Are Dreams Considered Non-Fiction?
In my experience, dreams that occur during one or two hour midday naps tend to be way more strange than normal night dreams. They usually have a lot going on and have a super-condensed intensity to them. They are also the ones I remember most vividly.
The other day I had a nap dream in which I was traveling by train. Not very weird. But then I arrived at my destination, a small village that wasn’t really a village, more like a very small city. The first person I ran into in this city was a tall man who immediately recognized me. He hugged me and said “Giada! It’s me Bob! Well, you might remember me as Tommy.” First I was surprised that this man had mistaken me for a big-headed, smiley, Food Network cook; Second, I didn’t know people named Tommy could opt to call themselves Bob; Third, in my dream mind I had already determined that this was not going to be a pleasant encounter and it would most likely end in my brutal murder.
But for some reason I acknowledged the man and said, “Tommy who?” And this is where it got weird. The man said, “Tommy Pickles” and then his face came into focus and, sure enough, he was a real life, grown up version of Tommy Pickles from Rugrats. He had a full head of hair and normal features, slightly creepy looking, but there was no mistaking that this was the bald, pants-less, blue shirt wearing, screwdriver wielding baby from the beloved 90’s cartoon. And it wasn’t like that stupid Rugrats: All Grown Up spinoff, he was a real, three dimensional, fleshy person. In my dream world, the cartoon existed so I treated this as somewhat of a celebrity encounter, but it was clear that “Bob” had different intentions.
Starstruck as I was, I followed “Bob” to a real life version of the boxy, red-roofed Pickles’ family home. Inside, I was introduced to the whole gang all of whom were real, adult people who were somehow reminiscent of their cartoon counterparts. Chucky, now Charles, wore a suit and looked oddly dapper for a ginger. The rest were dressed like it was a Saturday. They kept calling me Giada and that frustrated me. Then they put on a performance of the Rugrats opening theme using their children. “Bob” was notably absent during all of this. Then an old man, who I’m assuming was an antiquated Stu Pickles, leaned over to me and said “Has Tommy proposed yet? He always said that if you ever come back he would ask you to marry him.” I did not reply to this and instead sprinted out of the house-a logical reaction.
But, typical of dreams, I was transported to a weird balcony with a curtain covering half of it. I opened the curtain and sitting on a table were a few weird objects. I picked up one that looked like a poorly made friendship bracelet. It said “Giada Marry Me.” The other objects were of a similar nature and looked like a four year old made them. Then I really flipped out and said “No, I won’t marry you. You don’t even know me!” to nobody until I realized that “Bob” was standing behind me sobbing. I didn’t feel bad; I just wanted to get out of there. But then I realized that the balcony I was standing on was above the ocean and it wasn’t attached to anything.
Then I woke up.
