I couldn’t remember the beginning of the dream. All I remember was getting out from a black-tie party with my friend, Pratibha and Vincent (I don’t know why he’s in my dream). We walked together side by side in some dark but fancy hall. The whole place was dim. There was a grand staircase leading to the lower level and a main door which pretty much gives me a thought that it’s some hotel room or whatever.
Pratibha: who wore a quite casual attire for such an event. Vincent, who was this filthy rich bastard in real life, wore a silver and black striped dress shirt with printed koala bears on his tie. I don’t remember what I wore but all I know it felt pretty frilly and…Puffy.
So, we were walking, right. Something stopped me from heading to the place we were going. They continued walking while I stood and turned around, heading south. More darkness loomed over me as I headed further south of the hallway. More doors passed, more dimly lit lights against the walls passed by me. I stopped at a gold coloured elevator (due to this sort of description of the elevator I don’t give the benefit of the doubt that it is made from real gold. No one’s all that filthy rich like Vincent). Pushing the button that shows an arrow pointing downwards, I waited motionlessly with no hint of facial expression or emotions running through my head. Finally, the elevator doors flung open slowly. The hall I left at the moment was total stillness. Realizing that no one bothered to look for me, I figured hey, let me go on an adventure in this dark night.
The elevator shaft; dark as it got—I wasn’t frightened at all (in real life I have this love-hate relationship with darkness especially at the stroke of nine. I don’t know why though. Timing and darkness adds to the spookiness of things). It took me down to the ground floor though I didn’t give any instructions to where I wish to head, it gave a random floor.
As the elevator doors swung open, the atmosphere changed drastically. People from different parts of the world came together in a wide open space indoors. The ceilings were extremely high. Multiple chandeliers were hanging freely from the ceilings. Walls were covered with wide windows without ledges. Four posts that stretched from the ground; shooting up to the high ceilings were carved from the finest colours of marble. Still, it was dimly lit. The fresh scents of national food from grand stalls filled the air-conditioned air. I took my first step out from the shaft, standing in between two tall plants in pots; I watched people walk around with plates of exotic food. I hear the clings of kitchenware and the sizzles of food being fried and grilled. The floor was so outstretched I couldn’t see a spot that was deserted.
I’ve started walking forwards. The first stall to emerge was a Chinese woman in her 40s and a young boy who was grilling strips of lamb on a thin piece of metal hovering over a blazing fire. People huddled around to watch the young boy grill the fresly striped lamb. He coated them with barbeque sauce and passed the plates to people who were in the queue. While he wiped drops of sweat dripping from his forehead, I watched him work like a well-oiled machine with a grin on my face. I noticed the woman was plating up fat french fries with the grilled lamb. They look absolutely to die for. To my surprise, I felt rather famished by the minute having to watch him cook so determinedly. I saw more and more plates go out to people. The glistening coat of the sauce just making the dish more savouring as ever. I could almost taste from the smell. Also, the french fries looked like they were about to erupt an explosion of mashed potatoes out from their skins.
It was really late of the night I thought. I knew I shouldn’t be having supper because having a habit to eat supper way to often can cause weight gain. Due to the lack of willpower, I shrugged my thoughts off and decide to have just one teensy bite of the scrumptous looking lamb and fries.
My plan was to finish the plate up quick and head back to where ever I planned to go back to. I sat down in front of a round table covered with white cloth just right by the side of the stall with the young Chinese boy still grilling away the striped lamb. Not long after, my taste buds went wild over the consistency of the food. Suddenly I wanted to kick my chair back and start crawling all over the place to look for more food. Which ever direction I went, I picked up a small portion of food until I made a small radius from my seating place. Different types of food were sitting on top of the striped lamb and fries. I was so eager to taste all of them at once. Once I sat, I looked around seeing happy faces until I spotted the odd one out. I saw my father, signalling me in a stupid manner, “What!?” I mouthed.
He asked if I wanted any of my friends to tag along with me to eat. Well, I considered the offer because I couldn’t finish every off all by myself then sleep; that’s unethical. I nodded firmly then started having a little petty fit because I was disturbed by my father. Soon enough I saw Vincent and Pratibha coming down from the elevator from the corner of my eye.
Then the rest was a blur for the next few minutes. All of a sudden we were sitting at a long table with middle-aged women.
I know my dream was weird but the lamb was crazy good.