My mother and I were sitting on the front bench seat in her old red suburban. She was sitting in the passengers seat, and I on the left in what would be the driver’s seat if the steering wheel had been there: it wasn’t. I knew we were in a car because there were visors attached to the ceiling. Attached to my visor were three of my black hair claws. I immediately remembered that I had left them in mom’s car.

I was turned slightly towards my mom and she towards me. I asked her how her dog was doing, and mom told me that she (the dog) had walked back to the car and sat there, still as a statue, for two hours straight. While she told me this I envisioned the white fluffy poodle mix walking very slowly towards mom’s Yukon and sitting in the back.

I looked at the visor and saw that my hair claws were holding pieces of paper to the visor. I removed them, unfolded them as they were all folded many times, and found that they were checks written out to me.

I was very concerned at the dog’s behavior, and asked mom what had happened. She told me that dad had punched her in the head, on her scull. I was furious; I had known that he had hit the dog in the past, but this time he seriously injured her. I stared forward cursing him quite loudly. I yelled swear words at the dashboard.

I turned to mom and pleaded her to let me take the dog. I feared that if I didn’t do something, dad would kill the dog the next time he abused her. But mom refused. I kept asking; she kept refusing.

I was then lying on the seat under a heavy wool blanked with my back towards my mom. I quickly turned over and told mom that I could buy the dog. I showed her my checks as proof that I had the money. I was crying for this small dog. I told her that dad didn’t have to know that I knew about him hitting her, just that I wanted to buy her. Mom shook her head and told me that I couldn’t take the dog. She said that in a few years I wouldn’t have to deal with dad and therefore shouldn’t make it difficult for the rest of them who did have to deal with him once I was gone.

I felt furious and helpless. I awoke sobbing.

I was walking up a highway on-ramp with Lacey. She didn’t have on her leash and kept running ahead of me. Twice I called her back to me so that she wouldn’t run out into the road and get hit. The last time, I kneeled down and bent over her so she would not run away. I remembered having an extra long black shoelace in the backpack I was carrying. Kneeling on the shoulder of the road and holding onto her with one hand, I used my other to reach back and unzip my pack. White it was still on my back, I stretched my arm and rummaged around until I grabbed a hold of this black shoelace.

Still leaning over her, I attempt to tie it to the ring on her collar with a secure knot. I notice that I am only wearing a lime green towel that is wrapped tightly around my torso. While I am leaning over Lacey I notice that my breasts do not remain covered by the towel, but my hair hides them.

A car pulls over and points its nose directly at us. A man leans out of the drivers seat with an expensive looking camera in his hands and demands to take Lacey's picture. Not wanting to expose my breasts, I bend over farther on top of Lacey, almost lying down. This man's wife is sitting in the passengers seat and asks if he should be doing such a thing. He proclaims that it is his legal right, and again he demands that I get up so he can photograph her. I feel completely helpless.

At this time, a policeman pulls up in his car and stops. I feel so grateful that someone has come to help. I look up and see that the man's camera has turned into gun that is pointed at me. The cop demands he hand it over and then tells me to get into the back of the cop car. The cop looks a lot like Andy Richter and is quite friendly. He drives around town for a bit then down a big hill; we make friendly conversation the whole drive.

At the bottom of the hill he lets me out of the car in front of the movie theatre in Homer. After finishing up our talk, I kiss the top of his head very affectionately and turn to walk away.

I was in a large thrift store that was properly organized. There were probably a hundred other people in there ravaging the racks as though it was Christmas Eve and the store was having a 75% off sale. All of the shoppers I recognized as having graduated from my high school a few years before I. I was walking up and down the aisles of clothes trying not to bump into any of the greedy shoppers.

Then I was in a kitchen, but it was more like a television set. The walls were super flimsy and were propped up in the middle of a larger room. Satan was standing on the set wearing a nice suit and tie. He looked much like a middle-aged man and his hair was graying. He demanded that we tear apart this kitchen. I saw that I was not alone: Damon, Dana, Beth, and a few others were here as well.

We picked up hammers and crowbars and proceeded to rip apart every item in the room. I wielded a large hammer and proceeded to remove the doors from the lower cabinets. When that was completed, I tore apart the walls of the cabinets, carefully prying out each nail. I looked up and saw the devil standing in the middle of the room watching our progress.

Once again I was in the large thrift store. Again, there were a hundred people ravaging the racks. Only now I was in charge of the store, I recognized the shoppers as being a year or two behind me in school, and I noticed that all the clothes on the racks were newer. I was standing at the end of the long aisles of clothes watching the shoppers.

