Monthly Archives: February 2008

Trapped in a conservative Christian family

I am living in my house on Prescott Drive with a man. He is a conservative Christian and he is threatening. I am trapped there.I feel like I am living with a very conservative, very religious family, and they are like a cult. They will not let me escape.

He has a high-tech light-up mailbox.

Susie and Jake come to visit me. Jake rides a snowmobile. I try to get them to help me.

I tell them that this family has changed the "Art Department" to the "Department of Pictures." This seems to me to be a deeply condemning accusation and Susie should recognize how terrible they are.

I beg them for help. Susie gets me a key. But I still cannot escape. We try to crawl through some branches that are shaped in a tunnel.

Susie gives me a big wad of gum. Then she takes a go-cart and leaves.

I talk to my mother. She’s my mother in the family but she is not my real mother. She is smoking a cigarette and looking skeptical.

She sets me free.

Conformist.

I Often Dream Of Trains

I often dream of trains when I’m alone
I ride on them into another zone
I dream of them constantly
Heading for paradise
Or Basingstoke
Or Reading
I often dream of trains when I’m awake
They ride along beside a frozen lake
And there in the buffet car
I wait for eternity
Or Basingstoke
Or Reading
I often dream of trains till it gets light
The summer turns to winter overnight
The leaves fall so suddenly
The sun sets at four o’clock
Exactly what
I’m dreading
I often dream of trains when I’m with you
I wonder if you dream about them too
Maybe we’ll meet one night
Out in the corridor
I’m waiting for
You baby
Baby
Baby
Baby
Baby…

Robyn Hitchcock, I Often Dream of Trains, 1984

The Old Fashioned Way

Work for an advertising agency
On a bad client
Make mistakes
Pain in the ass
Change directions
Fight with a friend
Gives away my yogurt
Trying to help
But can’t help
Has to be done
The old-fashioned way

Clothing designer

I’m involved with a project for a client where we’re designing a line of clothing. Kevin also has part of the project and seems to be more closely involved with the client than I am. The client is a black woman.

I am asked to review samples of the clothing line on racks. The clothes are both urban/street wear and girly at the same time. I look at a pinafore styled dress, and at a pair of sandals that are pink and green and seem to be made out of rubber.

I really like some of the clothing and I ask my client if I can buy some of it it. She says I have to call in the order.
We go over to a phone bank that is made up of old rotary dial phones. They are all black phones, some are from the 40s like the phone that was in the sewing room when I was a child, and some are newer but still black rotary phones.

I’m nervous after I place the order that the clothes will be very expensive. They do wind up to be more than $200.

At the client location there is a rally for the Reverend Al Sharpton to be president. My client attacks him and tries to strangle him with a telephone cord.

Riding a bicycle

I am supposed to ride a bicycle from a lunch spot to my mother’s apartment behind the Walker Art Center. There is a bike path that goes through Worth Park and then onto city streets. My mother gives me a map and tells me I’ll be fine.

I am nervous about biking through the city and especially about riding in traffic. But after a while I get the hang of it and am able to get through the traffic. It’s a beautiful fall day and it is exhilarating to move so quickly down the streets on my own power.

I meet Vincent for lunch at a little cafe. I encourage him to eat something but he seems uneasy, like he needs to get out of there. He says he has to get back to his kids.

Leela

There’s a new girl named Leela. She’s very beautiful and the boys are really into her.

She throws a party at a bar. She sends an old-fashioned paper invitation in the mail.

She has blonde hair, fair skin, and wears bright red lipstick. She sits on a barstool in the middle of the floor.

Attention needs to resume on the freezing point of water in beverages.

I give her Google searches on the subject.

We’re supposed to move, pick up and out of the bar.

Victoria Beckham

Victoria Beckham moves to Los Angeles with her entourage. In the lunchroom, she is shunned and made fun of  by the other women. They won’t let her sit at their table and they talk about her behind her back. I think that she must have behaved terribly when in London and that she is probably just getting payback for that.