Dream CXXVII

I was with a group of young people aboard several buses.  We were going to try and scale a mountain during the winter.

We stopped and parked in an area carved into the middle of a mountain.  There, we were to be tested to determine if we were competent to scale the mountain.

One of the tests involved testing for mutation.  The test was to insert a needle into the bridge of the nose.  If the blood that seeped out was blue, then the person tested was a mutant and might have unexpected powers that could aid him or her on the mountain climbing trip.

On my way to have my own nose tested, I passed a young man I knew.  He was lying down in a small personal tent, with a needle through his nose.  Blue blood streaked down the side of his face.  I said "Congratulations," but he seemed to be asleep and didn't hear me.

I could not thrust the needle entirely through my nose, only partway because of the pain.  I was certain that the test was unnecessary anyway, since I knew I wasn't a mutant.  I pulled the needle out and rubbed my finger against the wound.  My fingertip was stained blue.

"Hey, cool, bro," said a young man nearby, as I examined the blue blood.  Nonsense, I thought.  I'm not a mutant--though I was secretly hoping I would have some very useful mutant power.  Still, I thought, this can't be right.

"You know," I said out loud, "I don't have blue blood.  I cut my face every time I shave, and the blood is always red."

Still, I wondered what my mutant ability might be.  I wandered through the other hikers as they discussed their tests and the upcoming climb.  I overheard a few folks saying that one's mutation would be foretold by the first fortune cookie one received after finding out one was a mutant.

I found a fortune cookie and broke it open.  It said that I liked driving, and that I liked being in tunnels.

I tried to figure out what my mutant power might be, based on that.  Nothing immediately suggested itself.

I saw through the mountainside opening that the sun was coming up.  I decided to forget about mutation for now and concentrate on the upcoming climb.