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

school assignment. There is a story about a famous geologist called Louis Agassiz. He studied fossil fish from all over the world. Once he collected a beautiful specimen which was very complete and well-preserved. The problem was that it was not clear; he could not distinguish details which should have been obvious. For a long time hepuzzled over why this should be until one night he had a dream. In the dream he saw the fossil fish and watched as a surface layer was peeled off to reveal the perfect skeleton. The next morning, he took the specimen and gently chipped at it. A thin layer of rock fell away to reveal the missing detail below. His dream had solved the problem that had been bothering him.
    â€œThere are many other examples of this process; writers, poets and artists often dream a story or a poem. It’s not magical; it’s just that they have been thinking a lot about their particular problem and the dream process resolves their conflict while they sleep.”
    â€œBut how does that explain my dreams?” I asked quietly. “I’m worried that I might be going mad.”
    â€œNo,” Chris assured me. “Your dreams are definitely not a sign of madness, those kinds of dreams are very different. Your dreams are unusual in that they are very vivid and consistent, but they are still nothing to worry about. I think with some work we will be able to find out what is causing them. If you would like to come back next week, we can go into that more. In the meantime, why don’t you write down your dreams as soon as you wake up. Then, later on in the day, read them over and underline any parts which are obviously related to something that happened the previous day or even something you may have heard or done in the recent past. If you bring that along next week, we can look at it together. It might give us some clues as to what these dreams mean.”
    â€œOK,” I agreed as Chris stood up. “I’ll do that. See younext week.”
    We shook hands and I left. On the way home, I told Mom what had happened. She was a bit concerned at first, especially because Chris had asked her to leave, but I managed to reassure her that he had been really helpful. He had actually given me a lot of interesting information and certainly put my mind at ease. What I wasn’t sure about was whether he would be able to explain what was happening any better than I could. Like Jim, he seemed to think that the dreams were old memories being processed. I was pretty sure they weren’t, but I would try to do what he said before we met again the following week.
    That night I went to bed relaxed and expectant. I even had a notebook and pencil on my table. Nothing happened. I slept a long time and when I awoke the next morning I felt refreshed, at first. But, gradually, I began to realize that, if I had dreamt anything, I could not remember it. Almost instantly, sadness flooded over me. I was almost in tears. What if the dreams didn’t come again? I couldn’t stand that. What if I never saw George or Neptune again? Confused and upset by my violent emotions, I stumbled through the day, hoping that the dreams would return that night, but again I was disappointed. I felt lost and terribly alone. I hadn’t realized how involved I was in the dreams and how much I wanted to know what would happen next. Without them I was desolate. It was like coming to the end of a mystery novel and finding the last page ripped out, only a thousand times worse. I was a character inthis novel and I would never know what happened to me. The whole week was a disaster.
    My second session with Chris didn’t go well at all. I had nothing to say and all he could do was repeat the same stuff he had said the week before. He speculated on the dreams’ cause and why they had ceased. In some strange way, I blamed Chris for the loss of the dreams and that made me uncooperative. I didn’t object when he suggested I leave