Read Online Across Frozen Seas by John Wilson - Free Book Online

many things, along with pottery and Thai cooking, that she had taken classes in. I think she took courses to get away when things with Dad got too intense.
    â€œIts not natural,” she said when I told her how vivid and frequent my dreams were and how they seemed to be telling some kind of story. “I’ve never heard of anything like that before.”
    This wasn’t very comforting, but Mom did have one idea—she suggested I see her therapist in Saskatoon. He was her response to the latest crisis with Dad.
    â€œChris might really be able to help,” she said. “He is very sensitive to all kinds of issues.”
    At first I was reluctant to go, but Mom said that Chris was up on the latest theories about dreams and could help me understand what was going on. Anyway, it was worth a try and I was glad for a chance to get out of Humboldt.
    The therapist’s office was on the second floor of a low building downtown. It had a small reception area with a single secretary and one door with the words, “Chris Penner, Family Therapist” on it. I don’t know what I expected to find behind that door, perhaps a leather couch, certificates on the wall. There were a few certificates, but no couch, just a couple of comfortable-lookingchairs. One complete wall was a window that looked out over the town and made the room bright and cheerful. There was also a desk in front of the window with a bookcase on one side. In the back corner there were a couple of large cushions and a box of children’s toys and picture books.
    Chris ushered us in, sat down and chatted for a while about nothing in particular. When he started asking about the dreams, Mom answered for me until Chris gently suggested that she wait outside. I told him about the dreams and, to my relief, he seemed genuinely interested. When I had finished, he told me a bit about the importance of dreams in his line of work.
    â€œI am not a psychoanalyst,” he said, “but dreams have always interested me and I have found them useful in therapy sessions.
    â€œFirst of all, your dreams are nothing to worry about. People used to believe that dreams signalled mental instability, but we dismissed that idea long ago. In fact, dreams are perfectly normal. Every mammal, except, oddly enough, the duckbilled platypus, dreams every night. Humans are in “dream sleep” for about two hours a night and have about five dreams in that time. That’s almost one hundred thirty thousand dreams in an average lifetime. It’s a shame we don’t remember more of them.
    â€œAnyway, no one has determined exactly why we dream. It might be to stimulate brain development, or to replenish chemicals in the brain, or to help sort and store the information we gather during the day. Someresearchers even believe that dreams are used to erase unneeded information, rather like deleting unwanted files on your computer hard drive. Whatever their purpose, they are not caused, as my grandmother used to tell me, by eating too much cheese.”
    Chris smiled before continuing.
    â€œThe big question is, do they have meaning? Some say yes, that dreams are messages from our unconscious self and that we should take them seriously. Others say they are just random impulses from deep in the brain and that they mean nothing. I’m not sure who is right, but dreams do seem to reflect issues in real life, so perhaps they are an attempt to resolve problems which are bothering us when we are awake.”
    â€œResolve problems?” I interrupted. “How can dreams do that?”
    â€œWell, if something is bothering you, you tend to think about it all the time. But your rational, waking mind might be too preoccupied to see the answer clearly. The dream process, which sorts through the information without these preconceptions, might just come up with the answer.
    â€œNow, these don’t have to be emotional problems; they could be anything, even a