Diane Schochet

A cog stone is a unique archeological artifact from 2,000-9,000 years ago found along the mouth of the Santa Ana River in southern California, and may have been used by long-ago human inhabitants to grind corn or beans.
Cog Stone Dreams is a whimsical look at 9,000 years of history of Westbruk Wetlands history peopled by smugglers, wise grandmothers, ambitious explorers, more ambitious missionaries, a royal who pretends to be a commoner, rich people who live the high life, poor people who catch malaria, stunt men, thieves, priests, members of a fancy-smancy gun club, oil men (including one who communicates with dead people and grows cactus), a murderer and me.
My name is Dessa Halom Lechmann. I write the syndicated Dear Dessa Dreams advice column for the Bulletin Gazette newspaper chain. In 1946, when I was ten I brought a dream inducing cog stone. If things don’t go well for me, I take the cog stone to bed and dream about the wetlands. Because my parents divorced, my mother was crazy, I broke up with Mr. Perfect to marry Mr. Not So Perfect, I’ve been real sick, and witnessed a murder, I’ve taken that dream inducing cog stone to bed a lot. So now I’m a real authority on the Westbruk Wetlands and you can ask me about anything you want to know.