My pain woke me
In my dream I met Robert at a hotel
where he proceeded to heave all over the bathroom
there were toilets on both sides of the room
but the one on the far wall just overflowed
when I flushed it
I argued that his little son David
needed to have a sober person to drive him home
I was offering to drive his son to his mother’s house
but she was in the hotel, higher than a kite,
so she was not really an option either
The lobby of drunk men
cheered him on
you’re not that drunk
She’s too sober to understand
Every time I ventured back to my room
to pack my things
people were already
in my room with their luggage
why
who let them in
and where was I that this
custom of no privacy to pack seemed to reign
I argued
they left
glaring over their shoulders
as if I was at fault
I helped a family of twelve register
at the front desk
One gentleman spoke french
so I was able to translate
what the desk clerk wanted filled out on his forms
A permanent forwarding address for what reason
I don’t know but my french flows fluently in my dreams
his demeanor changed
his face relaxed
he no longer looked as if he could chew glass
I picked up toddler David and
strapped him into the booster car seat
fiddled with the velcro clasp at his neck
then I realized we were
rolling backwards down a steep hill
my brakes didn’t work and the steering column seemed frozen so
I did what any normal person would do
I rolled down the window and started screaming
I realized I was sliding uphill in the snow
off the road toward a cliff
I reached out and grabbed for
anything to stop the momentum
adrenaline flowing I caught a branch a vine
and I felt a snap in my back followed by numbness
The police sheriff state troopers
arrived with an ambulance
they checked out baby David
who I never saw again in the dream
and they started the round robin of
What were you doing
Driving in reverse down the street
with someone else’s blond child strapped
in your backseat
Have you been drinking
Has anyone seen my revolver
How did you stop the car
You almost flew off the cliff
and killed all those people below
Do you have any weapons
Hey
I only drank water
Go ask the clerk at the hotel
I’m starting to hurt
Do you think I could get a doctor
to look at my back
I think I may have broken something important
When I stopped the car with my arm out the window
It this part of the gun you lost
Blinding white pain
and I woke up
wondering why my rib cage hurts
I must be the princess and the pea
Amanuensis Sobriquet-Reverie 