Encounters On the Way Home

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m with my siblings at a strange woman’s house. She’s maybe a friend of Gran’s, or a relative? I’m reading a shonen manga, a super long series that is never gonna end. We collect flowers from around the apartment for the woman’s dead husband, then we go down a narrow spiral staircase to leave the building. I’m not wearing any socks.

Walking home I come across an old schoolmate, M., who used to be a runner. I haven’t seen her in 15 years but she’s still running with a group of friends. I show her my fitness bracelet and say I’m also exercising, but we both know it’s a lie. We have stopped near a farm, there are cats and mice and a black and white horse behind a fence.

Three high school kids walk past us: they are the classic mean girls, very trendy and with heavy make up. They mock me as they walk by. I yell back that they are ugly, but realize it’s a lame retort: so I grab two of them, obviously the two sidekicks walking one step behind their queen bee, and force them to walk with me for a while instead. I improv a funny story about Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

…and then God said, “What the f**k?!”

They are laughing at my story, and hopefully they will have a better opinion of me now. I let them go.

It’s Autumn, and I have my high school Nokia with me instead of a new smartphone. I try to take pictures and they are surprisingly good quality. Then I realize somebody is following me: it’s a kid, fourteen or so, thin with blond hair and glasses. He’s a stalker in love with me. I take pictures of him following me and yell that I’m gonna call the police. He doesn’t care, follows me all the way back home. I call for my dad to come beat him up.

This is a “My Alarm is About to Go Off” Dream

Posted on February 17, 2020March 27, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m late for school. Did I even go to school at all this past week?! I can’t remember, but I have the awful feeling the answer is no.

I’m running through town, it’s April but I’m wearing a t-shirt that says “Happy Summer!”, decorated with lemons. The sky is heavy and gray, like it’s about to rain. There’s a market in town, I think it’s odd because it’s not a Tuesday. Even though I’m late, I stop at a stand that sells notebooks to take a look; they are all a bit wrinkled, like they’ve been rained upon.

I suddenly realize I’m an adult and not in school anymore, I need to go to the vet clinic instead!* I can’t remember when my shift starts though, I rush back home and ask my dad. He doesn’t remember either. I missed work for the past two days, I can’t miss today too! Maybe if I told them I was at school instead. It’s an easy mistake to make, I’m sure they’ll understand.

No, I realize with even more panic, I don’t work at the clinic anymore, I need to go to the phone store instead!! But I don’t know the way, and it’s so late, and I don’t even have my coworker’s number.

And I wake up, just in time for work.

*My old job.

A Village and a Crime

Posted on February 15, 2020March 28, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m visiting an old English village, the kind with pretty stone cottages. Unfortunately there has been a big fire and the buildings are all black and charred. I’m a BBC journalist and I’m walking around to assess the damage; I see the older villagers gathered under a tent, gossiping about the fire – judging by their clothes I’d say we are in the early 80s, they all look out of a Murder:She Wrote episode.

I walk to the local high school, where the teens are wearing corduroy bell bottoms and colorful vests, and ask to speak from the school intercom. Everyone gasps in delight when I start speaking: I’m a trained journalist, there is no mic feedback and my Ps simply don’t pop, they whisper pleasantly from my mouth.

I announce to the school that the BBC is gonna make a TV series about the village fire, and the revenue money is gonna pay for the reconstruction.

…after all, you have an award winning actress living here!

That’s right, Meryl Streep lives in this village.

Then I dream that my dad has agreed to work with a young man and woman to stop an underage prostitution ring. He’s talking with someone on the phone, another young woman*, he has my elementary school notebook open in front of him and he’s reading from it.

I’m very disappointed in him, I think he should talk to the police instead of believing these two people. And indeed they start acting crazy, the guy takes a saw and cuts his dog almost in half. There is no blood but I still cry in despair. The girl, who is his sister, patches the dog together with a long white gauze, and the poor animal seems as good as new.

*This is a person who IRL was arrested in my town a few days ago for selling out her underage sisters, so there’s an awful rage still fresh in my mind.

Magical Night at the Lake

Posted on February 9, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

My boss is giving out birthday presents, I knew it, I knew she was generous! One of my coworkers unwraps a black console, and I gasp: is it… a Playstation 2? No, it’s a cheap Made in China rip-off. I unwrap mine, there is an old SNES inside. I already own one, though! Not to mention, the Super Mario cartridge in it is fake.

