cimorene

I had another nightmare last night, but this one wasn't the wake up screaming kind; it was more of an anxiety nightmare, and not too severe. In this nightmare I was accompanied by the lovely

pierydys! I've known her for several years, but I think it's the first time she's made a guest appearance in my dreams. (Then again, I've never met

astolat or

phosfate in person at all and that didn't stop me from dreaming about them taking over the world, or driving me away from the scene of a crime on their motorcycle, respectively.)

Wax and I were meeting

pierydys and her fiancé Tommy for a picnic, and had to take shelter from the rain in a giant picnic shelter, where I was surprised to find a corkboard containing flyers advertising

pierydys's babysitting skills with several phone number tags missing. "Oh yes, I've gotten several regular babysitting customers that way!" she chirped. "Maybe you could come along next time!"

The next thing I knew, she and I were alone with a Finnish toddler who didn't speak English, so neither one of us could really communicate with him, in a house somewhere in Dream Town (a recurring dream setting). We walked from a very un-Finnish house with a carport located vaguely near the Student Village towards the intervening recurring dream neighborhood that contains the house I grew up in, and eventually wound up at the river. The river is much bigger in Dream Town than it is in real Turku, and there's a lot more urban development along its banks. A number of foot bridges go over it, but they're much bigger and longer and there are a few flights of metal stairs going up to them first, like an exaggerated version of those footpaths that cross highways.

pierydys and I walked with the crowds across one of the foot bridges and walked around a bit in the remarkably un-Finnish dry prairie-like landscape on the other side of the river, but then the Finnish toddler got tired and started crying. And lost one of his shoes. So we decided to go back, and that's when our problems started, because we kept getting lost on the way to the foot bridges. There were three of them in sight (not terribly unusual in RL Turku, btw), but we kept wandering around and around in circles, taking different footpaths and never coming out at a bridge. When we finally found one, we suddenly noticed that it was under construction and we couldn't cross it after all. We finally decided in desperation that our only option for getting back across the river were the little ferry boats run by a marine biology museum (totally fictional, btw, but it's a recurring dream location in Dream Town and I only ever have nightmares at it). The boats are actually just meant to be part of a tour that takes you from a landing on one side of the river to the museum on the other and back, once you've paid to see the museum, but

pierydys was optimistic about our chances of sneaking in, or perhaps reasoning with the boat attendant.

We were taking turns carrying the Finnish toddler piggyback. Luckily he didn't weigh anything in the dream.

pierydys slipped under the ropes on the sides of the walkway and into the museum's little building on the riverbank to check out the lay of the land while I lurked as inconspicuously as possible with the child, who had for some reason turned upside-down on my back and every time I looked over my shoulder, I saw his feet and had to glance down to spot his grinning face next to my ass. (???) The boat was about to leave and

pierydys got swept up in the crowd! I started climbing around in desperation, worried that she'd get carried across the river without us, but I couldn't spot her head of lovely black hair among the passengers. Then, thank Gaga, my phone rang. She was inside and didn't think she could get back out because of the way the person-flow was set up, but she thought it should be as easy for us to get in as it had been for her. I mounted the stairs with the toddler on my back, taking a deep breath. I had almost made it to safety inside when I was intercepted by a museum employee! She asked if she could help me, which is my most feared question from a customer service person. My mind went blank in panic. I hadn't thought of anything! In my confusion, I blurted "How much does it cost to cross the river? Is it two euros - or two-fifty... or was it five? I couldn't remember for sure." She told me it was five and then stared expectantly. I started sweating and said that I didn't know if I had the money actually, so I'd better check. She seemed to be looking even more curious, and I felt compelled to explain myself somehow and started babbling about just wanting to cross the river, really, and thinking about them because I'd been to the museum before. "There's the foot bridges over there," she said in that condescending way people have of pointing out signs and other features that are completely obvious to anyone with eyes. Then I caught sight of

pierydys over her shoulder staring in horror at my predicament.

Then I woke up. We never got across the river. :(