The pond was deep in the forest with old dank-smelling oaks and fir trees growing over the water. It was the type of pond inhabited mostly by sunfish, with a few bass lurking in the shadows. The biggest fish in the whole pond couldn't be more than a few pounds, and of course it got to be that size by never being spotted.

I was out in the middle, treading the warm water. It was either dawn or dusk, I don't remember which, but the light was low in the sky. Everything was silent, the only movement being the Doppler circles of water rolling away from me.

Suddenly I was overtaken by extreme panic. A giant goldfish at least three hundred pounds and with huge fangs and a mean look in its eyes surfaced about twenty yards away. Most of its body was above water like the sperrn whales in literature and it was gradually moving towards me.

I swam but was hardly moving--the same sensation as not being able to run in a dream. All the while the monster goldfish was gaining on me...was opening its mouth...getting ready to suck me in...

I popped up with a scream-heart racing, panting sweating--thankful to be alive. Gradually my senses came back. I'd wet the bed, in fact soaked it. The glowing hands on my clock read 3 AM. Then upon turning on my light to clean up I nearly stepped on my pet goldfish who was flopping around on the carpet, gasping for water.

What happens next I don't really remember except that my goldfish lived and that the monster goldfish never surfaced again.

EDITOR'S NOTE

This is a fine example of why you shouldn't try to banish or suppress nightmares! Dream writers like Ann Faraday and Marc Ian Barasch emphasize they're a vital warning system. This nightmare, about being trapped in an alien medium unable to move, wasn't some irrational fear to be dismissed, but empathy--the pain and terror his pet was feeling a few feet away. And its severity was needed to wake Ben and save his pet's life.

--Chris Wayan

SOURCE: First Person: True Stories by Real People, zine by Tracey West; the Dream Issue, 1995, p.15

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