Legrand's Fourth Dream

As William Legrand contemplated a mad corrective action to resolve his nightmares, he put things off until he once again fell asleep and had a fourth, vivid dream.

Legrand seemed to awake, not from sleep but from an illness so severe that his vital signs were suspended and he appeared dead to any observer. He found he was lying not in a bed but on a floor made of rude, hard planks. It was dark and so Legrand reached up but his hands were blocked by more planks only a foot above his face. He reached to the sides and again encountered planks forcing him to conclude he had been entombed alive.

Legrand beat on the planks of his coffin while screaming in the faint hope he was not yet buried. After a little while he realized he was not screaming for help but instead "I will give it back!" The coffin then began to shake and hope sprang that someone was attempting to tip him out.

Legrand saw a light on his closed eyelids and so he opened his eyes and saw the face of his wife holding a candle and asking if he was well.

Literary Comment
This dream is based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Premature Burial.