Sleep hath it's own world, And a wide realm of wild reality

Everything can happen, everything is possible and probably. Time and place do not exist; the imagination spins, weaving new patterns on a flimsy basis of reality: a mixture of memories, experiences, free associations, absurdities and improvisations.
~August Strindberg, A Dream Play


Rebecca has bought an expensive white convertible, very sleek, very low, very small. We are admiring it on the sidewalk outside her house. Although I tell her over and over how great the car is, she doesn't seem satisfied, and wants to hear me say that I would buy the car for myself. I insist that while I like the car, it just isn't my style. Not particularly practical. Too close to the ground. The seats are very, very small. They're not even as big as they could be, and they don't look particularly stable or comfortable.

She insists on taking me for a joyride to test out the car so I'll realize just what a smooth ride it is. She drives down the freeway to downtown Austin, where we end up in a bar called the Narrow Room which was made up a several dark bare rooms of different colors, speckled with nondescript young folk. I suddenly remember that I've been here before, back when I lived in LA, it's a place in Echo Park that I used to go to with Bijan, who. .. . Hey, there's Bijan now! Bijan is looking sharp and ready to party. Maybe I could hang with him tonight after Rebecca tires out and wants to leave. She's an early riser. So good to run into you Bijan! What are you doing in Austin? Hey! It's Aaron and Andrew! Guys, what the hell are you doing here? When did you get here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming? Bijan, look it's Aaron and. . .oh, they're with you? They are embarassed. They've been in Austin for a day and a night and haven't called me or told me. I am pissed off, and feel totally justified. I slap Aaron and Andrew in the face, fairly hard. As I find out more and more of the story, I continue slapping them. How could they come here and not tell me? I'm not mad at Bijan, because he lives here, I guess, and had nothing to do with it, but I am fucking upset at Aaron and Andrew. Especially Andrew, I talked to you yesterday! You called me just to shoot the shit! I remember talking on the phone to you and hearing Bijan in the background and saying "Oh! Did Bijan come down to LA to visit?" and you quickly changed the subject. No, you guys had been here the whole time. Why even bother to call me but not tell me that you're in town? I slap Andrew in the face again. Hard. I hit them a lot and they just kind of take it. It doesn't seem to really hurt them that much. Bijan doesn't seem to let the situation ruin his good time. It 's like they both know they deserve it.

Somehow I end up back at LeAnne's beautiful three story house with her weirdo forty five year old housemate. I am drunk, and ravenous for chocolate. Some dude who might be her roommate is downstairs watching TV, so I figure its okay if I sneak into the pantry to find some. All I find is an old old old spotty crumbly mini Hershey bar, that looks left over from Christmas, which I promptly eat, but since it's totally disgusting, I go to my own shelf in the other kitchen to look for the pretzels and Hit cookies I bought this week. All the chocolate and snacks on my shelf have huge bites out of it, the peanut butter cups, everything is half eaten. Sandra Vahtel comes into the kitchen for a late night snack, and I ask is there a mouse living here? She laughs and says "Yeah, that guy!" and points to the mouse across the room. He's big and fearless, and I try to salvage the rest of my food by sticking it in the fridge before he or the cat which is not a very good mouse hunter get to it. By the time I break off any untouched pieces and get what I can into the fridge, the half eaten stuff is totally gone. Devoured. The cat is attempting to get the sweet Swiss crackers out of the foil when I grab them out of its paws, stick them back in the tin and say "No, you don't get these" to him knowing somehow that the cat understands every word I say.

When I awake from this disturbingly vivid dream, it's 5 am, and I am hungry and confused. I eat a Hit cookie and some pretzels to remind myself that they're still available in the waking world, drink a considerable amount of water, and while I'm peeing, a cockroach the size of a kazoo walks out from under the toilet and onto the wall, it's antennae waving in my direction.

Disgusting.