Prophetic Dreams

Last week, I wrote about dreams and how troublesome they can be. In 1985, my mother had a dream which she shared openly for the next several days that I’ll never, ever forget. Sometimes when I think about it, I feel bad inside because I was too young to understand what was happening and even still, I didn’t take her seriously. No one did, really. She knew that she was dying, all because of what she considered to be a prophetic dream.

…there are believers that dreams can indeed predict or foretell the future. Prophetic dreams are linked to major disasters, wars, assassinations, accidents, lottery numbers or even with winning horse race. Such dreams have helped solve crimes. – Dream Moods

Mom’s Dream

I guess I blocked that painful memory out for the next two decades. That was until 2008 when I reconnected with my mother’s friends from the old Talon Zipper Factory. I was an assistant principal at Northampton High School. One of the ladies in the office happened to discover that I was Beulah Sharpe’s daughter.

This lady used to work at the plant back in those days with my mother. Thanks to a plaque that hung in my office in memorandum with my mom’s name on it, she knew exactly who I was. I thought she would cry for a moment.

Immediately, she alerted the others that “Little Joan” was around here and working with her each day. After a few weeks, I joined them for church and dinner afterwards. There were about four of them in all, and I was listening for anything that would tell me who my mom really was.

Oddly enough, during our conversation that afternoon, one lady recalled a dream that my mother had. As soon as she said just one phrase, a chill went down my spine. She said,

“Do y’all remember that dream Beulah had about Floyd Deloatch? I can just remember her saying, ‘His eyes shined like diamonds!”

My heart pounded. The sudden rush of emotion was choking me, taking me back through time. I was suddenly sitting across the room from Mom looking at her, listening to those words as they poured off her lips like a waterfall. She said it to me, to her friends on the phone, to various family members, and anyone she encountered in a span of a week.

Needless to say, I literally cried all the way home after leaving her friends that day. It was part grief, part guilt, and part longing for her. I needed her so badly in my life, and I still do today.

Mom told us all about that dream for the next week after that, but we just didn’t listen until it was too late.

Prologue

Here is an excerpt from my unfinished memoir detailing this story. I have changed the names of the characters (except my own) to protect their privacy.

His Eyes Shined Like Diamonds

Betty Jean Saunders awakened from a frightening dream.  She opened her eyes and slowly realized she was at home in bed and it was over. What a relief. She glanced across the room to see if her mother and daughter were awake. The alarm clock on the nightstand read eight o’clock am.  Her daughter, Joan was sleeping soundly, but her mother had already gotten up and was making breakfast in the kitchen.  However, still shaken, Betty was in no mood to eat.  Scared to death, she got out of bed, slipped on her slippers and made her way to the telephone in the den.

“Molly,” she whispered to her friend.  “It’s me, B.  I need to talk to you mighty bad and I couldn’t get Patty on the phone.  It’s something I got to talk to you about in person.”

“Sure. Marjorie just stopped by too.  Do you mind if she hears whatever you want to talk about,” she asked.

“No, I don’t care.  I just need to get this off of my chest.  I’ll be over as soon as I get dressed,” she replied. It was raining cats and dogs along the way.  Betty’s heart thumped. 

All kinds of thoughts raced through her mind.  She wondered about Joan.  Then she wondered what she had eaten the night before to cause her to have such a crazy nightmare.  Betty Saunders was afraid for her life having recently undergone open heart surgery and pacemaker implantation.  Born with with rheumatic fever in July 1940, Betty battled heart problems for most of her life; a life that was filled with success, hardships and in this instant, terror.

She turned into Molly Boone’s driveway on almost two wheels.

“Betty?  What in the world are you all riled up this time of day? You’re usually a night owl,” Molly joked. 

Betty didn’t find that funny at all. “Molly, girl I’ve got to talk to you.  I had this dream and I am scared to death!”

Betty’s hands trembled and the rain cascaded from the roof while she waited for Molly to unlatch the storm door. “Girl, come on in here out of that rain.  What in the world is ailing you?”

Betty sat down on a couch adjacent to the television and front room window.  She rocked and rubbed her hands together.  She took off her wet toboggan and set it down on the seat beside her.  Margie joined her on the couch growing increasingly worried that something terrible was going on.

“Molly,” her husband called from the back.  “Is everything alright out there?” “Yes, hon.  It’s just Betty!  She come by to talk a while,” she called back to him.

“Betty, tell us what’s wrong.”

“Molly, it was just horrible.  Y’all know Floyd who died last year?   He came to me in a dream.  He was looking good, wearin’ this crisp white suit, a pair of white shoes and had a clean hair cut, but…”

Betty paused and shook her head rapidly. “Girl what,” Molly questioned. “His eyes…  His eyes shined like diamonds!”  Betty got quiet after that and just rocked back and forth on the edge of her seat. Molly and Margie waited patiently for Betty to gather herself.  Her eyes began to water. 

Molly reached for a box of tissues on the side table and handed it to her friend. Tears streamed down Betty’s chocolate face.  She was worn and weary.  She worked hard; perhaps too hard.  She looked like she hadn’t rested well in weeks. The girls had never seen Betty this way.  She was usually strong and confident. 

She was the leader of the pack.  On this day however, she was visibly shaken.
“I have so much to live for.  I’ve got my baby to raise.  Y’all know I only want the best for her.  There are some questions that I’m going to have to answer and I mean soon. 

She’s already asking about her period.  I’ve to be here for that!  I definitely don’t want momma raising her by herself, and I want to at least make it to see her through school.  I want to be a grandmother.  I’ve started this non profit that’s getting ready to take off.  I have a plan for us.  I’ve got to put us in a better situation.  I don’t understand for the life of me why he would come to me in a dream like this!”

Molly pressed, “B!  Now come on.  Stop talking that foolishness.  Why you lettin’ this thing bother you so bad.  It’s just a dream.”

“No, I’ve had dreams before.  This was real and  I believe him.  I have never experienced anything like this in my life,” Betty explained. Margie asked, “Well did he say anything?  What else happened?” Betty stopped rocking.  She took a deep breath and mustered,

“He said to me, ‘Girl, you better get your house in order, because you’re going to see the Lord!”

My mother died at Norfolk General Hospital two weeks later from pneumonia. That’s why I always share my strange dreams with someone I’m close to. You just never know sometimes.

If you have a story to tell about a prophetic dream you or someone you know has had, lets talk about it.