and I got something about trying shoes on; and something making friends with a dog that looked scary at first.
Tag: shoes
There Was So Much Family Drama Around That Shirt That I Can’t Possibly Convey?
I dream that my sister is teaching Gran about art history with very poor results. Why is everyone is this family so DUMB?! She cries. I’m sitting at their table making Gran tennis shoes from scratch; I use a yellow t-shirt that belonged to my uncle, he’s not happy about it and demands I make another, identical, one. I panic because I only vaguely remember what the t-shirt looked like, there was a face with bags under their eyes. I draw a tired yellow emoji in MS paint and print it on a fresh shirt.
My Precious Brand New Adidas
I dream that I’m on a school trip. We stop at a kiosk in the middle of a forest and I buy a strawberry pastry. I’m really tired because I didn’t sleep last night, I don’t think that I can go on, I want to go home instead. There’s another girl who’s equally tired and wants to go too, she’s really cool and I might have a crush on her. The teacher, a short guy with glasses, suggests we take a plane, but that’s a bit excessive. A train, maybe? He offers to drive us to the train station.
I’m not wearing my shoes −just flip flops on socks− and cool girl doesn’t have her phone, we left them insode the school bus. There’s no time, the teacher says, you’ll have everything back tomorrow. And off we go, we’re expecting to see the train station, but he drives us all the way to town. I go directly home and fall asleep.
The morning after I realize my shoes are still missing, I’m so angry at the teacher for making me leave them behind. I try to text cool girl before remembering she doesn’t have her phone. I frantically start looking for my old classmates’ numbers, then I wake up for real and I’m so relieved to realize the shoes are safe and sound in my closet.
I Apparently Really Like To Visit Hell From Time To Time
I dream that I’m going to visit my Gran, and that’s already making me uncomfortable because we should be isolating from the pandemic. I run into an old schoolmate’s mom, she’s not wearing a mask, a can only stand in horror as she grabs me and kisses both my cheeks in greeting. How could you! I yell. She doesn’t seem to understand what she did wrong.
At Gran’s place, I’m watching a TV show, or maybe playing a video game, or possibly living in it? It’s about a little girl who can speak with ghosts, she’s always haunted by the spectral figures of her dead parents. She’s currently sitting in her classroom, her teacher is John Mulaney. Then she goes home skating, she runs into a murderer running away from the police. Why didn’t you call us? The police demand. She doesn’t know how to explain that, due to her psychic powers, cell phones don’t work around her.
She arrives at Gran’s place, where we find dozens and dozens of single shoes and slippers. I try to find a logical explanation for it, but we all know ghosts are dumping them. The little girl avoids mirrors because she can always see reflected in them someone who just died and is being sent to hell. It’s like a white, crumbly room that goes into the unknown. We decide to explore hell as well, we take an elevator and arrive at the white room. We step inside.
A Lonely Puppy and a Trip by the Sea
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.
Useless Player, Useless Friend
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
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.
Choirs and Cows
I’m watching on TV a children’s choir, they are all little hams that can’t stand still and are swaying wildly to the music. Delighted, I go to YouTube to send some of their videos to my friend C. I find one where an entire cast of Bollywood dancers are performing to their songs, and another where the TV host and the choir conductor are doing ballet.
The Glee cast is sitting in the audience, I guess they used to be former choir members. The last performer is a little girl with bangs and brown curls that looks like Rachel Berry, she throws a tantrum and refuses to sing unless it’s a “power ballad”.
I’m sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, but I also work there as a training secretary. As I wait I’m writing on my notebook and listening to music; an old schoolmate walks on the table and leaves a muddy shoe print on my blank page, I yell at him. The doctor*, who is Chris Evans in a white coat, gives me the thumbs up from his office. I reply with a toothy smile from under my wool hat and massive white earphones.
Now Chris Evans is reading the news on TV. He chokes on his words and is quickly replaced by ads, I picture everyone laughing at him in the studio. Once back, he introduces an old Disney cartoon: it has been clearly ripped from YouTube, I find it very unprofessional. The cartoon depicts a polyamorous relationship between a blonde human woman, three anthropomorphic cows and one actual cow.
*not THE Doctor. A doctor, a medical professional.
Late, Lost and Unkissed
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.
Lost Jackets, Lost Shoes
I’m a soldier sitting at a table in my own IRL living room. A fellow soldier is sitting next to me. We are searching through a pile of jackets belonging to prisoners, one by one we rip the seams with a pocket knife, searching for hidden money or keys.
There is a journalist hiding in the room, taking pictures with his phone. We grab him, try to force him to release the phone, but he says the public has the right to know what we’re doing! We have to call one of our special agents, a skinny guy with glasses and a lab coat on. He smiles gleefully in a disturbing sort of way, gives the journalist a drug. I shake the scientist’s hand, it gets covered in spit. His mouth is full of spit too, he reminds me of a boy I was forced to sit next to in middle school.
I go to my usual salon and look around for F., the man that always cuts my hair. I notice stairs that weren’t there before and go up to the second floor: F. is on the balcony smoking, a balcony that looks almost like mine. I tell him about my new job and how I urgently need a haircut, he’s very happy for me and tells me to go fix an appointment.
Downstairs next to the register are standing Naya Rivera and Heather Morris. They look older than what I remembered, Naya is wearing a baseball cap and stinks of alcohol. They greet me because we went to school together, ask how my cat is doing. Hearing this, my sister walks up to show us the cat inside her tote bag, it’s a white and brown kitten that looks very unhappy. I get mad at my sister, how can she just walk around with a poor kitten like that! She ignores me and skips the line, so she can pay for the roasted potatoes she apparently bought at the salon.
I suddenly realize I’m not wearing my shoes and I don’t remember taking them off. The place is now filled with hundreds of people. I try to look outside in the yard, but I’m chased away by the Golden Girls. Inside a child is arranging hundreds of shoes in a long train on the floor, I pick them one by one but can’t find mine. Then a thought occurs to me: I’m wearing no shoes because I’m in actually in bed! And I wake up.
DECADE DREAM JOURNAL 