Rating: Challenger!
The following account, Dreams of Ibis is really another story puzzle. Each of the sentences in this rather strange birdy tale has something in common. The common factor has nothing to do with the story itself, except maybe in the very slightest of ways. Your challenge is to find the common factor and then to continue writing the story. Feel free to add any plot developments you may choose, as long as your sentences do not break away from the rule.
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Dreams of Ibis
“He who sleeps with terns wakes up lost amid the trees.”
The first of the avian dreams occurred during my senior year at Baylor. Perhaps none of this would have happened had I listened to my mother and attended USC or UConn. Middle Tennessee had played our team in football that afternoon, and had easily won. A dark mood therefore overcame me, and later that night it overtook my dreams. Like all the many nightmares that followed, this one featured a caged bird yearning to breathe free. Can any of you tell me a possible meaning for a trapped oriole or an imprisoned meadowlark? How might a lost football game lead to the bizarre feathered visions that still tear my world apart?
Let me now tell you that my name is Jeff Mckenzie. More than twelve years ago I married a beautiful woman named Iris. She promises me daily that the next of these vivid dreams will be a pleasant one. Lying in our bed at midnight, however, I know I’ll soon see another captive wren or pet shop finch. Whippoorwills flap their tired tethered wings in many of my dreams, with the occasional visit from a peevish grackle. Hands down, the absolute worst of all is the constant nocturnal reappearance of a certain mournful-eyed peacock.
“Lewd and sexy dreams are so much better than bird dreams,” slyly advises Iris. “Jeff McKenzie, you will most assuredly overcome this because you are a powerful and willful person.”
How can I respond to dear Iris when this is something she knows nothing about at all? Will I ever, oh God ever, escape these liberty-starved birds of my dreams?