Wading upstream to a destination that now eludes me ...

Wading upstream, I suddenly froze.

Sauntering downstream and wading at a leisurely pace was a grizzly bear. My first thought was, “Migod! He’s so large. He could chew me to pieces in a minute.”

The bear came up to me sniffed me casually and shook his head.

From behind me, I heard someone shouting to the bear “Come here! Leave him alone!”

I turned and saw a wondrous sight. It was my brother, Tom, and his tiny two year-old (eldest) son, Tommy Jr. fishing downstream from me … maybe fifty yards away.

What made it wondrous was that my brother, Tom, passed away about twenty-two years ago of unknown causes and his son, Tommy, died in his crib when he was two or so—maybe a dozen years before my brother died. Little Tommy was sitting on a small dock. Tom was wearing waders and was in the water.

The bear walked up to them and allowed them both to pat him on the head before ambling out of the creek and into the woods.

Instantly, I thought that I must have died and asked Tom, “Am I in Heaven?” (I guess I thought of the Biblical image of the lamb lying down with the lion.)

My brother looked me square in the eyes and said, “No!”

“But then why were you unafraid of the bear? I must be in Heaven.”

He replied, “No, Joe … If you were in Heaven, you wouldn’t have been afraid of the bear.”

I woke up.

Now, dear readers, what was that all about? I really did wake up and can’t shake that dream from my deranged head.