The Dansey Dream

When I was about 10 or 11 my parents bought this property on Dansey Avenue in Coquitlam and built a big house there. We only lived there a year or so but I have some really distinct memories from that time.

One time my friend James Baldwin came over and he said, 'this place is massive, do you have a maid to clean it up?' But I thought he said 'do you have it made to clean it up?' which made no sense so I said, 'uh, sort of'. And he said, 'oh, like once a week or something?' Which gave me context to understand what he had said. I was too embarrassed to backtrack, so I just said, 'yeah'. We didn't have a maid. I'm sure it's not the first lie I ever told but it's the first one I can remember.

One time my friend Craig Bateman came over for a sleepover, and we were determined to stay up all night no matter what. I remember kicking the soccer ball against the brick half wall by the garage, really late. And I remember waking up sprawled out on the stairs. Why would I pass out on the stairs?

One time I came home from Lord Baden Powell Elementary to make myself lunch, tomato soup, and I left the stove on with the pot on the stove. I can vividly remember how awful it smelled when I got home. I picked the pot up and the whole bottom of it just disintegrated. I was stressed out.

One time my brother and I had a bunch of holly that grew on this other property my parents owned, and we put it in lunch bags and went door to door and sold it. It was Christmas time. My brother would have been like five. I can remember it was a quarter a bag and sales were brisk.

One time I had to go to the doctor and have my toe nail pulled off because I had an ingrown toenail and that's the best they could do for it, so I got to stay home for a couple days after that and my parents got me PacMan for Atari.

One time I cried like a baby up in the laundry room that overlooked the backyard when people came to pick up our dog, Shondi, who we couldn't keep cause the yard wasn't big enough for her (that was the line anyway). The lady who bought the dog came and tried to cheer me up but mainly she just embarrassed me. Ten year old boys are young enough to sob over losing their dogs, but old enough to not want strange ladies to see them doing it.

The reason all this came up is lately I've been thinking about this recurring dream I used to have based around that house. I don't know when I had it last, it's been a long, long time, but it persisted for years after we had moved. The living room was two stories high, and was overlooked by the hallway to the bedrooms on the second floor. There was a railing to keep you from tumbling to your death. And when the house was being built we would go check on the progress, and the railing wasn't there yet, so we were made aware of the extreme caution required if traversing that hallway.

Anyway, in the dream my mom falls to her death and we're all there. My brother stands there, shocked, like he can't fathom what has happened. My sister is hysterical. My dad grabs my sister and says, 'don't be such a baby'. Every time. Every time I had the dream, that's what he said.