The Answer

Do you ever wake up from a dream absolutely shaken?

This morning I had a dream. I have a terrible habit of sleeping through (both) my alarms, and I think my dream must have incorporated some of radio that was playing on my alarm. Anyway, the dream was in a record store. It was a pretty typical place, a bit like Utopia used to be on George Street (the old store) or Red Eye. Black décor, posters, and music playing in the background. I was up near the counter, and people were standing in a queue to buy their records. Yes, records. They were buying albums, holding their square album covers and handing them over to the young guys behind the counter. I was standing back, letting people walk in front of me, and I was peering over, watching what they were buying, listening to their conversations with the shop guys about the bands and what they liked. I was holding a t-shirt (a bit like a Strokes one that I saw, black, with long red raglan sleeves) and couldn’t decide if I should buy it or not. One of the shop guys looks up. "Are you right?" "I’m fine" I say. "Just trying to stay quiet and unnoticed in the corner." "Yeah", he says "I noticed."
He came around from behind the counter. He actually looked a bit like a guy that works at my favourite local music shop, only more attractive. He was tall, had a youthful roundish face, was built lean in that way that muso’s are, and had black ringletting hair to his shoulders.
This is where it gets a little fuzzy… he starts talking to me about the music, and asks me why I’m letting people in front of me. "I like watching what they’re buying. It’s interesting." "Yes, but you can’t hide back here."
And then he looked at me really intensely and yet, gently, with understanding, and said "You know what you have to do." I started to cry and nodded my head. And then he gave me advice on who I really was and what I needed to do.

And then I woke up. I felt like all my layers had been stripped away. I was shaken, vulnerable and afraid. And I couldn’t remember what he said. He gave me the answer, and I can’t for the life of me remember what he said!