On my way home I stop at the local toy store, I’m planning to buy some toys to entertain bored children at work*. I choose a wooden truck, a white plushie and pink plastic goggles. The man at the register says it’s gonna be 18 bucks, I’m taken aback because I only have 20 in my wallet. It should be 12, max! The man points out I’ve taken two pair of goggles instead of one. I confess I can’t pay that much money and walk out the store.

At home my dad is opening some boxes that were just delivered. Inside there are black-covered Penguin books for my brother, we tease him but he insists he won them. I pick up one, Anne of Green Gables, and decide to enter a contest with it.

The night of the contest I present an essay on the book alongside a cake inspired by it: it’s lemon cream, honey and cookies. There is a big ceremony happening in a hotel on Lake Como, and all my family came along. It’s a summer night, the hotel garden is green and glistening, all the guests are dressed fancy and laughing pleasantly. I want pizza so I venture outside, order some from an intercom outside a big yellow gate. More of my family arrives and I find out they are serving pizza at the hotel, I wasted my money. A movie is being showed in the garden.

*(Photo by Patrick Schneider on Unsplash*)

I win the contest, alongside three more kids from around Europe. The morning after we are gathered for a photoshoot on the lake. I choose what to wear, gray pants and a gray waistcoat to go with it, I feel very elegant. My hair is red, short and unruly, it gets bushier and bushier with the humidity until I look like Annie Warbucks.

Each of us is given a sign saying our name, our age and the title of our essay. Mine says I’m 18, older than the other kids. We walk in the lake and are told to hold our signs up and smile the wildest, happiest smile. Our pictures are taken. I review them later and they are not bad, I’m jealous about the professional camera’s quality compared to my phone’s. There’s also a photo of the cake I baked perfectly framed against the lake.

I want to send some of these pictures to my penpal C., but I decide I look too bad. Not the ugliest, because with my puffy hair I look a bit like my Grandma, but I don’t want C. to think I’m anything else than gorgeous. Instead I write her about a chapter from Anne of Green Gables that I really liked.

In it Anne is sitting in a wooden train car with her mom and newborn brother. A black woman walks in with a little boy, who is crying because he was too late to enter the book contest. The woman is about to get mad, when Anne’s mom asks his name. “Chemical,” says the boy.

“Well, I’m not gonna call you that, it sounds like a pill.”

Anne’s mother tells him everyone is tired and sad sometimes, he just needs to take a deep breath. The boy’s mom is so moved hearing these words that she takes the baby from the other woman’s arms and start breastfeeding him.

*I actually want to do this IRL.

Space and Cooking

Posted on February 6, 2020February 7, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m traveling on a cruise spaceship. A woman asks me why I’m not wearing a jacket – I think she’s supposed to be my grandmother, but she isn’t really. I tell her I’m not cold. It’s really cold in the ship and I’m clearly lying.

We arrive to a planet, start orbiting around it. An alien robot knocks on our glass door: he looks like something out of Futurama, tall and metallic, with a goatee that make him look like the devil, and four arms. The first thing he does inside our spaceship is turning the AC off, because it’s so cold. He tells me he used to pretend to be human, but has learned to accept himself. Then he goes back home, sits at his pipe organ and plays an evil song, which I think sounds very familiar.

Steven Universe exits the spaceship, and now my sister and I are watching him on TV. The planet’s ground is reddish brown, and the sky is purple. He buries some seeds: we know they are supposed to show his true love. A ghost-like projection of Connie Maheswaran emerges from the ground, and the real Connie looks at it confused. Steven blushes and runs away.

My dad is driving me to school. From the car window I see three people walking near the local park, two old classmates, both short with glasses, followed by Nicole Maines. I tell dad Nicole is a new student at my school.

I need to pass an entrance exam to start the new year: it’s a cooking exam, the teachers/judges are two Asian women. One is very nice, the other is extremely mean and keeps telling us we’re gonna fail.

I prepare two sandwiches, I put eggs, salad, shrimp and tomatoes inside. I find a shrimp oil bottle; it tastes rather strong, but just a few drops should be enough to give my sandwiches the right kick. The mean teacher notices this and tells me I’ve made the wrong choice and already sealed my fate. The girl sitting next to me smiles sympathetically; she is steaming something in a pressure pot and looks very flushed.

I bring my sandwiches to the judges, making sure to put the best looking one on the mean lady’s side. She immediately swaps it and takes the ugly sandwich. As she eats it, I realize with horror I forgot to put eggs in it, and indeed she gleefully tells me how bad it tastes. At least the other teacher seems to really like hers.

