Tag: relatives: Dad

International Travel

Posted on by Decade Dream Journal

I’m in Venice with my cousin and we come across Tessa Thompson. I recognize her immediately but I don’t want to look like a crazy fan, so I just yell from across the street, “You were incredibile in the last Westworld episode!!” She smiles and signals to get closer, then she rummages through her car trunk (a car in Venice, yeah, I know) and gives us both caps with the American flag and her autograph on post-its.

Somehow from Venice we arrive at my building, my estranged cousin S. is in the parking lot looking at stray cats, she remembers all the cats’ names even though she hasn’t been at my place since childhood. I go up to my apartment and my dad is on the couch watching soccer, Italy VS France. I tell him it’s a replay, there are too many people on those bleachers and we are supposed to be social distancing, remember? He’s disappointed.

I fly to visit my penpal C., and my sister is with me this time; we meet all her parents and grandparents, she somehow seems to have too many. It’s already late at night and we’re trying to make as little noise as we can, my sister heads the bathroom and I whisper to hurry up, because it’s already 4 and everybody needs to go. I sit next to C. and we hold hands and watch the stars; an hour passes and we realize my sister is still in the bathroom, we go check and she’s fallen asleep. I gently pick her up and carry her to the bed.

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Haircut Troubles, Heart Troubles, School Troubles, Fitness Troubles, Troubles Of All Sorts

Posted on by Decade Dream Journal

I want to shave my head! All the salons are closed and my hair is getting so long it’s driving me insane (this is also true IRL). My dad and I drive to a beach house where Cousin G. is sitting on the patio, doing guess what? Yes, she has a buzzer and it’s giving herself a nice clean shaved cut.

I ask her to do mine too, dad immediately forbids it. She tries to trim my hair a bit instead, I look in the mirror and… she gave me a Mike from Stranger Things haircut! Angry, I grab the razor and shave off a big chunk of hair, now she won’t have any choice but finish the job.

My newly shaved head looks bulgy and knobby and the skin has a grayish zombie hue to it. I look like a cartoon villain! It’s absolutely horrifying, dad says it’s disgusting. Now I’ll have to wear a hat everywhere I go.

I’m dating A., my old best friend from elementary and middle school: I didn’t know she was into girls but she has revealed she’s −in fact− bisexual. I want to spend all my time with her and I’m dreading going back to work once the quarantine is over, because we won’t be able to see each other anymore.

We come back from school hand in hand, I’m wearing an awkward early 2000s polo shirt, the striped, tight-fitting kind. We get to my house and my Gran starts fussing over us; A. sighs and rolls her eyes, she says ,

At the start of every relationship there’s always a grandma butting in.

We are tidying up my room, Gran finds my report card hidden in a drawer and looks very disappointed. I tell her I don’t want to go to school anymore, I have a job, why can’t I just skip my finals and start earning money?!

Ashamed, I go to hide in the kitchen. Mom is there and she’s looking at my legs. Have I been exercising? She asks. I’ve been running a lot, I explain, alone in my bedroom since we can’t go out (also true IRL). I look down at my calves, they are incredible! Muscular and round and toned. They look completely ridiculous in the context of my wimpy, chubby body, I’ll have to diversify my fitness regime.

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Now I Really Want To Eat Fish For Some Reason

Posted on by Decade Dream Journal

Even though all restaurants are closed, my dad has heard of a place where you can get fish takeaway. All the family piles up in our small car and we pass around the paper where dad has scribbled down the menu, my pick is roasted prawns. We arrive just in time for dinner, in the dark we can see a truly long line of people standing too close to each other: it’s dangerous, but the air smells so good and we all get in line anyway. A red-haired woman is talking and laughing with a friend, she’s a too close to my face and I yell at her. While I’m busy arguing my family has forgotten all about me and is already eating.

We drive back home and now my aunt V. (rest in peace) is with us. It’s a simple conversation, something about how good I am with tweezers, but it feels lonely and bittersweet.

