People Searching for Food

[nj_hardhat]

I seldom dream, and when I do they aren't memorable. Once in a while I get a very vivid and strong one, like this one. Some background - I am a PT organic fruit/veg farmer in New Jersey, about 65 miles NNE of Philadelphia. ___ It is a beautiful Spring day. The sun is strong, and it is about 2pm. I am standing at the southern end of my field, behind the 8' deer fence (inside the enclosure). My elderly mother and brother are with me. There are people milling around outside the field. They are all tired, somewhat angry, and hungry. They tell me so, and they are asking me for food. I explain to them that there is no harvest yet, all the plants are just seedlings and there is nothing I can give them to eat. Their numbers grow by the minute; they are staggering out of the forest, coming north, looking like shellshocked refugees. Most are silent, but all of them stay by the fence. A few start crying, but a few others start getting aggressive. They are yelling at me, saying that I have no right to refuse them food. They climb the fence. Some try to dig under it. I turn to my mother, to check in with her, and she is silent and withdrawn. I turn to my brother and he says "this is not going to end well. Where is the rifle?" I remind him of where we live and how difficult it is to own a gun here. One of the fence climbers grabs me and demands food. I explain there is none; he begins to assault me, but he is weak, and I subdue him. At this point there are scores, maybe hundreds of people at the fence, and a dozen or so inside, running thru the field looking for something edible. I also notice the sun is unusually bright; the sky is white. My thoughts, which had been focused on protecting the plants, turn towards protecting my family; my brother is shielding Mom and fighting off three fence jumpers. Again, they are weak and inflict no damage. I find a steel fencepost to use as a weapon. The field now has dozens of people in it, frantically looking for food, and I can no longer see the forest or buildings outside the enclosure for the crowd that has gathered outside. ___ I hate these dreams, these vivid ones. They do not come often but I wish they never came.