0248 - 2025.09 Desert Dreaming

What, I thought, am I looking at? Am I dreaming? Is this real?

The image in front of me is desert like, but not quite right. What do I remember?

A camel comes to mind - the desert is not a place for a horse with no name - and then what? I must have fallen off for why else would I be looking at this scene? I can’t see a camel, so did it wander off, did it forget about me, or did it just disassociate itself because I’m dreaming?

What am I looking at? It’s certainly desert like, a bit pixelated. But that is no answer, it could be a dream or just a bump on the head and I’m not seeing properly.

I am neither hot nor cold. But the sky is blue, the clouds are red, it must be sunrise or sunset. More likely sunrise, the day warming up rather than cooling down. Perhaps I fell off the camel in the night? Bizarrely that would make sense if I was stupid enough to ride a camel at night and fall asleep.

And where am I? This doesn’t look like the Sahara or even the Atacama or the Kalahari. The spear motive makes it look Australian. I have a book about deserts. Maybe I’m in Arabia?

If I’m not dreaming then I must have amnesia. Working backwards, I’ve bumped my head having fallen off a camel, which means I was travelling somewhere. Travelling in turn implies purpose, but what could that be?

Now I think about it my face is a little sore. Consistent with a fall? Not sore enough to have dropped from a camel.

It’s slowly coming back to me now. I wasn’t riding in the desert, I’m in bed reading about the desert. It’s a heavy book, I must have fallen asleep looking at this wonderful picture. The book has fallen onto my face, my glasses askew, no wonder the picture is blurry.

Technique: #digital
Theme: #landscape
Highlight colours: #ochre

Series: #mini-story

Merchandise: RedBubble

Published in #Medium 19 May 2026