I have a special pillow that if I place it just so under my head at night, I get marvelous, exciting dreams! I call it my Dream Pillow. I dream with other pillows, of course, but those are run-of-the-mill dreams. When I was a kid, I had the usual "monster under the bed or in the closet" dreams, as well as the dreaded "Boogey Man" dreams. As I grew older, I experienced those "naked" dreams--I'm lost in a strange and crowded city and no one appears to see or hear me, or else I'm in a city with no other people--only cold, empty buildings! And we've all had those chilling, recurring dreams! Mine involved eating in the same diner and ordering the same meal (black coffee and buttered bagel), or another where I keep taking my car to the same garage for gas and servicing. The strange thing about these dreams is that neither the diner nor the garage exists in my real, awake life! They are simply dream places in a magic world! In New York City, where I lived, we had alternate side, street parking. Some days I would forget where I had parked the night before and would spend time walking around the neighborhood looking for my car. I would dream the same situation only with this added twist. I would finally find the spot where I had parked only to see an empty space! Someone had stolen my car! I would awake in a cold sweat! In reality, I've never had any car stolen, but in my dreams, I've had dozens of cars stolen! These were ordinary dreams. What I really wanted was to record those fantastic dreams I've had while laying on my Dream Pillow. What a great story they would make! But by the time I sat at my computer to write the night's dream, I had forgotten it completely! I decided to keep a pencil and pad near my bed and write the dream as soon as I awakened. When I read the result the morning after I awoke, I was stunned! What I had written, except for a few sentences, didn't make any sense at all! Most of the account was written in a crazy code I couldn't translate! Some mornings it's just not worth getting out of bed!
