I follow my wife into the city streets I have to keep my distance I assume because I’m ill. I watch her walking through the village downtown as if she’s comfortable in a new neighborhood, as if she  already lives there.  I follow her through the village to an imaging Center and watch her inquire about studying breast mammograms. she wants to know about a course she  can take to read mammograms like a radiologist.  I wonder about why she wants to change fields maybe she needs extra money I wonder if I’m still working.

Then I follow her into a kind of community entertainment complex, the type of place that has studios and courses to learn about making music and films and they have very modern shows there, not the kind of thing my wife would usually care about. She signs up for travel courses and real estate. I’d like to be a part of this myself but somehow I’m out of the loop. I still keep my distance, We don’t speak.

Then I see that she’s signing up for something on her phone heading to a cemetery of sorts. It’s downtown very close to the water, but it’s in Manhattan.

She says out loud to herself, loud enough so I can hear her, “okay Richie, now you have your grave. Instead of next to your mother’s,  it will be next to mine, right here in downtown Manhattan, so our son can visit and not have to leave the city.”

I think to myself but wait—this may not be the best place for a grave. This part of the city can get flooded. It may be good for a few years, even a few decades but eventually lower Manhattan is going to be under water. Wouldn’t my grave be more stable in Queens, next to my parents?

And I realize all along that I probably am already dead. It’s like the movie “Ghost.” I’m following my wife, watching her get along without me, figuring out the next phase of her life.

Please listen to the audio companion of this dream with my music and narration on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-279788833/what-comes-next