Succumb to the maze of the Medina, get a whiff of an unusual spice, rub up against a certain lamp, and it’s possible a spell has been cast and your belief in dreams has been enhanced. Take my Berber doppelgänger, Ali Baba bin Berzerki Berber. Bin Berzerki has often dreamt of owning a Picasso. So today he exits the blue gate.
Then he cuts through the dusty parking lot on his way to Fes’s botanical gardens. Motorcycles, scooters, small cabs, and tourist vans are nosing into random parking places. He’s no longer walking, but toiling along under a sun that’s beginning to bake.
He angles between two cars and there it is:
A Picasso! Citroen manufactures them. He looks over at another vehicle. Voila—another Picasso! Who knew? Would it be dreamy enough if my doppelgänger just rented one for a week?
I abandoned bin Berzeki in the parking lot coveting the Picassos and went with Ella to cross a busy street into the botanical gardens. Here among the straight tiled fountains and tall fat palm trees there were a row of signs picturing a park much like the one were walking in, only where there was a beautiful lake we followed a path over a wooden bridge and came upon…
…a dusty dry lakebed. So the bright blue lake pictured on the signs was a doppelgänger of the park! What was central to the botanical gardens and the fragrant air we were breathing in was the dream of water. I realize now that since bin Berzerki has begun to shadow me, I am beginning to experience the metaphysical dimension of Morocco. It just might be that I am in the land of dreams.
And I just thought they were cars and dirt, so I appreciate your dreams.