I have to wonder if the Universe hasn't played an April Fool's Day prank on me today. See if you don't agree.
Very early this morning (before going to bed), I decided on the spur of the moment to select some books to give away. I need to get rid of stuff for my upcoming move.
One book that stood out was a very old volume of some Arabian Nights tales. I've never read any of the stories in it and I don't see myself as having time to do so. The book didn't have a chance. But before I put it in the giveaway pile, I scanned the table of contents.
I only recognized a couple of the stories, the last of which was Aladdin (AKA The Wonderful Lamp). I'm sure most of the readers here will recognize the story. It's about a young lad who finds a magic lamp. He rubs the lamp and out pops a genie who grants him wishes.
Seeing the Aladdin story got me thinking about genies of course, and those thoughts infiltrated my dreams. I had a dream where some man (I'm not sure who) found a magic ring that could grant one wish, and not wanting to be limited, the man wished for a magic genie. What a brilliant way to get multiple wishes from a single wish!
The ring worked, but not the way the man thought. The ring couldn't create a genie from nothing, so it did the best it could. It changed me into a genie. I was a buxom, blonde genie!
Sadly, the dream didn't last long. I woke up suddenly and quickly committed the dream to memory. Then I started my day. I had some important shopping to do. I had a Batgirl action figure to get for my girlfriend's granddaughter.
I made my way to a comic shop, snagged the action figure, paid for it and left. But I couldn't return home right away, not once I was out and about, so I decided to zip over to a nearby health food store to get organic almonds and a few other sundry items.
As I stood at the checkout counter of the health food store, I reached in my pocket to retrieve my pocket change, all of which I received at the comic store. The change should've totaled 40 cents -- one quarter, one dime and one nickel -- but it didn't. At first glance, I thought that one of the coins was a statehood quarter, but it turned out to be foreign. Guess which country it was from... United Arab Emirates!
I've never got an Arabian coin in change before. I've never even seen a coin from that area, but today I held one in my hand. Most of the writing was Arabic but it did say "United Arab Emirates" on the back. That's how I identified the country of origin of course. The really strange concidence though, comes from what's on the front (obverse) of the coin. Guess what it shows. It shows an oil lamp!
My mind immediately went back to my dream about genies and magic lamps, and since I got the coin, I've had this strong urge to rub the coin between my fingers.
So what do you think? Does the Universe have a sense of humor? More importantly, do I dare rub the coin? I'll have to sleep on it. My couch is calling me for a nap.
- Terry
EDIT: I'm up from my nap and looked up the coin. I found out that it's not an oil lamp on the coin. It's an Arab coffee pot called a Dallah. It's still close enough to a lamp for me!
Comments
Dreams and Visions
Well, I don't think you should give up just yet. :)
I have some friends, all Muslim women, who insist that I can have a husband, and he does not need to know. They have almost convinced me but then common sense seems to intrude. :( And, I have come to realize that inspite of being drawn to Men, I am really frightened of them and have been resisting the idea. Part of it is that I like my freedom and don't want some Man ordering me around.
So, Monday I am out driving with a girlfriend of mine, and we are going to the airport to pick up a young woman who has just married a very dishy guy from Jordan. OH, YUUUUUMMMM! So, I was approaching a green light, but a truck in front of me was stopped but had no brake lights, so I did not know he was not moving, and I rear ended him. He was so big that I did no damage to him and my car sort of dove under his truck. So, now my car needs a hood, left fender, and some stuff. I was sitting in the car when I sort of blanked out and briefly dreamed a vision of sorts. A voice said, "You see, Allah SWT has clipped your wings."
Well the car is drivable, but is quite ugly and I suspect that the plod will eventually tell me to keep it home or fix it.
So, this morning, just before I wakened, a voice said to me in a deep voice. "Khadijah, you know that you want a man to dominate you and to protect you." I wakened smiling and happy.
Who knows what this portends.
Gwen
Domination
I don't do the domination thing. The Bible says "Husbands, love your wives," not "Husbands, dominate your wives." It also says "Wives, submit to your husbands."
In other words, if it isn't offered, don't take it. That wouldn't be loving.
I don't know what it says in the Koran. I suspect that it's similar, but even more misinterpreted than the Christian version. (I thought the whole discussion in Skipper was good.)
Wishes
Before you rub the coin, you need to make a list.
Wish number one: Everyone on this list gets transformed. :-)
Or, maybe you should wish for the power to do the transformations yourself, then take up a collection so that you can go visit all your friends.
Being a shape shifter would be fun. Why limit yourself to one somatype?