I bike home from college in thin rain, after a training course in therapy there. I'm so tired I can't remember a thing--was it even physical or psychological therapy today? Not just tired--exhausted and freezing--no rain gear, just a flimsy coat, soaking now.

I reach a corner near my house--in a flat neighborhood, not Bernal Hill. Drop my bike and leave it. Fumble with a bulky item I was carrying. I'll have to walk/roll both to my house along paths. Set out... then realize I have only the other item, I just left the bike unlocked in the rain. Stupid with fatigue.

Check my schedule. Damn, I have ANOTHER class back at school, starting in less than half an hour. I'll be five-ten minutes late if I hurry back right now.

But I'm in no shape to.

But the class is required. I prepare to do it, knowing I'll get sick from it.

Now the other item is living, willful--a big wet dog. I have to walk it along with me... all the way to class? I touch the dog's neck by the collar, preparing to grab... and the dog howls as if in agony, and runs off!

Did I touch a wound?

Strangely, the dog's distress blasts out in a palpable wave--and I can feel it's not pain but HORROR. Slams deep into me. The adrenaline shock banishes my fatigue--temporarily. I'll pay for it soon, though!

And I wake.

AFTERTHOUGHT

All dreamers get terrified now and then by nightmare figures. But have you ever been someone else's nightmare? Somewhere that night, did a dog wake up shaking and whimpering? After years of suspiciously parallel dreams with friends, I'm not so sure that's impossible.

Even if not--even if this is an ordinary, purely internal dream, all me... then what the hell does it mean?

Not having a nightmare--just being one.

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