1996 between spring and summer Yoshiko Sekiguchi Losing Sight of My Dog Dream
(dream) I get on a train with my dog to go cherry blossom viewing. The stretch between the station we detrain at and the next station is a tunnel of cherry trees that we stroll down slowly in a storm of dancing petals. The road is lined with stands selling lemonade and lemon squash in sundry colored bottles, crowded with people coming and going. It is an unpaved mountain road, there are puddles here and there left from yesterday's rain. We saunter downhill where the field of view widens and a hill appears in a huge park. Beyond this is the next station. When we reach the station, I'll board the train again with my dog and return home.
Thinking this, I turn and look and my dog is gone! We were together when we reached the bottom of the hill. I lost sight of him the moment I crossed the grassy green hill. How careless of me! Despite living together for many years, I'd forgotten that my dog cannot cross hills. This is disastrous. It's possible that if I retrace my steps back to the other side of the hill, he might come wandering along, but with this many people out cherry blossom viewing, he could also be wandering around lost.
The trouble is that I cannot cross over the hill on the return trip. My only recourse is to return to the previous mountain road by circling the hill from the north or south sides. Should my dog meanwhile cross the hill, go to the next station, board the train and go home, I will now be the one who is lost.
Which way will my dog circle the hill?
I would be nice of we rendezvous . . . .
(end of dream)
My dog is a big Golden Retriever, aging slightly.
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