The Edge of Dreams (Molly Murphy Mysteries, #14)

This was a slight exaggeration, and Gus had the grace to blush, muttering, “Oh, no, not really.”


“I hope your painting was of pleasant subjects, and not this dreadful rubbish that is being produced in Paris these days,” Mrs. Mitchum said. “How they have the nerve to call it art. Flying cats and blue faces, indeed. Whatever next?”

“I envy you being able to spend a whole summer in Paris.” Mrs. Hamilton sighed. “It was always my dream to travel. But I said yes to Joseph and next thing I knew I was the mother of four boys.” She laughed.

“We were also in Vienna,” Sid said. “Miss Walcott was studying with Professor Freud.”

“Freud?” Mrs. Mitchum exclaimed. “Isn’t he that dreadful man who claims that we are entirely driven by sexual impulses?” And she fanned herself with her gloves.

“I’m afraid he does,” Gus admitted. “But he has done wonderful work in unlocking the subconscious of the human mind and in treating mental illness. And he has written a brilliant treatise on the interpretation of dreams.”

“Dreams?” one of the women asked. “Can dreams be interpreted? Surely dreams are just our minds wandering aimlessly when we are not present to direct our thoughts.”

“Some dreams are just that,” Gus said, “but Dr. Freud and his colleagues have discovered that dreams are also a conduit through which our deepest fears and angers and longings can be expressed. Sometimes these feelings are so strong, or so traumatic, or so deeply suppressed, that we don’t even want to name them, so our subconscious self expresses them as symbols or metaphors.”

“I remember going to a carnival when I was a girl, and there was a fortune-teller who told us what our dreams meant,” one of the women said. “But I thought it quite silly even then. I was going to marry an important man and travel the world, if you please. So far I have only been to Boston.”

“So your mentors in Vienna dismiss the notion of prophetic dreams, like Joseph in the Bible?” someone asked. “Dreams sent to warn us? Surely there are documented cases?”

“I don’t think they’d want to believe in them,” Gus replied with a smile. “Because it would be hard to offer a scientific explanation.”

“When I was growing up in Ireland folks were hot on interpreting dream symbols,” I chimed in. “If you dreamed of a white cow you were going to come into money. If you dreamed of a black bird it meant an impending death … that sort of thing. I never put much store by it myself, but the older women swore by it.”

“I’m not talking about the sort of dream interpretation that fortune-tellers use,” Gus said. “This research has a serious scientific basis. I didn’t completely agree with Professor Freud’s interpretation. To him most dream symbols are related to sex. If you dream of a tower it’s a male symbol, and a gaping cave might relate to a female.”

“Mercy me.” The older women exchanged horrified looks.

“I didn’t go along with that,” Gus said hurriedly.

“I should think not. Most decent people are not preoccupied with sexual function,” Mrs. Mitchum said. “And talk of it should not go beyond the confines of the married bedroom.”

“I agreed with the opinion of some other researchers, that there are dream symbols that seem to be common to all dreamers throughout the world,” Gus went on, warming to her subject now. “For example, if you dream of a house, it’s usually a symbol for how you see yourself. If you dream of a fine, solid house, then you have a good self-image. If you dream of a house with dark, gloomy rooms you don’t want to enter, then there are parts of yourself you are afraid to face.”

“Interesting,” the red-haired girl from Vassar said. “I often dream that I’m in a large house, and I’m surprised to find I own it.”

“You see!” Gus pointed at her excitedly. “You are just realizing your full potential.”

The girl beamed. “How exciting. I must tell Mama. She claimed I’d never amount to much.”

“What other symbols are there?” one of the women asked.

“A runaway horse, for example. If you’re in a buggy with a runaway horse, it signifies an aspect of your life you can’t control.”

“I’ve dreamed that, many times,” Sid said.

“And another fascinating revelation of this research is that we are sometimes so afraid to admit to a fear that we skirt around it even in our dreams, and create puns or rhyming words to express it. If we think our child is too pale and we are secretly worried he is sick, we might dream of him carrying a pail.” She looked around the group. “But a trained alienist has ways to unlock the most enigmatic of symbols to get to their real meaning. You should see the wonderful cures that Professor Freud and his colleagues have achieved for those with severe mental problems or those who have experienced traumatic shocks. I really wished that I could have stayed longer and become an expert myself.”