Bizarro

I've been experiencing this recurring dream over the past two weeks... one that starts off amusing, then exciting, then becomes painful and finally leaves me brokenhearted.

When it begins I'm exploring the forest. I'm usually just running recklessly through the woods when I stumble into a depression in the dry leaves. The more I stare at it, the more it resembles a cave, but made of sticks and root with a canopy of red and orange leaves. If anyone I knew was traveling through the woods with me, they at this point fade away and are no longer part of the tale.

I shout into the wood-cave and throw a rock to see if a snake springs out. A very small person appears with red hair, and it's hard to distinguish the sex of this person because there is something very inhuman about this creature besides its size. Its face is very wrinkly. But he looks mostly like a he... I ask him if he is a leprechaun. He nods. He has a wicked smile at all times as if I am the punchline in a joke. Now I don't doubt that he is a leprechaun so I consider the possibilities of the situation I face. I look to the sky, but there is no rainbow, and if there's a pot of gold it's not in sight. Perhaps there's gold hidden in the wood-cave, which could very well be a snakepit. If it hides gold, I am not interested in searching for it... But htis tiny creature must have something magical to offer me, even if I have to steal it. The leprechaun begins to act nervous, but smiles still.

I decide to bluff him. 'I know where your gold is kept,' I boast. 'You will give me my three wishes in exchange for your freedom and my forgetfulness...' The leprechaun tells me he has the power to grant only one wish, which can never be undone, yet he does not protest the situation, this blackmail, in the least... I don't even hesitate. I know what to wish for. I wish for the leprechaun to give me the powers of Superman... flight, xray vision, strength and invulnerability. I could have the powers of a god. The small man agreed. There's a spark of some sort, and almost instantly I begin to float. Simultaneously I can feel my body grow larger and stronger.

And then the world goes fuzzy as I fall back to the ground. There are alarms going off in my head, and my entire body feels sick. I beg for the leprechaun to explain, but he laughs and bounds away. He is gone, and even the wooded hole has vanished. I feel stupid. I feel like I'm dying. I remember that I have the power of flight, so I pull myself from the ground into the air, so weak, moving higher and higher. The world is awash in the color green and everything is wavy. Light and sound echo. I only wish now to get away... away from the green air... I see the blackness of space above me and I reach for it.

There I float alone in orbit above the Earth. The pain has subsided and I know that I will live, but I realize what I have done wrong now. When the leprechaun granted me the powers of Superman, he also gave me his weakness, and the only thing that can destroy Superman is fragments of his home planet.... And now I have the same curse. My planet is a poison to me. A wish that can never be undone... I suddenly know that I will never return and that my destiny is alone among the stars... these strange powers, useful only in keeping me alive forever. I turn and fly away in no particular direction... Just away.