I dream that I’m trying to sneak into a store to quietly return a children’s book I stole. I notice they have Kodak film on sale, I recognize the little yellow boxes immediately. I need to ask the store owner how much it costs, he explains it’s expired film he found in a box and he’s selling it for 12 bucks a piece. I assure him it’s a great price.
Tag: stores
Creepy Toddlers Also Happen To Be A Specific Workplace Anxiety
I dream that I’m yelling at my sister in the living room. I look down and there’s a small toddler sitting on the table, looking at us with interest. She’s very thin and has a full head of brown hair. Her face looks serious, older than her age.
I’m told that she belongs to our neighbors’, so I pick her up and carry her to their window. They all look incredibly relieved to see her. As we talk, more and more toddlers start to appear. I realize that they are all adults being shrunken down and we’re in a Star Trek episode.
I dream that I’m at the store and there is a long line of customers standing all together. I yell that they need to social distance, they ignore me. The customer I’m serving passes me his credit card, but the reader has turned into a videogame and I don’t know how to reset it. The customer grows impatient and leaves in a huff. My cousin is so angry at me because I’m an incompetent loser.
On my way home I stop at a stationary store, I want to buy a bright yellow umbrella I saw from the window, but the guy inside says,
I’d love to give you the umbrella, bus someone else just bought it.
I’m now a Victorian girl and the umbrella I wanted was actually a book, The Count of Monte Cristo. I arrive at my cottage feeling dejected, then surprised and elated when I see someone has bought the book for me! I gather my siblings and read out aloud to them, they dissolve in giggles and “Well I never!”s
In Which I Project Anxiety Anytime My Morning Schedule Is Slightly Different
I dream that I need to go to a doctor appointment (I did, this morning) but have to go to school first. There’s the town market on the way, I’m wearing flip flops and lose one, I have to go back looking for it in the crowd.
At this point it’s too late to make it to school, I get distracted on the way by a box full of stickers and washi tape outside a store. I sit on the ground rummaging through it. Various kids join me and also Dark’s Katharina Nielsen, who’s very interested in the cardboard box itself. I go inside to pay for my stickers, it’s a comic book store and the owner is rather nice, I tell him I’ll send over my brother to get some comics. I buy so much stuff, including a pizza. He says everything will cost me 5 bucks. I insist on paying at least 15.
Now I’m late for the doctor too. The only logic solution is to go back in time and start the morning again. I meet Eve and Villanelle from Killig Eve on the way. My doctor was fired (was it my fault??), the blonde substitute says I have cancer.
Picture Anxiety
I dream that I overslept and missed work. In the afternoon I go see Boss Lady in her office, pleading for forgiveness. She shows me her address book, where she wrote “FIRED” in big underlined letters. I beg for a second chance, she gives me the book and instruct to copy all her contacts with a fountain pen. My handwriting is absolutely atrocious.
She gives me a second task, I am to go in town and take selfies for a store ad. I step in a clothing store, thinking I should look a little more fashionable, but girly clothes make me uncomfortable. I also consider dying my hair salmon pink, but I feel too ugly even for that.
I decide I’ll just take the picture, even though it’s cloudy and I’m wearing boring gray clothes. I’ll sit in front of a marble wall and look up, smiling. I ask a man to take the picture, and he’s apparently a “pro” because he wants me to look more dynamic to “sell the product”. He instructs me to jump, shoots on his vintage camera and the flash explodes, sending an electrical current down the street.
Clearly My Subconscious Crave Rain And Creepy Buildings And Well I Just Want It To Be October
I meet my cousin in town, it’s raining (is it really always raining in my dreams, or am I just tricking myself?)
Unlike in real life, cousin is very sweet with me, we hug, she asks me to go buy some comic books for her. Isn’t that nice? Something we can share. I go to a store but can’t find the comics I’m looking for.
I’m looking for a second store and I’m now in a building, an old English manor. It’s night, I’m holding a candle and I need to sneak into the library to get those comics; I’m being really careful not to wake the governess, who happens to be Maggie Smith (am I in the Secret Garden movie?) I go round and round the dark corridors, I’m sure the library must be somewhere around here, but I never find it.
Twenty Years Later I’m still Heartbroken About That Doll
I dream that it’s raining and I’m looking transfixed at a toy store window. On display there is a secondhand Skipper doll, just like the one I had as a child. I walk inside and ask how much she is, the owner says 45 bucks. I buy her. The owner leads me to a basement where he’s keeping a dozens vintage porcelain dolls. I think I recognize some of them, as if they were mine in a past life. I tell the owner about how my father maliciously decapitated my old Skipper (this happened IRL). Moved, he takes a tiny paintbrush to add some details to the new one, make her extra special for me.
Then I dream that my siblings and I are children again and we are moving to a new house. We decide who gets which room, we sell all our plants. We dismantle the old kitchen. Deep down I’m sad to leave the old house and I know I will miss the local stray cats. I’m relieved when I wake up and realize I’m not moving after all.
Two Scenes
I dream that I’m in line in front of a store, waiting to go in. I’m standing a bit on the side, and when it’s my turn and I step ahead people get angry at me because they think I just arrived.
I protest that I’ve been there the whole time. I ask a blond guy, doesn’t he remember me?
He doesn’t. I have to go back at the end of the line.
Then I dream that I’m chatting with a red-haired girl. She’s a bit chubby and really pretty. It’s night and we are sitting somewhere in a town made of brown stone.
I ask her if I can take her picture, she’s a bit shy but she says yes. The photo turns out pale and out of focus, her nose is gone, her eyes are wide and she looks like a fish.
Morning Or Night Visit
I need to go to the hospital to get my blood tested. It’s almost 11 in the morning and I’m running late, but I decide to stop at a local bookstore.
Sitting at the counter inside the store there is my nosy, gossipy neighbor C. She eyes me suspiciously and asks me why I’m not at work. I explain I’m going to the hospital, she doesn’t seem convinced. A bit miffed, I ask if she has The Secret of NIMH books, she says absolutely not. I’m sure I saw a children’s book with Mrs. Brisby on it, right there near the entrance, but maybe I’m mistaken?
I don’t want to argue, so I leave the store. I look at my watch (I’m wearing an old analog watch on my wrist) and see it’s still 11. Then I remember the hospital does blood work only very early in the morning, so my neighbor must have thought I was lying! Also, I forgot all my prescription papers at home, and I somehow have in my pocket my old Nokia phone from fifteen years ago. I have no choice but go back home.
I explain to my mother what happened, she says there’s still a little time to go to the hospital. When we arrive, it’s 8 P.M. and the long hallways are bathed in twilight. There are a lot of people waiting, I see a young blonde woman lounging on a chair, she is wearing a lilac shirt and looks bored out of her mind.
A doctor peeks inside the waiting room, she asks if there are any patients here to see doctor Hans (or a German-sounding name like that). Mom realizes this is who we need to see and chases the doctor in the hallway. I think maybe I won’t be waiting so long after all.
DECADE DREAM JOURNAL 