THAT DAY

I read The Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah Maas--well, tried. Halfway, it got so gruesome I started skimming. Pain, torture... infected wounds. When I read, I identify deeply with the narrator. Not the time to read this! I lost the summer to Covid and still feel shaky; could trigger a relapse. It's happened before.

I switch to Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires. She moved to New York to be the Times's food critic. Reviewed Asian and Latin places the paper ignored for decades in favor of white Euro food. When she hit chic places, she wore a disguise so she'd see what the average diner faces. Snubbed and mistreated--till they caught on. She changed wigs and personas, as chefs tried to scope out the Evil One's latest disguise. Spy versus Spy! Scathing and funny.

THAT NIGHT

Dream 1: SILKY LIKES HAVING HANDS

I'm trying to explain soccer to Silky, my familiar spirit, who's new to having hands: she was born a talking mare and only learned how to shapeshift to a two-legged form quite recently. Her native body was rather like My Little Pony, not an ordinary horse--she had flexible pawlike pads, not rigid hooves. Not hopelessly clumsy, but human hands are a definite upgrade. "Dexterity's fun!"

Silky likes sports, and plays with me and friends; and soccer makes particular sense to her, since she still thinks in terms of feet not hands.

But she finds it comical that the rules actually FORBID the use of hands, which she calls "humans' greatest convenience." She wants to learn at least one sport that requires dexterity, hinges on hand-use. She says "I'm years behind; I really need finger practice."

DREAM NOTES

• Hunger to learn your new body's powers: in the Sarah Maas book, starved peasant Feyre is hungry to learn to read and better herself. She does. Drastically. The fae lords oppose her. Drastically.
• Shapeshifting: some fae lords can do this. Can Feyre master it? Ruth Reichl did. Though she lost her sense of who she was, under the cosplay.
• Cute talking mares, flexible hoof/paws, dexterity: just before bed I read a My Little Pony fanfic. They use forehooves plus lips and teeth (as do I, now and then. When I think of all the nails and screws I've almost swallowed...) A bit clumsy, but they get by.

Speaking of soccer... in a surprise political move, a soccer team called The Names just collectively took over the Presidency of the United States. A relief for us all. Donald Trump's approval ratings sagged into the twenties, and he's sagged too--puffy, sick, barely coherent any more. But he dug his heels in and just wouldn't quit. In the end, he and Biden were more alike than either is willing to admit!

I'm not sure a sports team can do the job, but Trump, whether it was temperament, choice or Russian blackmail, has proven he can't--or won't. So out with autocrats, in with teamwork and sportsmanship. Good luck to the Names!

DREAM NOTES

• I think this dream's partly literal and predictive: Trump's losing it. So many headwinds to face: old age, illness, dementia, scandal, public resentment, lawsuits. Just a question of time--and the dream felt like the very near future. A year at most.
• Athletes oust a ruling dictator: crazy? But in several South Asian and East African nations, it worked.
• A team, not an individual: Trump's great weakness. He's a boss who rules by fear. He needs yes-men looking only to him; that means he can't build a team. Once those scared of him cooperate, they'll bring him down.
• The Names: a book by Florence Knapp that I read last month. Three time-forks follow the same baby given three different names, with life-and-death consequences. By using that book title, I think my dream's implying The Names aren't a literal team of athletes but a bundle of ways Trump may go--a sheaf of possibilities. Whether by death, medical incapacitation or impeachment, my dreams seem to think he won't last out his term.

But my dreams bet not.

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