I looked to my left at the items hanging high on the wall and saw some daring shoppers climbing the wall as if it were a cliff to grab something they desired. There was an inflated skiff hanging on the wall, as well as a small fishing net for decoration.

Two girls came up to me and asked my assistance in finding a neon blue top. One of the girls needed this top to be in neon blue specifically; bright blue would not suffice. I went to the opposite end of one aisle and went through the pieces one by one. Many articles amused me, and a few frightened me that someone had been paid to design such a thing. I finally came upon the only blue tank top in the store and went to find the girls.

I came to the back door that led outside into a very bright sunny desert. I stood staring through the door; everything I could see same brown color. I looked left and through a doorway I saw the same kitchen that Satan had instructed us to disassemble. He was still standing there, and I thought he was waiting for his next group to arrive.

Walking outside, I didn’t venture far away from the door, but the two girls found me. I noticed that the tank top was blue on the front but neon pink on the back. I apologized and told them this was all we had. The girl on the right, the one who needed a neon blue top, took the tank top from me and inspected it; they said nothing.

B and I were preparing for a trip. It was close to the time that we ought to leave for the airport, and I realized that I hadn’t arranged for anyone to drive us there. I didn’t want to leave our car at the airport for the duration of our trip.

I picked up the phone to call Damon and heard the voice of a man; he was a telephone operator. He said that he was having problems getting through to Damon. He suggested that the phone bill had not been paid. I insisted that Damon wouldn’t do such a thing, and that the phone must be working. The operator then asked if Richard was cooking over there. I told the operator that Richard hadn’t lived in that building for years - Damon had bought it from Richard.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was very, very late. It was an hour until our plane departed, and we were supposed to be there two hours early with the new regulations and searches since 9/11. I hung up the phone and Damon pulled into our driveway.

On the drive to the airport I remembered that I hadn’t arranged for someone to watch lacey while we were gone. I asked Damon if he would do this, hoping he wouldn’t be upset at the lateness of my requests. He agreed. I saw that we now had a half hour until the plane took off, and knew that we wouldn’t make it in time.

I was at work standing by my desk when my boss, Bob, walked down the hallway and stood in front of me. I saw that he had shaved his beard and his face looked extremely skinny as well as younger. He was instructing me on something, but his smooth face distracted me. I kept telling myself to not mention it to him, I wasn’t supposed to.

He turned to walk away, apparently done instructing me, but then turned back. When he did, his beard was back in place and his face looked healthier and older. I was very confused as to how it had grown so quickly.

I was in a small store that was quite dark and came up to a very tall rack of lingerie at which two people were browsing. Many of the pieces were larger sizes, and I had the feeling that they were used. I reached up and grabbed a long white satin gown that grabbed my attention. It had a high waistline, and two separate pieces of fabric to cover each of the breasts. Everything tied together in the back in a revealing and beautiful way.

I pulled it down, and saw that it was much larger than my size. Sadly I put it back and grabbed a dark satin chemise that was my size. I headed to the bathroom in my parents basement to try it on. I passed a bookshelf of theirs and saw a baby. My mother told me that it was the Vantrease's new baby boy. He squealed and I thought he sounded just like his older brother at that age. I told my mom that he sure looked like a Vantrease baby.

I picked him up and tossed him in the air a bit. He was very happy with that. I then placed him in a playpen near the kitchen window. In this pen was also a very cute puppy. I was a little worried that the baby would harm the puppy, but my mother assured me that all would be fine. She then convinced me to try on the white satin gown.

I brought it into the bathroom and put it on. There were tiny satin covered buttons on the top half of the arm; the bottom half flared nicely. I began buttoning the arms up when I realized that my arms were too fat: the buttons wouldn’t button without severely stretching the fabric. I sadly removed the garment and left the bathroom.

While replacing it, my mother came up to me and chided me for wearing such revealing clothing. I looked down and saw that I was wearing a button-up, oversized pajama top that hung to my knees and was buttoned enough to not show my breasts. I told her that it wasn’t seeing through, and I was fully covered. She stammered, admitting that it currently wasn’t see through, but would be as soon as I stood in front of some bright light. I told her that wouldn’t happen, seeing as it was evening.

I glanced over at the bathroom door and saw brilliantly bright sunlight pouring from the window and out the door. I was very worried and became aware of the man sitting on a chair in the middle of the kitchen.

I was in the back of the high school band room playing the xylophone. A girl on my right asked some incoherent question wondering something regarding playing with four mallets. After her unintelligible rambling, I told her no. Searle, y band instructor, was then on my left. He became upset and lectured me on how I always should use four mallets when playing the xylophone. Throughout his lecture I had to keep playing.

