People have always
said that when you fall asleep you typically dream about the last think you
were thinking about, but lately I questioned if that was fact or fiction. My
mind would always race before I fell asleep. It felt like it would be traveling
at the speed of light and I always tried to slow the roller coaster down. I
would lie in bed trying to count backwards from ten to one over and over but my
mind would always race. It would do this until I eventually I would get so
tired from thinking. My brain would turn exhausted and would force itself to
shut down. The next thing that I could remember was something that always
puzzled me when I would awake the next day.
I found myself
entering a fantasy land night after night. My mind would take me to a place
that I never wanted to wake up from. The oversized double doors that lead me to
this magical place were extremely heavy and a gorgeous shade of gold. Every
time I would walk through them I would always pray that I would never have to
walk back out of them. I would step through the doors onto a fluffy red carpet.
It stretched throughout the entire so called “land”. This long carpet would
lead me to something different every night I entered this world and I was never
disappointed by what it brought me too. Surrounding the carpet was an array of
colors that filled my eyes. They were all so vibrant and bright that it was
almost painful to look around but they intrigued me so I let my eyes graze.
These colors covered objects that resembled machines. Some were large, and some
were small. But they all would create different things. Some would beep and
some would tic. But they would never stop spitting out pieces of food that
would make my mouth water. The first machine I could see was to my left. It was
large with purple and orange stripes that made me feel dizzy if I stared to
long. There was a huge handle the hung by its side that had a “pull” sign hung
above it. I gave all of my strength and pulled down as hard as I could on the
handle. The giant machine started ticking and clicking and it sounded as if it
were about to explode when I heard a tiny “ding”. At the bottom of the machine
there was a small tray that resembled almost a candy dispenser. On top of the
small tray was a chocolate chip. My eyes were amazed. All of that work to only
produce the tiniest chocolate chip I had probably ever seen. But before my mind
could take me to see more I was awoken by the blaring sound of my alarm clock.
The entire day I craved the taste of the small chocolate chip and desperately
wanted to go back just so I could let it melt on my tongue. I hoped that I
would be able to fall asleep and created the same images in my head.
As I had wished
the next night when I fell asleep I found myself pushing open the heavy golden
doors. But something was strange when I set both feet inside. I felt something
appear in my hand. I opened it up to find the chocolate chip as if nothing had
ever happened. I was back in the same spot that I had left the night before. As
I seemed to be puzzled by this discovery I kept walking. The red carpet led me
to the next contraption which was located on the right side. This one was red
and green polka dots that made me think of Christmas time. I looked down in
front of me to find a large looking “button” on the ground. Like the handle
that said pull this one said stomp. So like the sign told me I stomped on the
circle on below me. The machine rattled furiously before it finally made the
same dinging noise that the first one had made. A small piece of what looked to
be a candy cane popped out at me. I carefully took it with my handle and held
it open with the chocolate chip. Starring at both of them I wondered to myself
why? But before I could have my question answered the terrible noise of my
alarm rudely awoke me again. This morning I woke up with drool on my pillow.
Thinking to myself of the small piece of candy cane I could feel it getting
stick in between my teeth but mixed with the taste of the rich milk chocolate
made my taste buds tingle. Never would I think that I would like the taste of
those two items put together but dreaming about them two nights in a row made
them seem like they were my favorite food. I just couldn’t piece together in my
mind how I was having the same reoccurring dream and that I would pick up right
where I left off.
As I lied awake in
my bed just praying that I would fall asleep soon so that I could see what
would happen next I found myself trying desperately thinking about the red
carpet and where it would lead me. After thinking for hours I finally was
there. I found myself pushing through the doors again as if I never left. But
this time everything seemed to be in fast forward. It was almost as if I raced
past the chocolate chip and candy cane machine to the end of the carpet. My jaw
dropped to the ground and my eyes widened. My hands fell to my sides and I
almost dropped the chocolate chip and piece of candy cane that I still held
from the last two times I was there. This machine was the largest one I had
ever seen. It was a billion different colors, purple, red, green, yellow, blue,
and pink. There was no specific design it was all just splattered on there.
There were handles, buttons, levers, and switches. With no form of guidance on
the machine anywhere I just went ahead and pushed the red button. I sat and
listened to the whistles, clunks, beeps and ticks and just starred at the steam
coming out of the top. This one took much longer than the previous ones did, to
the point where I was becoming impatient, until I heard a “ding”. On a tray was
one cookie, just a single cookie. Holding the chocolate chip and candy cane
pieces still in hand I picked up the cookie with my other hand. I went to put
it into my mouth hoping that I would be able to taste it. The warm sweetness
touched my lips and the sugary scent filled my nose. I bit into the cookie and
could taste the warm chocolate melting into my tongue. Then I was able to feel
the hard candy cane as my teeth crushed through it. The machines I had visited
each night were the ingredients to a little piece of heaven. With the millions
of milk chocolate chips that filled this warm cookie and the small pieces of
candy cane that would get stuck to my teeth, my dreams finally let me taste
what I had been wishing for. Before I could begin to think of what else was in
the decadent treat I was once again awoken to reality.
I woke up to my
finger in my mouth as if it was trying to pick a piece of the sticky candy cane
out from between the crevasse in my teeth. For nights after myself finally
trying the cookie I never returned. I wished and hoped that my dreams would
take me back to that fantasy land that lead me to greatness, but I was never
blessed with such a wish. As much as I would think about the large golden doors
before I fell asleep I never dreamt of it again. But just being able to taste
the warm sensation of the milk chocolate and the peppermint candy cane was
something that I always wanted to return to.
Recipe:
1 cup chocolate
chips
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown
sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons
vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose
flour
1 teaspoon baking
soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
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