Odd Tricks

Posted on March 12, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m back at school. The teacher is a woman, she looks a bit like a jerk; she asks how everyone’s internships are going, I raise my hand and explain that all internships are on hold until April 4th because of Coronavirus*. The teacher says don’t worry, she’ll find an activity we can all do together in the afternoons. I’m appalled because I was really looking forward to some rest and free time.

All the kids take a service elevator to the basement, it’s just four metal bars connecting a platform to a thin roof and it looks very unsafe. I take the stairs instead. I reach my class and we all sit in front of a clown, who starts entertaining us blowing swirls of smoke inside giant soap bubbles.

*(Photo by Alexandru-Bogdan Ghita on Unsplash*)

The blond kid sitting next to me starts punching my arm. He must be the school bully, but he grows to respect me once he realizes my arms are so strong after working at the store. The clown scolds us for talking instead of paying attention, then he says with a scorned tone that there’s someone in the room who doesn’t believe in his magic. I think he’s talking about me, but instead he points at Sabrina Spellman, who’s sitting behind me. The clown invites her to try his tricks, she blows a giant soap bubble and the smoke inside it is shaped like perfect little skulls.

When it’s my turn, I simply say I don’t smoke and up and go back home. I meet an old woman at the gate, she asks me if I’m new in the building, I say I’ve been living here my entire life. Then she asks if I have any kids, and for who knows what reason I choose to lie and say yes. She asks what their names are, I answer with my and my brother’s names. She says they sound familiar.

I step inside the building and the doors are all wrong. I walked into a maze again and by now I know it’s because I must be dreaming. I’m not gonna find my way home unless I wake up, but how am I gonna do that? I have with me a package just delivered to my brother, I start reading out loud the list of items inside the box, and just like that I wake up in my bed (not really, I’m still asleep, but in the dream I’m convinced I woke up). I decide I must have sleep-walked from the school to my room, and that’s a great trick to have up my sleeve.

*That’s unfortunately true IRL

Dinner And Show

Posted on March 11, 2020March 12, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I ignore the Coronavirus lockdown and walk to the store to see how my cousin and my friend S. are doing. She’s annoyed as usual, he’s very happy to see me: he hugs me, and I notice his hair is longer and dyed blonde.

They invite me to have dinner at my cousin’s place. Unlike IRL, she lives in a small studio in a beehive-like building, with apartment nestled within each other and connected by outdoor stairs. Helen Mirren lives there in the building, I see her going up the stairs.

They sit on the living room couch, I sit on a chair behind them. We eat dinner and watch a new Doctor Who episode on an old TV set, maybe thirty or forty years old. In the episode, Yaz acts so in love with the Doctor that I’m moved to tears.

It’s getting late. S. turns off the TV and gives me a big hug before leaving, apparently he lives upstairs. My cousin orders me to go to bed, but all I want is keep watching the show. I try to lower the volume so I won’t wake her up but the remote has so many buttons and it’s too complicated. The screen explodes and falls into my hands, it’s just a net made of metallic wire.

My cousin is really mad at me now. She calls me selfish, says she wishes she had what I have, a laptop to watch movies in bed instead of just one old crappy TV. I don’t get it, she’s so rich, why doesn’t she buy one?

Four Snippets

Posted on March 3, 2020March 12, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

There’s been a murder inside a big, white cathedral, two people, quite gruesome by the look of it. I’m with a couple of friends, one of them is my old classmate L. We are not allowed to go inside, but we leave a sad note with a fountain pen and our best wavy handwriting.

It’s a foggy, dark day. I meet both my grandmothers: they are sitting together on a bench outside a house. Grandma G. gives me a ring, it’s silver and heavy, I snatch it out of her hand right away with no shame. I tell them both to be careful and stay safe from the Coronavirus outbreak.

I’m at home, but home is a small RV. I’m waiting for my penpal C. to visit as she promised, because I want to propose to her. She arrives at night, wearing a white spring dress and pushing a shopping cart. She slips in my tiny bed.

It’s Easter, I’m celebrating with my siblings but I’m also missing work. I feel a bit guilty about it, and just then my boss shows up and looks at me and I can tell she’s silently judging me. I have my period and bad cramps, but I tell her I’m gonna wash my face, put my jeans on and go to work.

A Lonely Puppy and a Trip by the Sea

Posted on February 26, 2020March 12, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

From my room’s window I see an older woman speaking to her grandson. The child has a puppy with him, small and gray and furry, and the woman is trying to convince him to abandon it. The puppy’s name is George.

Later that day I’m talking to a group of friends in my house, who also happen to be veterinarians. I tell them about poor George and how worried I am about him. Couldn’t they take him to the vet clinic with them? He’s so small it wouldn’t be too much of a bother! No, they tell me, they already have too many dogs as it is.

I look out of the window again and see George running in the park, he’s all alone. I go downstairs and there are more vets in the parking lot, washing dogs with a water hose. I call George and he runs to me waggling his tail, I notice he’s not a puppy after all, but a big pit bull with gray and brown fur and the sweetest eyes.

While I’m walking in town a man approaches me. He explains he’s a phone technician and he’s looking for a certain local village. I realize he’s going the wrong direction, so I invite him to follow me.

As we walk I show him the town’s churches and squares and explain their history. We eventually reach a cliff by the sea, and I don’t know how to proceed beyond that. My black shoes get all sandy. I find a lost, old-fashioned cell phone on the ground, I go through the contacts to find out who it belongs to, but a red-haired boy arrives to claim it.

I start chatting with two black girls. I tell them I’m an independent woman who can support herself with her work, my gran is listening from the phone in my pocket and she says out loud that I’m lying. One of the girls stop at a restaurant on the beach because she’s a waitress there. I stop at the soap store, I look for disinfectant but it’s all gone because of the new Coronavirus. I buy banana toothpaste instead.

DECADE DREAM JOURNAL