We arrive home and now they are planning to take my sister out for desserts, I want to join but my parents say it’s too risky. I go out on my own, it’s raining and all the stores are deserted. I feel guilty about not wearing a face mask, but I want to get some exercise so I start running up and down a crosswalk, ignoring the traffic lights because there is not a soul around.

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New Neighbors

Posted on by Decade Dream Journal

IRL I live inside one of two twin buildings standing next to each other. In my dream I walk to the other building and ring a doorbell. I’m welcomed in an apartment that is structured exactly like mine, to the point it’s creepy; two women just moved in, mother and daughter, and the place looks pretty rough, there are holes in the walls. The mother tells me they can’t contact the administrator, they must have the wrong number, but even if they could, she can’t afford any repairs.

I stop to look at a framed picture on the wall, a little girl in a yellow raincoat that could easily be me. I decide to call my dad for help, and he’s already at the door, smiling a big, reassuring smile. He calls the administrator and sort things out so that the women won’t have to pay a cent. I tell them they’re welcome to visit us any time, but they say there is no twin building outside: puzzled, I look out the window and see that we are behind Downton Abbey’s castle. I look around for my building and finally spot it on the horizon, it’s been painted bright red.

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Guess What I’m Anxious About Today

Posted on by Decade Dream Journal

I walk to the store, but once inside I see it’s a mix between it and my old job at the vet clinic. There is a young man at the counter, I buy something and he gives me change from the old cash register I’ve used so many times. I’m a bit annoyed seeing that he doesn’t use gloves to handle the money.

I try to be nice to him anyway, I ask where my old buddy the cat is and he says I can go in the back to look for her. I see a ramp of stairs with a long-haired tabby sitting on it, I call her name (I can’t remember it but it started with an “S”) and she jumps in my arms. Then I see my old boss, the vet’s wife, coming out from a door and I don’t want to be caught in here again when I should be quarantined, so I leave in a hurry.

I’m walking back home and it’s a beautiful spring day, the sky is a perfect blue. I realize with horror there are too many people in town, why is nobody respecting the lockdown?! I come across a whole wedding gathering, people are crowding around the groom and wife and clapping and taking pictures. I have to walk between them and I hold my breath, hoping and praying I won’t be infected.

The Mayor walks past me with the police, I wish they’re gonna arrest everybody. I go home and decide to self-quarantine in my room for the next two weeks, because I really want my dad to be safe.

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Wishful Thinking

Posted on by Decade Dream Journal

I’m watching Star Wars on TV. Darth Vader is on screen, he is not wearing his armor and his flesh is red, burned and bleeding. He removes his helmet too, we see two big eyes, long eyelashes and eyebrows wincing in pain. I realize he’s actually played by Hayden Christensen, I don’t know how they convinced him to come back! Even weirder, he’s wearing a black wig that makes him look like Snape or Kylo Ren. He yells in pain and anger, and a stormtrooper runs over to help.

Now I’m watching the latest Critical Role episode. The battles are beautifully animated with the same style as Gorillaz’s videos. The episode ends with Nott being teleported away, and Matt says goodbye because the show is quarantined like everything else.

I try to go back home, but it’s raining now and there are too many people out and about, I realize with horror. Why aren’t they all in lockdown?! We are all gonna get sick! I decide to hold my breath and try desperately not to touch my face until I’m out of the crowd. A woman tries to grab me by the hand to beg for money, and I run away.

I end up at the store, my boss’ boss is there. She wants to know if I prepared the list she asked me to, I lie and say it’s on my tablet. I’m saved from further embarrassment by my dad, who burst in waving a piece of paper with a credit card glued on it: the government has sent me money, to make up for the fact that I’ll be quarantined at home for months. There are 750 bucks on the credit card, and I’m really excited because I’ll be able to buy myself a new computer now.

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Quarantined in Dreams Too

Posted on by Decade Dream Journal

Stuck home with the whole family, they are mad at me because I’m lazy and useless and whiny. Siblings playing a videogame, I wanna join but they won’t let me. Then we have lunch, I find a giant piece of squid in my veggie soup, I take it from the plate and stare at it, puzzled. My dad dips his fork in my plate, I’m so disgusted I storm away.

