The Secret Beneath the Bridge 橋下的祕密

I dreamt that my husband, daughter, and I were driving along a road parallel to an old railway bridge. The bridge was tall, and when I looked down beneath it, I initially thought I would see old red brick pillars. However, to my surprise, there were bars underneath the bridge, filled with people. I wondered, "Huh? It's daytime—why are there so many people in the bars?"

The railway bridge was long, and we continued driving along the road. As we passed the end of the bridge, I looked back and saw the entrance to the bars. Inside, there were people dressed in heavy metal rock outfits, calling out to us and inviting us to join them.

I thought, "Wow! How unique!" I had always assumed bars operated at night, especially a heavy metal bar like this, yet here they were, open in broad daylight. In my dream, I felt like I had passed by this place multiple times before but had never noticed them. The bridge pillars, with their red-and-black bricks, looked abandoned and somewhat dilapidated.

I recalled that I usually passed by at night and had assumed the area was just a set of abandoned bridge supports or an old brick factory. But seeing it in the daytime, I was surprised to find such a lively atmosphere. I marveled at the idea of a bustling daytime bar.

The rockers kept calling us to join them, but we continued driving forward.

Eventually, we arrived at a marketplace and entered a restaurant. The walls were adorned with numerous art pieces, reminiscent of the John Richard style—distressed yet accented with gold and silver leaf. As we walked through the restaurant, I observed the artwork on the walls and thought, "These are basically JR-distributed pieces. I didn’t expect a restaurant to be used as a gallery for people to admire the art."

As I kept walking, I wondered, "JR pieces aren’t cheap—can they really sell in a restaurant?" I noticed a variety of large and small paintings and thought, "If a restaurant displayed smaller, more affordable pieces, customers might appreciate them while dining. After spending some time in the space, they might find something they like and be willing to buy it." I considered that this might actually be a clever business strategy.

As I wandered around the restaurant, I eventually reached the backyard, where I saw a female artist painting in real time. She was looking into a mirror, painting a self-portrait. Using gold and silver foil lines, she created a grid-like pattern on the canvas, which had the same aged aesthetic as JR’s style.

Then, I looked at the artist’s face—she herself had the appearance of a comic book character. Her face was white with black lines, elongated and sharp. She sat there, painting her own reflection.

I thought, "I always assumed JR artworks were manufactured in studios and then sent to distributors. Why is this artist creating here on-site? Or is she simply imitating JR’s style? Are these pieces truly original JR products?"

I walked back into the restaurant to find my husband and daughter. I saw his back—his grayish-white, shoulder-length hair. It wasn’t how my husband actually looks in real life, but in the dream, it seemed like "Dad" (even though my father doesn’t look like that either). Yet, the character's personality felt like my husband.

I saw them at the cashier, paying. I asked, "Huh? You’re buying something?" It turned out that my daughter had picked out an alarm clock with some special features, and the staff was explaining them to her and my husband. The staff asked if I wanted to listen as well, but I said, "No, just explain it to them." I figured it was my daughter's alarm clock—she just needed to know how to use it.

Then, I walked outside and arrived at another scene, where I saw my writer friend, Jane. She was about to participate in what looked like a horse-riding competition. But strangely, I saw Jane’s head and torso, yet she had the limbs of a horse, running.

Shocked, I asked, "What is this?" Jane explained that it was a game where people could wear a horse’s body and essentially become a horse to compete in races.

At the competition, many "human-headed horses" were running around, creating a lively atmosphere. Everyone looked happy, but to me, it was a bit unsettling. I kept feeling like Jane had transformed into a centaur, but she insisted that wasn’t the case—she was just wearing a costume with horse legs to compete.

In any case, I watched Jane running in that form… and then, I woke up.

夢見我和老公跟女兒，我們開車在一條路上，這條路與舊火車橋墩平行。橋墩很高，我往橋墩下看去，原本以為是舊紅磚柱，結果發現然橋下都是酒吧，裡面好多人。我心想「欸？現在是白天，為什麼酒吧裡有這麼多人？」

鐵路橋很長，我們順著路開。經過了橋尾，我回頭看，看到酒吧出入口，看見裡面有些像是重金屬搖滾裝扮的人，在那裡呼喚我，邀我們加入他們。

我心想「哇！好特別喔！」我以為酒吧都是晚上營業，特別像這種重金屬搖滾酒吧，更應該是晚上開，可是他們怎麼是白天開呢？夢裡我覺得我之前經過好幾次，都沒有注意到他們。這些看來就像是廢棄的橋墩，搭配著紅紅黑黑的磚頭，看起來還有點殘破。

我心想我平常是晚上經過，以為那裡是廢棄的橋墩或磚廠房，想不到白天經過，才發現這麼熱鬧。心想白天也有這麼熱鬧的酒吧，好特別喔！

那幾位搖滾客一直召喚我們進去，可是我們仍是開車繼續往前走。

我們全家來到一個市集，走進一家餐廳。餐廳牆上掛了好多藝術作品，我覺得有點像是 John Richard 那種風格，仿舊又搭配金箔銀箔的藝術作品。我們在餐廳往裡走，我沿路看著牆上的藝術畫作，心想「這根本就是 JR 代理的商品。想不到現在利用餐廳當展示間，讓大家欣賞。」

我邊走邊看，不禁想「JR 商品單價不低，放在餐廳裡，賣得掉嗎？」我看到牆上畫作有大有小，又想「其實如果開個餐廳，展示一些單價較低的小型作品。客人用餐時，同時也能欣賞畫作。也許一頓飯時間下來，看到喜歡的作品，價格又是負擔得起，也許就會有人購買了。」想想這個方式或許不錯。

我在餐廳繞啊繞，來到後院，看到一位女畫家，現場創作。她看著鏡子，畫她自己。在畫布上用金箔銀箔線，畫出一格格的方塊，很有 JR 仿舊的風格。

我看畫家的臉，欸，她自己就是漫畫的臉。白色的臉，黑色的線條，臉型尖尖長長，坐在那裡畫她自己。

我心想「我以為 JR 的作品是在原廠製作好，再送往經銷商。可是為什麼這個藝術家是在這裡現場創作呢？還是這畫家是在仿 JR 風格？這裡賣的，真的是 JR 原廠的商品嗎？」

我走回餐廳，要找老公跟女兒。我看見他的背影，快要及肩的灰白長髮，其實不是真實生活中老公的頭髮。在夢裡我覺得那個頭看來像 "爸爸" (但我爸爸其實也不是長這樣)，可是夢裡人物的個性，感覺像是老公。

我看到他們在結帳。我說「蛤？你要買嗎？」原來是女兒挑了一個鬧鐘，它有一些特殊功能，服務人員正在跟他們兩個解說。服務人員想說我是不是也想要聽，我跟他說「不用，你跟他們兩個講就好了。」我心想這是女兒的鬧鐘，她會用就好了。

然後我走出去，來到了一個場景，看到我的作家朋友 Jane，她正要參加一個像是騎馬比賽。可是很奇怪，我看到的是 Jane 的頭跟身體，可是是馬的四肢在那裡跑。

我驚訝說「這是什麼？」Jane 跟我說這是遊戲，就是我們可以把自己穿進馬的身體裡，把自己變成像是馬，在那裡跑著去比賽。

比賽現場，很多人頭馬在跑，非常熱鬧，大家看來都很歡喜。可是我就覺得看起來有點恐怖。我一直覺得 Jane 變成是人頭馬身，可是她又說不是，說她只是穿上馬的四隻腳的造型，去參加比賽。總之，我就看著 Jane 那樣子在跑，然後我就醒了…