Dreamlife

  I’m living with my parents
in a somewhat dilapidated area–not exactly a slum, but more squalid
than our waking-life ‘hood. In the dream, I have a cousin who is an
Indian witch. Although our relation is not antagonistic, bad things
start to happen while I speak with her on the phone. The one I remember
most clearly is that my friend Dave, who must have been visiting, gets
sucked down the bathtub drain, leaving something that looks like a
dried up tree.

  I think the dream begins
when I’m in a car with Santiago and another person driving toward a
library in a stately citadel. The narrow roads are brimming with cars
and people and we make very slow progress. I don’t remember what we do
in the library. All I remember is a scene too striking to forget: I
feel something soft moving in my mouth and spit out a bright red
scorpion. It lands on the floor and immediately scurries off to hide.