I peek into the living room after a while, my cousin is sitting on the couch, I’m surprised she showed up without calling first. She’s also mad at me, she tells my sister to look for embarrassing high school pictures of me they can share online.

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Soup and Wine

Posted on by Decade Dream Journal

I’m building a pyramid of merch to put in front of the store (like I’m supposed to IRL tomorrow morning), except it’s not phones, it’s jars of chicken broth, each one in its brown paper box. One of the jars is empty, I fill it with cheap soup from a can and run around the store looking for the box. My boss is rather annoyed about it all, she takes me to the side and reveals that she’s pregnant with twins, so she’s going home.

Now there’s a bunch of children in the store and we are supposed to learn how to take care of them. We watch “Mary Poppins and the False Gospel“, a modified version of the beloved movie set during Hanukkah. Even in the dream I surprised this thing exists.

My middle school teacher, sweet Mrs R, arrives to continue the lessons. She draws and ink a really good picture of a man riding a motorcycle, and my dad starts coloring it with brown watercolors. I’m jealous because they are both such good artists.

On my way home I kill the mayor of a small town and take his ruby ring. By killing him I gained the right to own his big old mansion, I find a nice bottle of red wine hidden inside it. I go home and find my late grandpa P. sitting at the living room table. He loves wine so I give him the bottle and he’s rather happy.

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Unsettling Grandmother

Posted on by Decade Dream Journal

I’m with my cousin in the building’s parking lot, we are about to go inside the basement door when a black cat approaches us, he looks very chill and not afraid at all. My cousin asks if it’s my cat, I say it’s not, because my cat’s eyes are green and this one’s are yellow.

We go inside and the building has now turned into a tall maze with different stores and events on every floor. This is a recurring dream of mine, and I tell my cousin I can never find my way out when the it changes like this.

There is a giant pharmacy on the first floor, then a stock exchange. My dad makes his way through the various businessmen, he looks like Ricky Moranis did in the 90s. He stars yelling,

I want money! I want money! I WANT MONEY!

and he’s so convincing that one of the businessmen cedes him the right to some old songs. We go through them to figure out how much they’re worth. They come mostly from pulpy old movies, but there’s also a Christmas album from the cast of the cartoon “Sing”.

They are filming a Spiderman VS Thor movie in my neighborhood, but it’s very low budget. I’m watching Spiderman jump on top of my gate, and I can clearly see he used a trampoline badly hidden under a blanket.

I follow the actors as they run down the streets I’m so familiar with. We arrive at my late Grandma G.’s house: she and my dad are sunbathing in the yard. My brother approaches her and asks,

What is your true form?

She open her eyes and I shiver because I’m sure she’s about to unleash some ancient, unspeakable Eldritch horror on us. But my brother dips his hands in water and gently tickles and massages her bare feet. My grandma laughs and refuses to answer. Instead she tells us to keep our soulmates close.

My brother says he met his soulmate in a videogame. Grandma says out loud the name of mine, but I can’t remember it anymore.

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That Time My Dad Died

Posted on by Decade Dream Journal

I’m writing a school essay about that time my dad died. It happened on a rainy day, I was very small and it was so hard on me. Luckily, he got better and came back to me.

I go home and casually ask my mother if she remembers that time Dad died. She looks at me funny, says she’s surprised I still believe that old tale. This is how I learn that my biological father was a chubby Indian man, and when he died his best friend wrapped himself in fake bandages, to make me believe he was my dad who had survived a terrible accident.

I’m still not convinced, I can’t accept I have no biological link to half of my family. I ask about Dad’s scars*. Mom explains she gave birth when she was fifteen, to triplets no less, and that’s when he got the scars. I see a flashback: in it my mother is giving birth in a classroom, next to her there are my Indian bio dad and their best friend, AKA my current Dad. For some reason the whole scene looks like a Ghibli movie.

*My father (who is my biological father, I have no idea where this dream came from) burned himself shielding my mother from a pot of boiling oil, and has scars on his arm to this day. My mother was pregnant with me at the time.

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