In Your Tamest Dreams

Gedhun soon found himself in a room with many other children, all sitting at small wooden tables, facing the same direction. There was a man at the front of the room facing them. He was dressed in very unusual clothes which Gedhun had never seen before. His listened as the man spoke to the group in a different language. Although it was not the Tibetan language he spoke at home, Gedhun understood him. He raised his hand and answered he man’s question in the language the man was speaking. 

Gedhun heard his father’s voice faintly calling for him from a distance. His body jolted briefly, he inhaled quickly, and his eyes shot open. The rest of the family was already awake. Sonam had finished going back and forth to the stream to gather the day’s water. She was now preparing a breakfast of lentil paratha (bread), butter tea, and tsampa. She made the lentil paratha by combining lentil paste (cooked and mashed lentils), with flour and chilies. She had steeped some tea overnight, adding yak butter and salt in the morning. Tsampa, roasted flour, was sometimes added to the butter tea to create a sort of porridge. 

He hurried out of bed and headed to the common room to eat. His brothers were checking the rice which was drying on the roof. His grandfather was outside, squatting down and looking down the path that led to Chokey’s place. The path eventually led to the village of Chusul. Pemba stood up, turned back toward the home and told Gedhun’s father, Jampa, that they would be bringing Gedhun to Chusul with them today and not the oldest boy, Norbu. 

The entire family gathered inside and ate breakfast. The delicious bread, which had a greenish color, was eaten up quickly. The boys added some tsampa to their yak tea and spooned the porridge non-stop from their bowls. When everyone was finished the 2 older brothers took the dishes to be washed. Jampa told Gedhun he would be traveling to Chusul today with his grandfather and him.

Gedhun got dressed and prepared to leave and he remembered his dream. For a moment he thought about the unusually dressed man speaking in another language. He found his hat, jacket and socks. He thought about answering the man’s question. He wondered about dreams and what they were really about. He laced up his boots and went outside to meet his father and grandfather. The 3 of them headed off down the path toward Chokey’s carrying 40 kilograms of lentils between them. They would trade half the lentils with Chokey, and the other half at the Chusul market for items the family needed. As Gedhun walked along he daydreamed about what language the strangely dressed man spoke. Before he knew it they were at Chokey’s home.