Dancing In The Rain by Patrick Councilor
[ No One Stepped On Anyone's Toes Here ]
The SIDF (Seattle International Dance Festival) was conducting their opening night with indoor and outdoor performances by over 200 international artists. The evening's light shower didn't hinder the outdoor performers in the least. There was a wonderful excitement in the air, yet Daphne told Niles that would rather watch the entertainers inside. Perhaps it was because dancing in the rain was their tradition and she wanted to keep it that much more special.
Niles took her umbrella and coat once they made their way inside. He produced the tickets to the doorman and politely handed her the tickets to allow her to lead them to their seats.
"Oh my Niles, this is nice," she commented when they were comfortably in their seats.
As they waited for the performance to start, Niles couldn't help thinking about the dream that he had had. It was an easy dream to decipher. It was just his conscious reassuring him how his wife would back him on any important decision, even if it meant uprooting their lives and moving their family fifteen hundred miles away.
Niles wanted to talk to Frasier about his dream becoming a fantasy, yet he could almost hear his brother's psychological side coming out. "Oh Niles, are you listening to yourself?"
Not this time. This one Niles would pack away and not discuss with his sibling. Not now and not ever. It was illogical for someone to foresee the future in a dream or conduct a vision of future reality inside a subconscious state. There were some case studies of it and he even recalled his own father talking of a dream he had of a conversation he had with Niles' grandmother. His dad told him that she could have told her every word before she had said it. Did that prove a vein in the Crane family that was of psychic? Of course not. There is always the exception to the rule and a case or two that defies all odds. There are those who think that they dreamt something that happens latter when a "deja vu" strikes cords in the short-term memory of the cranium. It's a sort of post-sorting memory from hazy dream states.
Yet he knew he dreamt of that wine bottle before he even knew it existed. Could he have seen it somewhere in some winery or grocery store without consciously declaring it? Of course he could have. And as a professional psychologist, that is what he was attributing it to. Yet there was another side of him that knew different. Call it his passionate side, call it his non-reasoning side, or call it his delusional side. Whatever one calls it, it was the side that hosted most of his heart. The place where all reasoning didn't need to make sense.
It was always hard for him to wrap his mind around the acceptance of people having the power of foreseeing the future or having psychic powers. Yet there were proven cases where psychics helped police solve cases or find a lost or injured person.
Most of the visions bestowed upon his beloved soul mate usually had solid foundation to them in one way or another. She had definitely softened his skepticism through the years, though it went against everything his skilled profession trained him in.
Perhaps his dream was God just letting him know that everything was going to be alright.
He pushed the thoughts out of his mind. There would be no life-altering decisions or discussions this evening. Tonight was their night and he wasn't going to let anything get in the way of it.
The dancers from San Diego were great and the ones from Hong Kong where spectacular, yet it was the performers from Venezuela that impressed him so. They really moved Daphne as well, for he notice her wiping a tear from her cheek before she laced her fingers into his and she held his hand for their entire dance.
"They're breath-taking, aren't they?"
Niles smiled at her depth of passion. "Yes, they certainly are."
Their dance was vibrant and full of emotion. They hated to see it come to an end.
He looked as his watch and leaned over to his wife. "Daphne, we have to go."
"Can't we stay just a bit more?"
"I wish we could, my love, but if we're going to make those dinner reservations, we had better get moving."
"Alright. That was just beautiful, wasn't it Niles?"
"That it was. I couldn't agree with you more."
The third act ended and Niles and Daphne made their way out into the aisle and back outside.
"Oh, I wish we could have stayed longer."
"I know," Niles noted. "So do I, but I think you will really enjoy our dining experience."