Elephants, Bananas and Aunty Ethel, by Chris Rose

I was walking along the street, but for some reason I was in a hurry. And then I realized that I was holding a banana in my hand. I knew that the banana was really important for some reason. Then I met my Aunty Ethel on the street corner. “Hello!” I said to her. “I haven’t seen you for about twenty years!” “Be careful with that banana!” she said. I laughed, because I knew that I had to be careful with it. Aunty Ethel decided to walk with me, which was a problem because she walked really slowly. Then, we saw an elephant blocking the street. “Oh, no!” I was thinking, “Another elephant blocking the street! I’m late!” Then I started to get worried, and then...I woke up. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness for that,” I thought. How strange dreams are... The radio was on. I got up and listened to the news. I couldn’t hear it very well, but there was a story about an elephant who had escaped from a local circus. It was causing a lot of trouble walking around the town. I thought this was an incredible coincidence! I quickly dressed and went into the kitchen to get some coffee before I went to work. There was a note on the kitchen table from my wife. “Don’t forget to buy bananas on your way home from work today!!!” it said. I rushed out of the house. As I was walking down the road my mobile rang. It was my mum. “Hello mum!” I said. “What are you calling for?” “I’ve got some sad news, I’m afraid,” she said. “Do you remember your Aunty Ethel?” “Not really” I said, “I haven’t seen Aunty Ethel for about twenty years” “Yes, well she is very old...and she was taken to hospital last night. She is very ill...” mom said. “That’s sad” I said. So there I was, walking down the street, late for work, thinking about Aunty Ethel and bananas and elephants, and of course I realized that it was exactly the same as my dream. And I realized I was walking very slowly. I looked down and saw that the street was turning into hot, wet, sticky toffee, and it was sticking to my shoes and the quicker I tried to walk, the slower I went and then I woke up. Again. Now this was strange. This was very, very strange. I got up and pinched myself to make sure I was really awake this time. It hurt. This meant I really was awake and not dreaming this time. My wife was still at home. “Have you got enough bananas?” I asked her. She looked at me as if I was crazy.