Heron Pond / 5275 Franklin St

Click for map: Heron Pond / 5275 Franklin St / lat 39.792974875345635 lon -104.9719352369243

Call 720-845-5413 extension 24 to hear this dream.

In the weedy grass to your right, you see a small lump rising out of the dirt. You scratch at the dirt around the lump, trying to free it. The dirt is dry & packed hard. You suddenly have a hand-held shovel & a brush, like an archeologist. You crack the dirt open & brush away the loose dust away. You dig deeper & deeper into the earth, until the lump shudders & shakes, spraying a cloud of dust into the air. And out of this dust a mountain lion leaps & lands on the grass. The big cat leans into a big stretch that runs from her nose through her muscled shoulders & thick legs down to the tip of her tail. She widens her jaws into a toothy yawn, then smacks her lip, & looks up to you. Thank you, the mountain lion says. She looks around with confusion. What year is it? she says. You tell her the year & her eyes grow sad. I have been buried in this dirt for so long. She looks around her, at the vegetation growing from the pond, at the birds that flit in & out of the trees, at the surrounding recycling plants & scrap yards & parking lots. The mountain lion & you walk around the pond. Birds squawk defensively, though the mountain lion shows no interest in them. You open a long bag you’ve been carrying. You remove a badminton net & two rackets. You set up the net in the grass. You hand one racket to the mountain lion & you take the other. You toss the shuttlecock, a real feather shuttlecock, into the air & bat it over the net. The mountain lion rises up on hind legs & swings the racket at the shuttlecock, connecting & knocking it back to you, then falling back to four legs. The shuttlecock floats through the air & you trot to it & swat it back. The mountain lion repositions, rises, & hits the shuttlecock back. So much is different here, the mountain lion shouts as the two of you badminton. And soon it will all be different again. On the sidelines of the badminton game, cheering both you & the mountain lion on with equal excitement, sits Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a big number-one-finger foam glove on his hand with your name written on one side & AGNES written on the other. (The mountain lion’s name is Agnes.)