In school again, high atop the bleachers in Our auditorium-gym, hid in the drama crowd Though I never did belong. My alien friend lopes in, looks round For me. I croon a beacon-song, Falsetto, high and femme. Her ears Swivel, but I'm field--not seen-- Mere man. Background. I improvise an arpeggio line, The notes cascading down-- Soprano, alto, baritone, As far into bass as I can Dive. To my shock she still peers round, Scans crowd, fails to see Egregious me. Her folk are hawk Eyed. She should have spotted me By now! Lulled, I guess, by sweetness of the song She looked for a woman all along. Her folk are not myopic. So is my Image in her mind's magenta eye So firmly girled that even as ears shake Bass-rumbled, she can't revise mistake? And as I dreaming singing mutely wake, I wonder how my mind lags, stuck too; Deaf to new clue. What re-view need I take?

• Wide vocal range: today I practiced singing at home for first time in weeks--a dream-song, First Impressions. It's challenging--has a very wide range.
• Friend can't recognize my falsetto: in a voice class once, during break I sang an aria in falsetto, and our (finicky) teacher looked around at all the women in the room and asked excitedly "Who is that?" Didn't recognize me; I had to speak up. That day I learned falsetto was good for more than comedy; mine was better than most of the true contraltos in class.
• Alien can't see the real me: I'm alienated from my own voice! Only female voices can be beautiful. If I sing high, it's fake, imitation; if deep, it's ugly. So spare my housemates--shut up!
• Why here, why now? I don't sing at home because I think I must spare my housemates. Yet my strictest teacher was impressed with my voice--once she couldn't see I was male. Remember how female musicians started getting symphony jobs once auditions were behind screens? The dream recalls and tweaks that old memory to expose her reverse sexism--which I just accepted as normal, since my family shared it.
• ACTION: Practice at home, using my whole vocal range. Ignore how I feel; I was trained to devalue my own voice. Adjust those ears!

MONTHS LATER

I woke genuinely unsure what species my alien friend was. I know that sounds odd, but my sensory wiring is unusual. I can't recognize faces, so I mostly know people by voice, body language and energy. Those are so distinct and distracting I tend to overlook physical bodies. I assume it's as genetic as prosopagnosia (face-blindness). Both high-functioning autism and second sight run in my family; either (or both interacting) could be responsible.

So I truly don't know if she was wolflike as I've shown her, or a canine pegasus, or something like a gryphon. I do know she moved lightly, gracefully, beautifully... and alertly. Sharp-eared, sharp-eyed, she should have pinned me instantly! And that was the dream's point. False premises can trump the sharpest senses.

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