Dream Truth 4

I dreamt of the junk store again
the one that my dreams insist
lies at the foot of Merriman's creek
where traffic pulls in
from the South Gippsland Highway
at a concrete barbeque for a rest from travel.
The junk shop is enormous
tin roofed
low
it spreads itself down the slope
and out into infinity
where the creek should be
but isn't.
Instead there's heap upon heap of trash
worthless rubbish
dusty
rusted
God knows you'd be hard put to find a use
for some of that shit.
But there it is in any case
and in there I went
in any case
with mother
and father
to search through the piles of refuse 'too good to throw away'.
How they scouted
how they hunted
which is strange
because in real life
both my parents would lapse into a catatonic state
rather than fossick through filthy second hand wares
things that others have discarded
and usually it is I
who am enthusiastic
about ressurecting purpose
from some forgotten relic.
But not this day
not this dream
I hated being subjected to their endless scrummaging.
Finally
what did they have to show
for their tight lipped searching
nothing but a pink marble base with artificial flowers
wired into place
though at first
I thought
they'd found a statue of the Madonna.

Which would have been worse
I wonder?
These funereal flowers
or a staring eyed, accusing virgin?
Joy Reid