Dream Journal Feb-Aug 10Strange dinner (2/16/10)I am watching a family getting together. Maybe it is for Thanksgiving dinner, maybe something else. There are many people of different ages gathered in the house. I only see the details of one person, an older man who is apparently a patriarch of sorts. He looks Native American and he has a wrinkled face and long white hair. He smiles and talks quite enthusiastically. There is a large pan in the middle of the table everyone sits around, and when he lifts up the lid there is a cooked brain the size of a turkey on a platter. He begins to carve it into slices, still smiling and talking happily. The reactions of the othe
A Gift for the King of PersiaWe put our work aside when the trumpets sounded and headed for the king's hall. As royal physician I cut my way easily through the crowd of servants and found a spot near the throne. A messenger introduced the arrival, a diplomat from India here to present a gift to king Artaxerxes II. From the corner of my eye I saw the king nod for the procession to continue, expression flat and unchanging. How could he not grow excited? It is not often that we have the privilege of seeing things plucked from the farthest corners of the world.The diplomat entered the hall flanked by two soldiers armed with heavy swords. Behind him came more men carrying i