Someone else and I were at the supermarket shopping for groceries; I was pushing a cart. I came out of one aisle and saw Robert Greaves, a high school friend, standing in front of me. I gave him an enthusiastic hello and we caught up a bit. After ten minutes of talking, we parted ways.

I walked down another aisle and saw large wooden shelves displaying bread dough. I could buy bread dough in different shapes and sizes. Some were round, some cylindrical, some cubes, and others rolled out flat. They were all stacked on top of and next to each other. I knew that the flat ones were meant for pizza crust because some of the edges had been pinched into obvious crusts.

I walked through the room filled with dough touching many of them as if to check their ripeness. I lifted the edge of one skinny pizza dough, and decided I wanted something else. I turned around and saw Pam and her mother looking at spheres of dough. They did not see me.

I walked into the basement of my parents' house and saw my brother Marty. He was wearing a long sleeved shirt with large, bright blue and yellow horizontal stripes. I gave him a big hug and we sat down cross-legged on the floor; he was on my right side.

With our arms linked together, we talked and talked about everything. His face looked as though he were still in his late teens. I noticed that his shirt was cut around the back of its neckline. It was shaped into a halter-like top, yet it still had its sleeves attached. I asked him why he had done that to his shirt, and he said that he thought it was cool.

We heard some people come in the front door upstairs, and looked in that direction. I heard my brother john say in a loud, high voice, "Where's my baby sister?" I said a curse word loudly, hating when he calls me that. Marty and I both stood up and faced the stairs, neither one of us wanting to ascend them.

A group of us were traveling up a large snowy hill. We went up and up, sometimes using the roads provided, sometimes taking a shorter route up the hill. B and I came over a small embankment and saw his parents place a short distance away. I convinced him that we needed to at least go say hi to them.

We stepped inside their front door, and his sister Sarah greeted us with hugs. She was the only one at home. She asked us if we had seen a specific movie: we hadn’t. She talked for some time about the movie, hugging us repeatedly. She talked about Jayme being away at college, and how not many people thought she was pretty. I told Sarah that was rubbish - she was gorgeous.

Our group was now in a large swimming pool. The pool was divided width-wise into lanes, and then one large division down the center length-wise. Each section held one person. I was in a section near one end with a person on either side of me: a girl who reminded me of Misti to my right, and a boy who reminded me of Sam to my left. Directly across from me was B. I thought it was wonderful that we were all getting along now. Everyone in the pool was caring about everyone else’s emotions and feelings.

There was a ball put up into the air. We tossed it back and forth, everyone getting the chance to hit it. Farther down the pool, a girl was lifted out of the water quite a ways. It was Jayme. I filled a bow full of water and lifted it, sending up my loud cheer for her. I turned around and many people hadn’t noticed that she was even in the game. I chided them for not noticing, and for missing their chance to support her.

I got out of the pool and walked over to my family. They were sitting in a corner, and just about all of them were there. I was fully clothed and dry. I said that we could go. It took them some time to get up and get all of their stuff on. My dad told me that he would bring me my boots. I walked out of the pool room and towards the outside doors. I stood looking outside, impatient to get out there.

My brother and nieces finally made their way to the door. I saw that they all had their boots on; I asked one of my nieces if she knew where my boots were. She told me that grandpa (my father) was still looking for them. She said that their boots had been inside his, and they all thought that my boots were in there as well. I grew very impatient, longing to leave the building. But I knew I couldn’t do that without my boots.

There were a lot of people around the outside of my parents’ house. It was slightly dark, as though it were nearing nighttime. There was a lot of talking and movement, but all of the worried kind. From overhearing snippets of conversations, I learn that everyone there are refugees from the planet earth. Something had gone terribly wrong, and we were the only ones to escape.

I also overheard that a different planet had just fallen out of orbit and has gone careening into the unknown. I thought how wonderful it was to be a part of history - I would be able to tell my children that I was living when that planet fell out of orbit; I had experienced the time when there were ten planets, and the time when there were nine. People were very happy that we had landed on a safe planet, but I was concerned. If one planet could just hop out of orbit, what is to say the planet we are on wont do the same?

I started making plans to get off that planet as soon as I could, but people made fun of me. They said how silly I was to want to get off of a perfectly stable planet. They compared me to the old senile woman who left the planets surface and just circles above the planet. I looked up into the sky and saw stars, planets, and this old lady riding on her tiny spaceship as though it were a witch’s broom. She rode in a figure eight pattern.

I wasn’t deterred. I went inside my parents’ house to start working on my own spaceship. A girl followed me, and I knew she was coming with me.

design/content © 2001-2003
movabletype