The woman at the top of the world - from David Stafford

[Marie Wintzer]

Just when my mailbox was on the verge of despair about not seeing a David Stafford for too long, I get this wonderful card. A very dreamy, soft and hazy picture, a beautiful woman and the entrance of a mysterious tunnel. It's a dream, for sure. And such a well written dream as well. Please take a moment to read it, you will see what I mean. David says the story is based on a real dream he had. He woke up in the middle of it, then went back to sleep and the dream resumed! Now how do you do that? I never had ANY dream resumed, ever, no matter how hard I tried. David, please give me the recipe for this. Only for very advanced dreamers, I imagine :-)) anyway.... he also added the following lines to it, which I liked a lot: "The distance between her rocky world and civilization seemed so far, the daunting path to it so treacherous and yet when we descended, the three in the dream and the she of the rocky townhouse, it turned out to be a comparatively short distance with shuttle buses waiting." It then occurred to him that the cave might stand for... the internet world? That is very possible, yes. Maybe David will soon have another dream, The Woman at the top of the world, part II, and we will know more about it? David, this is masterfully written and complements the picture to perfection, thank you for this piece of dream!

[De Villo Sloan]

Where's the Spell Chick! I meant to compare David's style to Raymond Chandler. Not Raymond Chapter. Beam me up, Scotty!

[David Stafford]

Alicia...it's quite possible. I wish there was some way to share the immensity of the space in the dream. The impossible vistas, the trail back to civilization. I just remembered she had goats as well. Yvette is now a realtor and anthropologist...(great combo). She was married for many years to the film genius Stanley Donen, (Charade, Two for the Road). Jill, I never thought of them as anything but oranges. A true innocent.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Oh you just aged me, David. Well that's ok, yes, let us keep the flame burning brightly. I did think you probably remember! How about that movie she did with Richard Chamberlin? Something to do with illegal childbirth. Or immoral. Or whatever. It must have been very shortly after his Dr. Kildare days. 

And Alicia, a stab in the dark is a little too creepy. Do you do that often?

[Alicia Starr]

the cave image could be that other, inner sanctum self, yes? and the Bondian gadgetry, the brain,  and the patio overlooking the mountains, eyes. Just a stab in the dark David. 

[David Stafford]

We remember Nancy...We being The Keepers of the Tyger Tyger burning bright flame as well as the Princess of the Eloi and  let's not forget Light in the Piazza wherein Yvette played a developmentally disabled girl (or does she have epilepsy? Somehow the movie conflates the two.) Adam Guettel, grandson of Richard Rodgers turned it into a musical.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

That IS Yvette Mimieux, yes? I was going to throw her name out there as sort of a joke since I figured no one would remember her, but ...

[David Stafford]

Thanks, DeVillo....and everyone...specially Marie for the blogpost....

[De Villo Sloan]

Wow, one of my favorite Stafford stories so far: "But here, at the top of the world, you couldn't really make mistakes." Great style with lines like they are right out of Raymond Chapter, yet that dream narrative. And the woman's picture reflects that perfectly. Really fine work, IMHO,

[David Stafford]

Carrot Top is a celebrity (in some quarters) who as near as I can tell is famous for being somewhat annoying. Regarding continuing dreams: I find that I will occasionally have nightmares that continue after a short, groggy trip to the bathroom. This particular one was not a nightmare however. And it wasn't Yvette. She just happens to be the closest to what my dream woman looked like. Wistful, tentative, nursing some lingering sadness. The second part of the dream (P.P.) fixated on the cave itself, lots of James Bondian gadgetry, some lovely patios that looked out over the Sierras and then the trip back to civilization or, if we accept the premise that the cave is the internet, then a return to non-virtual life (or as we used to call it: life) which in my real life I contemplate but probably won't do any time soon.

[Alicia Starr]

p.s. who is carrot top?  ;--)