Dream the Year Was 1819 and I

¶ … Dream

The year was 1819 and I suddenly found myself in a society and culture that was starkly different than the one I was accustomed to. I am not sure how it all transpired but it was only yesterday that I had gone to a party to celebrate New Year 2005. I vividly remember meeting my friends and thoroughly enjoying myself before I took that drink. What happened after that? I don't know but it appears I was sent into some time machine because when I woke up today, life was just not the same anymore.

I woke up in a room, which is as dull and dreary as they can get. There are no pictures on the wall, no stereo, no collection of CDs and no television. The room has just one large-sized wooden bed, long flowing curtains, which have been closely drawn, a ceiling fan and a dressing table with some grandmother's stuff. This is really freaky and on top of that, I was not even wearing my regular nightdress. I was clad in a long flowing cotton nighdress that I found highly unflattering.

Sheba, a black woman entered my room at precisely 7:00 AM. I was already puzzled and her presence only added to my confusion. What year was this, where was I, how did I end up here, who was this woman, did we actually have a maid? Questions just kept popping up in my mind and all I could was stare at the woman.

Sheba, her name I found out when someone called her from outside, was a middle-aged woman, probably a slave or something. God this was driving me crazy. Mom, dad, Sarah.. where was everyone. I knew I couldn't ask these questions just yet so I instead asked for the newspaper. Do we get newspapers here? I wondered. Sheba said something I couldn't comprehend because of her deep Southern accent but she did bring me a newspaper anyways. It was the Boston Daily. So we were in Boston and not Los Angeles. I saw the date and year, 12th January 1819. I jumped out of bed and was instructed to wear proper clothes before I left the room. There were simply no jeans, no skirts, and no tops in my wardrobe. Sheba took out some white and black frock with white stockings and I changed into them without any fight. I was too puzzled to wrestle with the reality but I certainly wanted to meet other people in the house to see what had changed besides the century of course.

The house we were living was huge with a wide veranda and an absolutely magnificent garden. I saw some people having tea and realized it was actually mom, dad and my sister Sarah. They looked fairly at ease and it appeared that the new reality hadn't caused them any trouble. When I joined them, I noticed my father was a little worried. Apparently war had broken out between Northern and Southern Armies. Abraham Lincoln, it appeared, had launched military attack against Southern forces and this could mean a civil war. Mother was of the view that if South lost, it could also mean end of slavery. That was a good thing mom, I told her. She turned and looked at me as if I had committed a crime by saying that. Come on mom, that's what they taught us at school last week. "They didn't" mother retorted. I decided not to discuss what I had studied in school in 2004. Life wasn't the same here and even though I knew how events would shape up, I felt it was no use telling anyone this. However I did hint at slavery coming to an end, South losing its supremacy and Lincoln dying in a theatre. Of course, none of this made any sense to anyone. Sarah especially thought I had lost my mind. And for once I was truly happy. The backward shift in time had certainly caused trouble but at least now I knew the future better than anyone around. Suddenly I found myself not missing my trendy lifestyle in California anymore. This was good.