Dream LXXIV

I decided that my computer at work needed more memory. I knew that it was a specialized PC and the memory was not widely available, so I did a search and found a map of the one store in the city—Washington, DC—that sold the kinds I needed. The store was marked with a blinking red dot, which even showed the aisle where the memory was located.

So I walked there, and went inside. The store seemed to be filled almost entirely with New Age paraphernalia, some magazines, cigarette lighters and a few books. The young woman who manned the counter was dressed like a witch, with a long black robe.

I went to where the memory should be, but instead found a rotating case of cigarette lighters. Disappointed, I decided to look at the magazines. I didn’t see any that interested me, but as I turned to leave, two women apologized to me; it seemed they were measuring souvenir T-shirts against my back.

I told them it was all right, and I went to leave the store. Then, I noted a biography of Edward D. Wood, Jr., on the counter-top. I looked at it to see what the cost was, but the way the dust jacket ends were tucked into the pages I knew that the sales clerk was reading it, so I didn’t offer to buy it. Instead I made my way home.

When I got back, my wife was dressing for the evening. I asked her what the occasion was, and she reminded me that it was the Presidential Inauguration. She frowned at me and reminded me that I didn’t vote for the current president, and asked me if I was going to the ball. I said, probably not. She asked me if I could think of anything good about the president, and after some hesitation, I said he’d probably be a more honest president than the defeated candidate. She wasn’t sure how to consider that, but instead left for the ball with our youngest child.

I went down the hall to where our older boy was reading on the bed. I asked him if he wanted to go to the ball but he declined.

It occurred to me, then, that I should have asked the sales clerk where they kept the memory. So I told my son that if he wanted to go, I could take him, but again he said he wasn’t interested. I told him I had to walk into the city anyway, and should be back shortly.

I started walking along the sidewalks back to the store. Two women in a car came out of a sidestreet and drove their car right up to where I was; it was obvious they wanted either of the two adjoining sidestreets, and the passenger said to the driver, “Well, you might try to go into one of them!” I laughed and continued on my way.

I passed a house where a Labrador retriever was resting on the patio. On seeing me, he jumped up and barked and wanted to be friendly; an older lab, who had clearly been displaced by this younger dog, also wanted affection but in a more severe way. I petted them and walked on, conscious that they might try to follow me.

They did. I tried various methods to make them return home, including running back toward their house. Each method worked, but they would invariably come back. Finally, they returned home on their own.

As I walked along the sidewalk, the city became more crowded. I took some of the back ways to avoid the crowds. I went across the back parking lot of a church, but came to a tall fence. I walked to where the street was, but the fence continued there. I walked toward the other side of the church and found a place where two fences intersected at about two feet tall, so I stepped over them and continued on my way.

A few minutes later, a baby deer (about the size of a beagle) appeared in front of me. I was very aware that a parent deer might be nearby in case I got too close, so I kept my distance. Another deer, the size of a rabbit, hopped into view.

My cat then appeared as well and attacked the second deer, though not seriously. It was almost an “angry playful” type of behavior. The first deer came over to see what was happening, and an angry duck came by to dissuade my cat from her attacks. I shooed everyone into leaving everyone else alone, and continued on my way, now accompanied by my cat.

She happened to see a baby duck on someone’s patio and went to attack this creature. Another cat appeared and attacked my cat, and I reached in to separate the combatants. Claws were hooked into skin, but I managed to separate my cat from the duck, and the other cat from my cat. I gently tossed the other cat a few feet away.