This dream is described in Chapter 41 of the novel. Before the baby's heart surgery, Michael's mum goes to the hospital to be with the baby. She struggles to fall asleep and keeps getting up to check on the baby, but when she does eventually fall asleep, she has "the strangest of dreams."
She says that, in the dream, she "saw this man . . . standing over the baby." She describes the man as "filthy," with hair "all matted and tangled," and recalls that he was wearing a black, "ancient dusty suit." Initially, Michael's mum felt afraid of this strange man and wanted to "push him away" and "scream." She wanted the strange man to get away from her baby, assuming, because of the strangeness of his appearance, that he might be there to cause harm or take the baby away. However, Michael's mum says that she was unable to move or speak.
At this point in the dream the man turned to look at her, and his face was "as white and dry as chalk," with "such tenderness in his eyes." When she saw this tenderness, Michael's mum realized that this man was not there to cause harm. The man then picked up the baby with both hands and "lifted her up." The baby was awake, and the man and the baby "stared into each other's eyes." And then the strange man, with the tender eyes and the black, dusty suit, began to dance with the baby. Michael's mum then saw that "there were wings on the baby's back," which she describes as "Transparent, ghostly . . . little feathery things." At this point the man put the baby down, looked once more at Michael's mum, and left.
After his mum has described this dream, Michael whispers to himself, knowingly, that the strange man was Skellig.
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