rude, but, rude, but

I dreamt I went shopping with my Aunt Lisa because she needed a new refrigerator. We went to a bookstore. They had cats for sale there, including some very lovely ones that looked like a cross between a Maine Coon and an owl. In the dream I realized I'd forgotten that some cats can look like owls. These cats were being touted as the kind America's founding fathers used to keep. Many came in something like a small cereal box and you just added water to make the kitten grow.

I couldn't help it. I had to make a comment about selling cats from scratch when there aren't enough homes for all the strays. I apologized for being so outspoken. I continued to look at books. I left my big, new Art History textbook with my purse. (Except in real life it's my big, old Art History textbook, although almost new in appearance, even if it looked nothing like the dream version.) Later I realized how dumb it was to bring a book into a used bookstore. There were a couple of copies of the book on the table when I came back and I was afraid mine was sold, but we eventually found it. Someone had written my name and some comment of ownership on the side in pencil.

At some point I again lit into the owner or manager about the cats. My aunt was quiet but embarrassed. Before I had gotten right in his face, as in nearly-touching eyeballs. This second round I grabbed his wrist and squeezed extremely hard on every syllable: there - aren't - enough - homes - for - them - all.

Again appalled by my useless display of passion, I apologized. Eventually I smoothed it over without backing down, but negotiating to some unsatisfying but peaceful 'opinions will differ' spot.

I don't remember what happened next, but in the next sequence I was at a school and taking - yes, oddly enough - Art History. I had apparently had two semesters of Art History already, so I wasn't sure why I was enrolled again. Mostly I worried about the chute you had to jump down for each class, because for the previous classes I had put on just enough weight to make fitting into the narrow chute a little anxious. Also, there were gymnastics involved - a few flips or something as one emerged from the chute - and I was very tired of gymnastics.

Despite being mistakenly enrolled, I jumped down the chute to try it. It sent me down a long (and spacious) hallway, horizontally, and down some steps, still floating above them. There were kittens at a few points on the steps. I 'leapt' over them from my hurling floating position with ease. When I landed, there were people glaring at me, including several nuns under a vow of silence. I went back to the steps to see the kittens. Some appeared to be puppies, and there were now so many schoolchildren crowded around each of the two cat-bearing steps that it was hard to even see the animals. Finally, on the lower step I glimpsed what appeared to be fluffy white things with sparkling gold woven in their fur. I thought to myself that I finally understood why someone might get a poodle.