Through the Looking Glass.
I heard voices downstairs so I went there to check out the commotion. A party was going on, but not one I expected. Yes, my sister was there, and so were a couple of her friends. Party guests I did not at all expect were three very old ladies, white ones with really white hair and really wrinkly skin, each wearing a sparkly party hat. Even the celebrant was a shock: a little blonde girl who was turning sixteen. I admit she was beautiful, reminiscent of the lovely AnnaSophia Robb. Then for some reason I was reminded of my fishes. I didn’t even know I had fish, and yet in the reality of my dream, I did.
I went over to the fish bowl, which I knew in the reality of my dream was located on the fireplace mantle, like always. There must have been twenty fishes in there, and all but one or two were belly up! For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to slurp some of the fish bowl water and spit it back inside as a means to resuscitate the ones who still had a fighting chance, stupidly ignoring the moss and algae that had built up inside the murky dead fish water. Once I got to the bathroom to dump the carcasses into the toilet, I felt a stinging in my mouth. I started hocking up giant blobs of greenish yellow mucus. I looked at my face, which was already starting to turn a pale green. Then my whole face started to distort like a Picasso painting (or a Mac Book photo booth session, quite like the one I had last night with Len and Jackie).
The strange occurrence was soon interrupted by the crash of thunder. I ran to a window and sure enough a storm was in full effect. It wasn’t the storm that frightened me, however. A giant palm tree across the street strangely resembled a great dragon, and its giant reptilian head seemed to roar at me with every rumble of thunder. Soon the dragon took full form, and marched right out into the street, gnashing its ugly teeth, whipping its ugly tail, causing a commotion for unsuspecting traffic. Before it could get to my window, my attention was directed towards faint laughter behind me. I had forgotten all about the birthday party.
When I went back into the living room, the whole thing had transformed into a giant indoor playground, much like DZ the Discovery Zone, if you can remember that far back. I thought it would be a great idea to video tape the entirety of the obstacle course with a digital camera. Had this not been a dream, this would have made a hit on YouTube for sure. I was running through rickety bridges, flipping into foam pits, sliding head first into slides, swinging on ropes, sliding down spirally fireman poles. Music echoed off the walls of the great hall, no doubt the music provided by my iTunes while I sleep. At the end of the video, I jumped to the very top of a rope and swayed eerily, creating the impression of a hanging body. I thought this would make for a nice theatrical touch, no doubt inspired by Lady GaGa’s dramatic and thoroughly entertaining VMA performance of “Papa… Paparazzi.” It went perfect with the song that was playing at the time, a somber one from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. As the video drew to an end, so did my dream.
The moral of this pointless story? Don’t drink dead fish bowl water. That did not taste very good.
