Saturday, April 09, 2011

What kind of reader?

Other things are far more interesting than a dream like this, but I wrote it anyway.

Dream: At a literary conference in a great auditorium, I'm told the man sitting in front of me thinks women are overly reductive in how they look at things because they are always putting their ideas in the form of comic book thought balloons. "Oh really," I say and sit behind him. The girl next to me begins to once again explain all about this belief.

The auditorium falls silent. A man on stage is supposed to be speaking, but he hears her talking, and he looks aghast. People in the audience begin to snicker. The snickering spreads and soon we are all laughing, somewhat nervously and somewhat warmly. I see people in the balconies and opera boxes beginning to stand up. The audience gives a standing ovation. Insanity!

Scene switches: I am on the top floor of a building, peering through a little rectangular window that opens onto a lower floor. I almost can't breathe. A pale, dark-haired, ethereal girl in white floats towards the window and me, and reads an exquisite yet depressive poem. A polite (but also genuine) smattering of applause comes from a little group of people behind us. The girl prepares to read another poem and I can't stand it, I must leave now and cough up the mucus. She looks surprised as I run out of the room, and I'm sorry for my rudeness, but more preoccupied with my difficulty in breathing.

In the woman's room, a young man is walking around with bold self assurance. As soon as he sees me, he thinks (but doesn't say) "Hey, is this the women's room?" I just hear him think it. He almost leaves, but then he decides to walk around some more. I go around to all the stalls, flushing toilets, and continue to stare at him without speaking. I feel defiant. Maybe he has nefarious intentions, but I don't care why he's in here, I just want him out. He finally leaves. Another girl walks in. She looks at me and then goes into one of the stalls I've just flushed. I lock myself in the big handicapped stall and prepare to purge.

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