dreams: November 25, 1998
slipping back into social superficialities
I'm in line at a cafeteria, back at Swat.
I'm standing near a table that already has people sitting and eating.
Anya and another familiar Swattie are sitting at the table, their
backs against the wall, facing me. I say hello. We exchange
formalities. The girl (who looks like Melissa Ark__ from
high school) and I say we'll get together later; we set the time.
Afterwards I wonder to myself why I decided to do that. It makes me
feel like my old self, my lower self, because I don't really like that
"friend" of mine. I don't like who I am when I'm with her.
what is the definition of party, anyway?
NEXT, I'm standing at a window on an upper floor of a house,
looking down at the yard below. It's night. Music is playing,
and a large group of young folks are gathered, dancing. I see the back
of Melina; she's boogying, looking like she's quite comfortable in her
own body. She's wearing dark jeans and a white shirt with embroidered
flowers on it. She has shoulder-length dark curly hair.
Then I'm sitting on the floor on the other side of the room
with a group of people. We're playing cherades. I pull my card.
It says "Party of Five," with a colorful promo photo of the cast (of the
Fox TV show). I say, "More than four and less than six." The group
immediately says "Five." Yet they don't get the second part. I point
towards the window, gesturing at the party going on outside. I say,
"It's where you go dance," etc. They just can't say party
though.
Then it's the next person's turn. I look over at all the cards
in the manilla folder. It's like a scrapbook of all sorts of clues/words.
I pick the next one out of curiosity. It is a long white piece of
paper that has a Biblical term at the top -- something to do with a
Christian saint. It also has a long text description. I feel grateful
that it's not my turn to act it out in the cherades game, since people
would have a hard time guessing it. I know the guy going after me might
have a hard time acting it out too if he picks it.
breaking gender rules in the bathroom
NEXT, I go into a public bathroom (for a dorm?). It has lots of
young people. It is co-ed and very big, all with blue and white tiles.
There are long tile troughs in the center of the room that look like
bowling alleys. Women are on one side, and men are on the other side.
Each person gets his or her own bright pink plastic shower curtain to
wrap around their bodies for privacy as they shower/bathe. All the
women's places are taken. There are some open ones on the boys' side,
so I run and slide/jump along a trough (like a slip 'n' slide) to get
over to the other side. I'm not embarrassed to break gender rules.
I see a woman sitting shaving her legs, carefully wrapping the curtain around
herself to cover her body. I wonder if I slid across any yucky mildewy
stuff on the tiles, concerned since my skin is bare.
- FIN -