Useless Player, Useless Friend

Posted on February 4, 2020February 4, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m part of the Critical Role cast, but during the show all I do is smile and sit in silence. Who did I play again, Beauregard? No, that’s not right. I feel guilty, I’m sure I could never live to my character’s full potential, so I write to Dani Carr that I want to quit. She’s vehemently opposed to it, she points out that I look like I’m having a lot of fun during every game,

and that’s all that matters.

I suddenly remember, I’m not part of the regular cast at all, I just guest starred in a few episodes*! I’m playing a little girl with a brown bush of hair and ice blue eyes, who is really an adult under a curse.

My penpal C. has come to visit once again, I feel guilty because I never exchange the favor. In my defense, I’m afraid of planes! We share a pizza in the park, but I’m afraid it’s not glamorous enough and she’ll get bored of me.

C. now looks like my cousin and speaks my language perfectly, but she’s still herself. I’m supposed to go to school but I also want to do something fun with her; besides, I’m an adult with a job and it’s not like I need school anymore, right?

Dad suggests we could drive to the beach. Sure, it’s getting dark outside, but we could still get an ice cream and take a stroll by the water under the moonlight. I run to get dressed but my shoes are missing once again. I look through the shoe rack and find a pair of Nike Air worn out like mine except they are olive green. I guess they’ll have to do.

*I actually dreamed about guest starring a couple months ago. Dreamception!

A Gaggle of Supermarkets

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

This is a recurring dream: IRL there are only three supermarkets in my town, all from the same big chain, and it drives me crazy because there’s no variety in the food and prices.

In tonight’s dream there are even more, infuriatingly identical, stores, all in the same neighborhood and at a walking distance from each other. To add insult to injury, I work inside one of the stores along with my cousin G. She tells me it doesn’t matter which store I choose to work in each morning, nobody seems to care as long as I wear my red employee jacket.

Mom needs a new phone, it’s time to scout each of these stores to find the perfect one. I team up with my cousin and sister: our first location is the supermarket where I supposedly work every day, it’s small, crowded, messy and smells rather bad. The second supermarket is larger, cleaner, airy, it has barely any people in it. Feels like paradise and I’m jealous.

We visit all the stores but come up empty handed; there is no trace of Mom’s perfect phone. Dejected, we stop to buy some consolatory ice cream. Inside the parlor we meet an employee from the big, clean supermarket, she’s wearing an aqua uniform and works at the bread counter. She looks plump, healthy and relaxed, she tells us she’s on an ice cream break because nobody ever visits her store. I’me even more jealous.

Mom decides we’re gonna buy the phone out of town. Dad is pouting on the couch with his comfiest hoodie on, he categorically refuses to drive us anywhere. I’m outraged. I tell him with tears in my eyes that it’s Sunday, and Sunday is my only chance in the whole long week to go for a little trip. He finally agrees. My parents go to the car, I want to follow but I’m not wearing any shoes. The one pair I can find is too small, I try frantically to put them on, give up and run down the stairs with my heels pocking out from the shoes.

A Stroll Turned Violent

Posted on January 28, 2020February 7, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

I’m walking in the countryside with my dad, through stone roads and
picturesque cottages. We can hear a bird trilling from a cage in someone’s yard, Dad remarks out loud about how annoying that is. The owner of the bird hears this and comes outside, angry at us: I wait for Dad to walk away, then take her hands in mine (they are small and stubby) and whisper an apology.

“I’m a good person, I’ve never beat anyone in my life!” the woman tells me, pouting.

“I wish I could say the same about my dad,” I reply, and walk away.

We leave the road and pass a wooden gate into a muddy path, and along the way I take cute pictures of pigeons. At the end of the path, in the middle of a clearing in the trees, there’s a small wooden house. A tiny old man greets us at the door, he looks vaguely familiar and Dad introduces him as a distant relative. He invites us inside.

The man’s wife shakes my hand: she is younger and portly, gives me an impression of energy and determination. I discover she is the leader of a political resistance and is trying to unionize a group of factory workers.

I’m now in the factory, I see the workers have received a secret message from their rebel leader. They gather in a room looking for something, they peep from a hole in the wall. Outside the room, their supervisor is growing suspicious: he’s a gaunt young man, he starts asking me too many questions. I’m standing next to a child, my little brother, and we both lie to him, tell him the secrete message was just someone calling a wrong number.

The workers emerge from the room, kidnap their supervisor and rape him with a rusty iron pole. I watch the whole thing, and while I believe the supervisor was enjoying himself, I still feel incredibly scared and guilty. I run back to the small wooden house and when my dad finds me, I lie and say I was there all day and never left.

