breakfast Table Dream Sequence

"Elainna!"

"Janetta!" The two women hug. "We both made it. Your dream skills are getting quite sharp, Elainna."

"I am aspiring to be a Master Dreamer—like you, Janetta—some day. Let's begin our investigation."

The two women hold hands. Interdimensional doorways that form together by slices of light appear before them. Their intent pushes their awareness through. They appear in an instant at the breakfast table scene. They observe quietly and unobtrusively the scene before them. Elainna takes notes for future remembrance for her dream class.

"Elainna, there is the woman that you described! She does look very much like me! They keep calling her mom. How strange. She looks so weary, frustrated and depressed."

"Yes, and look at the other people. They all look like our family. Look, (pointing) it looks like Lawrence and James. Yet, they are acting so strange, angry. They don't seem to love each other at all. Look, they don't even know we are here. They don't sense our presence."

Janetta studies the boy. "The boy who resembles James is aware of something but he keeps dismissing it from his mind."

"Should we leave?"

"Not yet, Elainna. Maybe you can change the dream around and help these people."

"I'm not a Master Dreamer yet!"

"Try, these people need help. I'll meet you back in the dream of our dream class. We can discuss the dream and your results with the rest of the class. This is a very fascinating case."

Elainna laughs to herself and says, "Sometimes it's tough living with your dream teacher who is also your mother!"

Elainna puts her attention back into the dream of the breakfast scene before it fades from her awareness. She tries to get the attention of the young woman who resembles her, but it is a difficult task because the young woman's attention span is short and undisciplined. Thoughts and feelings spin out of her double without her notice or control. She has no concentration or discrimination. She is all over the place, reacting to everything. "What can I do," wonders Elainna. "I'm beginning to tire. I'd better head back to the dreaming class."

(Back at the dreaming class . . . )

The dream class is puzzled by Elainna's dream adventure. They ask her many questions about the dream, probing deeper and deeper to see if any details can give a clue. Why do the Breakfast People (as they now dubbed the family) resemble Elainna's family? What were the differences in appearances between the families? Why are the Breakfast Dream People so angry and unaware in their dream focus? Everyone of Elainna's classmates agree that this was a dream worth exploring in greater depth. Elainna is assigned to continue with the project, which is officially named: "The Breakfast Table Dream." This special assignment frees her from any other dream reporting for two weeks. Quite a dream challenge, she feels. I wonder if I can handle it.

Elainna's Report: The Breakfast Table Dream

In the last two weeks I have been able to return to the "Breakfast Table Dream" five times. In the first two dreams I observed the family: what their relationships were to each other and how they interacted with each other. I found that the men characters enacted a game that involved an attitude of superiority and dominance over the women. The men expected to be waited on and taken care of. It became apparent to me that the older woman felt it was her duty to wait on her family, especially the males. Her self-esteem was very low. No one seemed to value her service although—besides acting as a servant to everyone—she really didn't have anything bright to offer which she was happy about, that was unique to her. The younger woman was very angry about this system, but oddly enough took her anger out on her mother. I felt a rivalry between them for the men's attention. I was surprised to discover that not only did they resemble my family—their names were also similar. They are: Elaine, Jimmy and Larry. I never could find out what the older woman's name was. They always called her mom. Even the man called her mom and I was sure that he was not her son, although she did mother him in many ways. I also saw that even though the men represented themselves as superior and dominant, they also exhibited fearful, angry and low-self-esteem behavior.