Desert Animals

Dear Peregrin,

A kangaroo, an emu, a wild black cat (large, not housecat), a fox and three people (me, my boyfriend and another person i don't know who) are in the desert. We are traveling south. we reach a convenience store. we stand in front. It is dusk with a pink sky. An older man joins us. He has a shotgun. He aims and shoots toward where the animals are (north of us). We are nervous he might hurt one of our animals. The kangaroo and emu and the black cat join us. We laugh that they know immediately to come stand with us where they will not get shot. Then i pet the emu.

From the south comes a very large running fullgrown male tiger. He is not one of our animal friend and there is immediate danger. We all run inside. I try to lure the emu inside but it won't come. It is running around startled. I am very worried for all our animals. I feel anxiety. We stand in the 711 and see the kangaroo and the emu get eaten. I keep looking away. I can't take how easy it is for him to tear away their limbs - it is like when you see someone eating chicken. We worry for the fox but I remember then that foxes are very smart and swift. Then I sense there is another animal of ours out there with the fox and am even worried for it.

lr

Good morning, lr.

You and your friends feel responsible for the animals, so that perhaps they represent responsibilities from waking life. They could also represent patterns of behavior or personality, as animals often do.

In the case of the emu and kangaroo, their behavior does not help them survive, whereas you feel that the fox will survive because its intelligence. You don't mention the cat, but most likely it falls into the same category. This could represent a situation in your waking life, in which you will need to use your head.

You can keep the animals safe from the hunter, possibly because the hunter only hunts for sport. The tiger, on the other hand, hunts to survive and is much harder to evade. This may be pointing out a difference between how you have been taught to deal with a situation, and how it will actuall work in real life - such as is often the case with business, for instance.

Your hiding place is a 711 store - not usually found on the big game trail. This might be a play on words, as this is called a "convenience" store - it could be a convenient hiding place.

Pleasant dreams,

Peregrin