Night Gallery

most hearty welcome to those of you

whose tastes in art leaned toward the

bazaar our first painting submitted for

your approval is an item of real estate

but you won't find it advertised in the

classifieds

oh it's light and comfortable and

altogether well heated but there's a

chill to the place so bundle up when you

look at this one our painting is called

the house and this is the night gallery

the dream is always the same every

detail the chronology it falls into

places if preordained I'm driving down a

country road and I turn off the main

road onto a private one I Drive through

the shadows and the flashes of sunlight

it's a summer afternoon and I must tell

you that there's no apprehension in the

dream no sense of fear or tension there

is some vague awareness that it has

happened before

I feel nothing but anticipation no

disquiet at all I Drive past the pond

and then I reached the house and it's

beautiful there's a sense of peace of

serenity

a feeling of permanence and roots in the

earth and a changeless beauty

I find myself almost beckoned to so I

walk on the drive toward the front door

I'm aware I'm altogether aware of acting

on this instinct of knocking on the door

but not really knowing what I'll say if

anyone answers shall I say for example

good afternoon I've dreamed about this

place and I'm so very much taken with it

but I simply found myself driving here

but I guess it's part of the dream

the subconscious knowledge that the

obligations of reality the social

amenities of flesh-and-blood

they don't apply here you simply let the

dream run it's custom cause

and that's it that's the dream doctor

it begins with myself driving I don't

remember getting into the car though I

just find myself seated at the wheel

then it ends always the same way I get

back into the car and then I start to

drive away just as the front door opens

but I never know who it is who's living

there or who answered the door because

you'd rather not know I'm not sure it's

not a sense of fear I experience if

that's what you mean it's well it's more

like a preference or decision as if were

I to linger I might lose the dream

forever it's interesting do you know

where the house is

no there's nothing familiar about the

countryside it could be anywhere I

suppose but you don't recall ever having

seen a house before as a child right no

I don't think so does the dream disturb

you no it doesn't disturb me it's it's

just that it it's so persistent you've

had it many times that many times I can

remember as far back as perhaps 10 years

ago I had the same dream then I suppose

that's why the details are so clear the

white fenced road the tall white

lampposts the road that loops around a

large pond in front of the house the

neatly trimmed lawn and shade trees

separating the house from the pond the

roof is high and the windows were set

back into the roof and the door is white

with a slender window panel flanking it

there's a brass door number I even

remember the flowers hanging the futures

between the stone columns our dreams

always had precise very frequently

you're leaving us tomorrow yes it

appears so you don't seem happy about it

oh it's just it's just that what I just

hope that I really am cured I'm not

depressed anymore and I seemed function

quite well oh I like it here I don't

want to leave because you looked after

because you have no decisions to make of

any consequence there are no anxieties

for you here no problems to face we went

tomorrow morning I'll leave and there'll

be decisions and problems and yes I

guess some anxieties mm-hmm as it should

be or at least as it must be a

sanitarium can be a pleasant place but

there's no reality here for you the

reality comes outside those very

problems those are what you must face

hmm

that's for the dream I wouldn't worry

about it it would be my guess at this

house is a place you've seen sometime in

your life it obviously made an

impression it it represents a kind of

permanence that appeals to you

and that's why you keep dreaming about

it but I wouldn't worry about it at all

as a matter of fact I wish my dreams

were as serene as pleasant Wow oh thank

you doctor thank you much good luck

Elaine what is hear from you yeah I will

I hope everything goes well for you miss

Latimer thank you

so she's finally leaving us though mr.

Latimer yes we've seen the last of her I

expect and good riddance to madam why be

unkind not unkind candid never cares for

the woman dreamy dreamy never walk just

sort of wafted along like a wood sprite

never put her two feet on the ground

I like a woman with both feet on the

ground

to help you

help you madam I was driving I just

pulled in here yes I observed saw the

advertisement then advertisement yes the

house is for sale I thought perhaps you

came to look at it forgive me my name is

Pooja the house is listed with my firm

I've only had this listing for a few

days you'd be the first to see it that

is if you're interested I am how lovely

and how convenient I was just looking at

the ground so it's a charming place

really former owners with council people

they were English as a matter of fact

they've gone back to London yeah

only only a few weeks oh they must have

hated to give it up in some ways

now this is the front player of course

and the living room is off here to the

left now straight ahead through those

doors there's a study it's format panel

there's a large fireplace with a hunting

picture up above you've been here know

that is not really follow me please

someone told you about the place I don't

know how to explain it I don't mean to

pry

I've dreamed about this house dreamed of

it many times but I never went inside in

my dreams that is I only went as far as

a front door and yet I can't explain it

I have no prior recollection of it but

when you open that door I suddenly seem

to know just where all the rooms were

what they were there are three bedrooms

upstairs the master bedroom is to the

left the bath then a blue bedroom and

then farther down the hall there's a

smaller room er guest room perhaps or a

sewing room it's quite right you're at

your name ma'am miss Latimer Alain

Latimer and you're from San Francisco oh

this is not San Francisco things are

quiet here very little goes on oh I like

that you'd probably be very content here

then they're asking sixty thousand for

the house furnished for this house but

that's ridiculous is worth five times

that all right they're anxious to sell

why they're English now who can

understand the English but it's the

house in need of repair oh please look

for yourself