Objects in a Dream

I dreamt we were eating at wooden tables in a place near the beach and one woman said that she was using the bed spread that her brother had used on the bed on the day that he committed suicide. She made this statement as a matter of fact, while she spoke about her lunch and meanings attached to everyday objects.
I thought about Liz Marron, and the terrible thing that happened to her, how even now the savage beating remains a mystery and a taboo in conversation ten years later. She borrowed a book from me and never was able to return it. I made her promise at the time. The last time I saw her she could not speak but she burst into tears. So did I but I turned my face away so that others could not see
Another guy who sat with us was talking about the school that his daughters went to he said, " they let the island people go at the regular rate because it's cheaper than busing them to the public schools on the mainland.." He seemed pleased with the arrangements he unpacked his lunch. I imagined pine trees on the island while he spoke.
We were talking about objects and why they have certain meanings for us. Some younger boys were near by in a in a whirlpool hot tub and on of us asked them why they had purple stripes like war paint on their faces. "'Cause it's cool," said one lad, not unpleasantly, as thought he were the leader. "But why purple?" asked one person, more to people at the table than the boys. "It's zinc oxide," I said, "I've seen lifeguards wear fluorescent pink and other wild colors.
There was a beeping sound like somebody's telephone but it turned out to be my alarm clock. I turned the alarm off and made a phone call to wake Masha.
As I write this, telling the dream is no more real than my memory of seeing Liz that day. They both flicker in my mind like phantoms or wisps of fog clearing from the trees as the morning brightens.
What triggers memories to rise up in our minds from ordinary objects. Is there some reason that I need to have an old wooden spoon to stir my oatmeal?