As a boy, circa 1944 in Johannesburg, I once dreamed about a...

As a boy, circa 1944 in Johannesburg, I once dreamed about a horse - nothing unusual about that.

Soon after leaving for school the next morning, two of my older siblings rushed back to inform us that a horse had been killed about ten metres up the road. I walked over to gawk at the beast, and witnessed it being winched into the back of a vehicle that was sent to collect it. Now that was a significant event.

Later while playing withe a set of lead cavalrymen and their mounts, I observed an African man I knew as the local fahfee runner. His role was to gather small bets, mainly from African servants, and take these to a Chinese man who ran a numbers racket. One was supposed to select the number via dreams. Soon afterwards the African man returned, so I called him over, and asked what had won. He replied, "horse" number whatever (probably 35, see https://www.researchgate.net/figure/List-of-fahfee-numbers_tbl1_321642444).

When I told him about the three above mentioned horse-related events, he was astounded that after been given so many omens, I had not conveyed the message to an adult who could have made a few shillings, and in particular,he was annoyed that I had not told him when I saw him earlier wending his way to the Chinese man's shop to place bets, and pick up the winnings to be distributed to his betting clients. Take heed of omens.