A three dream sequence:
In the first dream I meet up with my dream boy. I’m so tired I’m dreaming about sleep and dreaming. I wake to find the dream boy kneeling next to my bed. Did he kiss my forehead or did I imagine that? I ask him what he’s doing in my room; he smiles at me and reaches for my hand. We journey all over the world. I ask how he found me - we’re sitting at a coffee shop that doesn’t smell like coffee. We’re drinking tea and having a profoundly interesting conversation. A tremendous crash interrupts him, I wake to a room filled with sheet lightning.
The second dream takes place in a big open field. A man I don’t know is picnicking with me. The sun overhead is brilliant. The colors are so intense I have to blink before they fully register. Cloudless sunshine scorches our skin. There’s not a breath of fresh air anywhere. Our drinks are boiling hot. Volcanic desire erupts. The falling petals are burning blue-white. The ground is a pool of shimmering molten green. My alarm clock shrieks, I wake to a ninety-degree room because I fell asleep in the sunshine at the edge of my bed.
My brother is with me in the third dream. Sports memorabilia featuring my baseball playing host is prominently displayed. The house is warm so I step outside, set my drink down and gaze out at the perfectly manicured fairway. Cool air hits my face, I hear a man calling my name. A wooden baseball bat rests against his left shoulder. I watch in dream-filled horror as he swings. In the dream my cell phone rings. I wake to a furious heartbeat and the ring of my iPhone. Interrupted sleep: saving your life thirty-three and third percent of the time.