A Good Feeling

I had a dream the other night. I was at a market and I came across a stall filled with bottles of all shapes, colours and sizes. I started rifling through them. A big square blue bottle was labelled “financial independence,” a small round yellow one was labelled “prosperity” and a curved red one had a tag with “fertility” announced in bold writing. I kept looking. A black and white bottle was for “decisiveness” while a rosy pink bottle was for “daydreams.” I kept looking, getting increasingly frustrated. Some bottles piqued my interest, but I couldn’t decide which one to get and I didn’t want to get the wrong one. There had to be something better.

Eventually I found a small, dusty bluey-green bottle. Its stopper seemed to be almost sitting loose in the neck, and only a yellowed corner remained of the label. I caught the eye of the stall-keeper.

“What’s this one?” I asked, curious.

“That’s a good feeling.”

My heart lurched in my chest. This was the one I wanted. I hesitated – surely it was more responsible to get “financial independence” or there had been a gold bottle of “luck” which I had thought too expensive but which may be of more use.

“How much is it?” I asked, almost decided to buy it.

The stall-keeper named a price half again as expensive as the gold bottle. I did not try to hide my surprise.

“What?! How can a good feeling be so expensive? Surely it’s a common commodity – I could get a good feeling off a blue sky, or a piece of chocolate, a favourite song or calling a friend. I’ll give you a quarter of the price you ask.”

The stall-keeper rebuffed my offered money.

“People get good feelings from those things you named, but the sugar high comes with a fall, a favourite song can be worn out from over-playing and your friend may not answer the phone. A blue sky could be the despair of a drought stricken farmer. You see, those other things are unreliable. To make this good feeling we had to distil the essence of all these things, in a secret recipe.”

“Okay, I’ll give you half.”

The stall-keeper shook his head with a smile.

“You still don’t understand. This is more than just feeling happy. This is getting out of the right side of the bed sort of good feeling. With this, you get every other potion I offer: A good feeling about a choice will make you decisive; with a good feeling you create your own luck; you are courageous, confident, popular. Never underestimate the power of a good feeling, my friend.”

Wordlessly, I handed over the requested amount, unable to haggle further. With the little bottle in hand, I moved away from the stall, eager to get out of sight of the keeper that I may taste my purchase. I had removed the stopper and was raising the bottle to my lips when I woke up. I lay in bed, sighed and wondered which side of the bed to get out of.