"The Dream Had Been Haunting Jimmy for Weeks" by John Gower
The dream had been haunting Jimmy for weeks, but he wasn't sure just what to do about it. He couldn’t let it go, or dismiss it. It was a message of grand importance and the meaning saturated his waking hours. Eventually he formed a sort of wisdom around it, the sort of wisdom that Jimmy was famous for. And now he was finally ready to act.
The first thing he knew for certain was that he was absolutely in love with Sally, again, that they were meant to be, but more importantly, he knew that this time he and GOD were in this thing together.
He awoke without hangover that day and though he and Sally hadn’t spoken to one another in weeks, Jimmy raced off in his 1998 Falcon to tell her the good news.
Sally startled when she saw Jimmy’s rusted out Falcon pull up the gravel drive. She peered through the window hoping none of her neighbors at the trailer park would make the connection between the rusty Falcon and the drunken scene of a couple months ago. It looked like her neighbors were gone. Sally swung open the trailer door and quickly calculated Jimmy’s intentions with jaundice eyes. She stood in the doorway wearing a pink nightgown and fluffy slippers with one hand strategically placed on her shapely hip. Jimmy jumped out of his Falcon, taking extra-long steps and looking energetic for his fifty-years. With exaggerated outstretched arms he closed-in to where Sally was standing. Inferring that all had been forgiven, Jimmy said; “Baby, I’ve had time to think and I was wrong, wrong, wrong!” Sally couldn’t help but smile at his ridiculous return and even though she had told him to never come back again she was still crazy about him. She loved his confidence, it was something she lacked and when he was willing to direct his attention her way she couldn’t deny him. Her attraction to him was beyond measure. “Jimmy,” she said sternly, “You can’t just walk in and out of my life when you feel like it. I’m almost forty and I need someone with a plan that includes me.” Jimmy went down on one knee, half joking- half sincere. “Baby, you can count on me. I’m a new man, and I’ve got a plan, a big plan, and you’re going to love it.”
When Jimmy saw her narrowed eyes soften and widen he gave her a wink and Sally jumped from the trailer stoop into his outstretched arms, nestling her bosoms into his chest while they kissed and kissed for the entire world to see. Yep, they were in love, again and she let Jimmy carry her inside where they sealed the deal.
Later while eating char-grilled burgers and macaroni along-side the trailer Sally asked him what his big plan was, and that’s when Jimmy explained the dream and about the secret codes from God that would be forthcoming through the waitresses at Cracker Barrel. “Have faith in me Honey I have a good feeling about this;” Jimmy said with a huge reassuring grin. Sally gave him a worried look, but not too worried, she wanted him to stay. He asked her to make up a question, any question at all. So she said, “Alright Jimmy, I want to know where I’m going to live when the landlord throws me out next week.” Jimmy said, “Oh that’s good, yes, that’s a really good question. So, here’s what we’re going to do. Just like in my dream, we’ll order our dinner at Cracker Barrel tonight and we’ll ask the waitress anything we want, but you and I will know that when she’s answering our question, it will really be God speaking in code through her telling us what we want to know. She’ll have no idea that God is giving her these words, but we’ll know. Just relax Honey, from now on God will be telling us exactly what we need to know. I can feel it. God didn’t send me this dream just to have me ignore it. This is going to be BIG. Just stick with me and watch where it goes. I love ya Baby, I LOVE ya.”
So that night Jimmy and Sally got a table at the Cracker Barrel and after warming up Shirley, their waitress, with a lot of small talk, Jimmy managed to slide into the conversation the question they had rehearsed all day. “So Shirley,” Jimmy inquired in a folksy kind of way, “Are the dogs that live around here friendly?” Shirley answered, “Why sure, they’re friendly, but if you want to meet some good dogs you’ve got to travel. When I was in California I saw the most unbelievable dogs. Some were so small you could put them in your pocket. And I saw dogs in New York City that were so handsome I’d prefer their company to a lot of men I know. Yeah sure, we’ve got friendly dogs around here, but there’s plenty more dogs to see if you travel a bit. “Yep, I bet that’s right, Shirley,” Jimmy said, before steering the conversation off to something else.
After Shirley left the table Jimmy said, “There you go Baby, GOD has spoken. It’s time I sold some things and we hit the road. We’ll get the rest of the plan from the other Cracker Barrel’s along the way.” Sally really had nothing to lose and if Jimmy was going on an adventure, well, she might just as well go along too. “You bet Jimmy, Yep, we are in for one fine ride indeed.”