Entering the World


...of dreams. Sometimes I wonder if we do leave
our bodies and travel in our dreams. Maybe the body
is lying in the bed, but we have stepped out of it and
into another world.

I woke this morning choking. In my dream, a woman,
who looked like Mammy from Gone With The Wind
(from the back--never saw her face), was washing clothes
in the kitchen sink of an upstairs apartment. She told me
to go outside and tell Enrico he had to come home.

I saw him across the street and called to him, but he ignored
me. Some other boys on the street yelled out to him and pointed
at me. I knew I must not be speaking the same language.

Then, out of nowhere, comes this line drive, and I catch it
bare-handed (to applause and shouts of disbelief), and then
comes a football, spinning fast and furious, and I lift the other
hand into the air and catch it one-handed. And then I remember
thinking I was choking on a piece of chewing gum. I couldn't swallow
it and I couldn't bring it back to my mouth. And I woke up with this
big cough and gasp and I really thought I had a piece of gum
in my mouth.

I never thought about the dangers of running or swimming
with a piece of gum in your mouth. And then, one summer, a
young girl--maybe 12--drowned at the city park pool.
The newspaper report said that she could have been resuscitated
(perhaps) had she not been chewing gum. It was stuck in her
throat, so mouth-to-mouth didn't work. After that, I made
my kids swear they wouldn't run track, play
ball, dance, etc. with gum in their mouths.

So, maybe I was in that neighborhood calling out for Enrico,
choking on my piece of gum. Who knows.

*

Because I am becoming more anal and insecure the older I get
(I thought the older I got, the better that would get), I never
trust that I can spell anything any more. I was the queenie-bee
of spelling bees and what-not in my day. So, when I typed in
line drive, I wondered if it should be hyphenated, so I typed it
into Google and what a strange story I found:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/07/23/coolbaugh.dies.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us

Weird.

*

Don't know why I feel compelled to write about my dream.

I had many more. One filled with such vibrant colors
and strange people. Beautiful fabrics and the smell
of good food cooking. Tables overflowing with wines
and cheeses and fruits. Women laughing. Wearing
beautiful caftans, salwar kameezes, saris. Lots of light
everywhere and temperate weather and the sound
of water.

*

Time to go mop while Molly is outside. After that, I am taking
all the pictures and artwork off the walls in the hallway. I am
going to start stripping paper. Who cares if the kitchen
project is done or not? It just needs a few things that I can
do as I do the hallway.

Then outside to weed. My poor flower beds. I have never
neglected them like this before. Best get out there while
the mood strikes. Of course, my moods being what they
are, I am very likely to be out of the mood by the time
I finish typing this.

*sigh*