I feel so guilty that, back home, I frantically try to erase my GPS history, I’m convinced I’m gonna be arrested. It’s hot outside, summer, my cousin G. wants to get me out of the house and have fun. She gives me an olive shirt and suggests I keep the buttons open with a small magnet, to show off my chest. Don’t I want to meet cute boys?! I say I don’t want to meet any boys and refuse to leave the house.

It’s New Year’s Eve. We all gather around the dinner table, a little bit dumbfounded. How can it be 2021 already, where did time go? I don’t have a journal for the new year, I don’t have any stickers, I don’t have a calendar. Then it downs on me: it’s still June, and we’ve been tricked. Is it the police? I check the online forums for traces I might have left behind. Then I wake up and I am very relieved to realize I’m not about to be arrested after all.

Late, Lost and Unkissed

Posted on January 25, 2020January 25, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

Dad and I are watching a movie. It’s very experimental, during the opening credits we see the landscape running away as if it was filmed from a car, from a window here and a tree there certain images or words pop up, conveying a dreamy, hopeful mood. Dad is impressed and asks me if I ever saw anything like it. I say no.

The movie begins properly and we are both taken aback to discover it’s not recent, but a vintage one with Sophia Loren speaking a passable English. The scene is set on my house’s balcony and neither of us question that.

My penpal C. has come to visit, but every time I turn my back or move to another room I forget what she looks like, I keep needing to go check again. Eventually I learn that she has short blonde hair and a bit of a plain face (nothing like IRL C.): she looks like a less attractive Saoirse Ronan, but I’m not that pretty either so I think we’re reasonably well-matched. I want to impress her, so I tell her my family has an acting tradition; why, even Sophia Loren filmed in this house! C. likes acting, I reason, hopefully she’ll want to marry me and take my genes, even though we’re both girls and that’s not how it works.

I’m late for school! As I look for my coat she protests out loud. I need to go to these classes, I explain, or I’ll have to repeat the year come September. Her mom is now in the room with us, sitting in an armchair and talking about boys, oblivious to what’s happening. C. gets really, really close and pins me to a wall, I feel her warm breath as she asks me,

“Remember what we did to that donut last year?”

I whisper yes, she asks if I’d like to do that again. “Yes,” I say trembling,”if you want to.” She’s about to kiss me, when I wake up.

I fall asleep again and dream the same dream. Now I’m running to get to school in time, I have to attend at least 70% of my classes and I’m not about to skip them this afternoon. When I arrive though, I realize with horror I’m not in my usual class with the boring philosophy professor, I went to work instead! Except work is a greenhouse miles from where I’m supposed to be, and what’s worse, I’m not wearing any shoes.

Two friends come to the rescue, they are two young men. I get in their car and one of them borrows me his shoes, because we are the same size, don’t I know? I congratulate myself, I’m so smart for remembering such a crucial detail, my narrative skills are on point even when I’m dreaming. We are showed a flashback where the friend buys me a pair of cool shoes, yellow and blue.

The car crosses a bridge, I notice racists graffiti on the walls. I look at the time, it’s almost six and I only have one hour left to not completely waste my evening. Unless… unless I was actually in a coma, in a tank full of red water and electric eels, and I never left the house. I missed school, I’ll never graduate now.

Babies and Portals and Kittens

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Decade Dream Journal

It’s dark and stormy, outside my window I can see a tomato tree: not just a plant, it’s a big palm tree ripe with red tomatoes and shaking in the rain.

Everyone is my home is wearing a t-shirt even though it’s March, and I’m ranting about climate change. Remember when we used to have winters? Good times. My grandma is sitting on the couch caressing her belly. She’s pregnant, but she explains the baby belongs to a cousin and she just borrowed it for a while. Indeed a few minutes later her belly disappears and my uncle E. walks in the room to announce the baby is born: they named him Christian.

Meanwhile, my dad is doing some charity work for people with Down syndrome. A portal opens inside the organization’s building, and yes, it’s Doctor Who again. She walks in with her squad and leads everyone into the portal and across a long path filled with blue crystals and dangerous gases. After a long walk they emerge on the other side and the doctor collapses. Her companion, Yaz, kneels next to her and gets the psychic paper from her coat. It’s a leather wallet that, once opened, reveals a long string of photos depicting all of the Doctor’s past companions. Yaz gets mighty jealous.

Back home, I’m looking for my dogs* and cats. I spot a few black kittens playing on the floor, but where is my very own grown up cat? She’s hiding under the table! I take her out and the moment she comes in contact with the kittens, she merges with them. They fit together like pieces of a puzzle and the result is a single, slightly bigger black cat.

*I don’t have dogs, these were actually two dachshunds that belong to my boss IRL

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