The Sham

Mr: Rosenberg: Which one of these is my pillow?

Me: Not the one with the sham.

Mr. Rosenberg: You're a sham.

Me: The one with the sham has buttons and it's not soft. 

Mr. Rosenberg: You're a sham with buttons.

Me: Here's your pillow.

Mr. Rosenberg: But what's the sham one for if you can't sleep on it?

Sweet Dreams

The landscapes in my dreams are the homes and streets and beaches of my childhood. Occasionally, I dream in vignettes set in historical times. Often these dreams feel more real than waking life, even though they might be populated by people I don't know any longer or those who have passed on.

I am staying at a hotel for the next three nights. On the postcard left on my pillow this evening, there is a quote from Paul Gaugin: "I close my eyes in order to see." I would imagine he's referring to looking inward to know oneself or perhaps building a world from deep inside the imagination. For me tonight, on this pillow, I will relate his words to dreaming and the world that exists on the other side of that hushed curtain.

But first, I'm going to eat those chocolates.

Bed Heads

"Did you have any dreams last night, Mom?"

"Yeah. I had one where I was in Japan and I was trying to get a plane ticket home but I was wearing roller skates and I kept falling down."

"Why didn't you just take the skates off?'

"That would have been a smart thing to do. I wish I could have changed that."

"Yeah, you know when I'm dreaming something, Mom? I just go with the flow."

Stalling

"Okay, Bob. Good night. See you in the morning."

"Wait, Mom? Can I get a drink of water?"

"Your water is right here on your desk."

"Okay. Good night. Mom? Don't we need to get new soccer shoes?"

"Yes, Bob. Now it's time to stop talking and start sleeping. Goodnight."

"Mom, one more thing."

"What, Bob?"

"Where do babies come from?'

"..."

"Hahaha. Just kidding! Good night, Mom."

Scary Monsters

"Mom? Mom?"

"Bob, you should be asleep by now."

"Yeah, but I can't stop thinking about this nightmare Adam told me he had about the lady who lives on his street who's kind of scary. In the nightmare she had black teeth and her husband had white eyes and he kidnapped Adam."

"That sounds like a really scary thing to think about when you're trying to fall asleep."

"It is."

"Okay, well I'll get you a glass of water and you can try and fall asleep again and think about something good, like swimming at day camp, or your basketball game coming up on Saturday."

"Mom? Can you just be here while I try to fall asleep? Just for a little while? I'll give you the cold side of the pillow."

The Long Good Night

"Good night, Bob."

"Good night, Mom. Wait, Mom? I was thinking that I could maybe give those paper Minecraft things to Micah. Micah likes Minecraft a lot. And then, you know, I wish I could be a cloud because then I could tell all of the other clouds to rain and it would fix the drought. Oh, and I thought maybe you could pack a quesadilla in my lunch tomorrow? But no carrots. I never have time to eat those. Hey and since I don't have black pants for the assembly on Friday, I can wear black sweatpants, right? Flappy Bird is getting so easy for me I think I'm going to start playing it with my left hand, for the challenge of it. Okay, good night, Mom. Wait, Mom? Did you already send my permission slip for the field trip? Okay, really good night. Good night."

Man in the Moon

"Hey, Bob there's a lunar eclipse tonight."

"What's that?"

"It's when the earth is directly between the sun and the moon, aligned exactly."

"Cool."

"Yeah, it's happening around 2:30 in the morning. Should we all get up to see it?"

"Well Mom, you can set an alarm for yourself but I need my sleep. I'm a growing boy."

Another Course

"Are you done with dinner yet, Mom? Are we going soon? I'm so sleepy from camp and doing the archery bullseyes and the hike and everything."

"It's going to be a few more minutes, Honey."

"Can I put my head in your lap? So sleepy..."

"We're just going to get some coffee and look at a dessert menu."

"Dessert? Forget what I said before. I'm up. Very up."