DREAM #24

i was riding on a circus train in a caboose filled with circus workers. there was a woman in that caboose that i had had an affair with, however i never saw her and never felt certain she was actually there. a few days into my trip there was a terrible train accident. a caboose of lions rolled over and there were dead lion parts hanging in trees and bushes. the train stopped and we all got off and walked around not knowing what to do. i ran into my friend danielle and i was very happy to see her. we were both sad about the lions.

i finally reached town and walked down cobblestone streets with a slip of paper that had my cousin's address written on it. i reached a walled off compound and went inside. inside the compound were old havana-style apartments. i looked for the number of his apartment and when i found it i looked in through the window. inside i could see my cousin kneeling in an empty room in front of two body bags zipped up on the floor. i went inside and he told me he was the landlord of the apartment building and that these tenants had died in their home. they were an old couple and had been married for a very long time. no one was alive to take care of their bodies because they had no children. he was trying to find new tenants for the place. he knew no one would want to rent out an apartment with two dead bodies in them. so every day he would set them inside their old bedroom and make them hold hands at night.

i stayed with santiago a few weeks and many things happened. one day the police found the bodies. it had been raining. they were wearing plastic covers over their police hats. they told us it would be more humane to keep the bodies in closets. we said no and they said okay. i left the next day because the train was fixed and i never came back.