the anti-me

Although I've suspected that my brain may be atrophying due to the nature of my job and the company I am surrounded by, surprised me last night in my sleep.
I of course began my dream at work because I had just left there in my waking life. It was the same and lame as always but for one small/huge detail. There was now a Jagerator(awesome machine that dispenses jagermeister) in the far corner of the meat dept near the door where the customers cannot see. We were all there late because we had to clean up the dept to make way for our new addition and in doing so, we also had to be subjected to a long lecture from the boss about how the Jagerator was something that we did not have free reign over. We would have to ask his permission each time we wanted a sip from it. I have no idea what other purpose this thing was supposed to serve other than to torture us because the little cups that we were to have our "sips" from were the size of a tablespoon. As I stood there pondering this and all the many ways around it, my boss finished his monologue and stepped out the door with a wave of his hand which I guess was to imply that he was leaving. The moment the door shut behind him, Cowboy(the oldest man I work with) said,"BAH, FUCK IT" and got out his coffee mug and started pouring. we all sheepishly followed suit and proceeded to get twisted. eventually I decided that I wanted to leave but could not drive so Maggie and her boyfriend Phill offered me a ride because Maggie was not drunk. She happened to have a pickup truck in which I got to ride in the back, feeling the breeze on my face and in my hair. I felt drunk and happy even though my house seemed as though it was really far away in a very hilly neighborhood that did not really look familiar but my dream mind assured me that the drunkenness was the thing skewing my knowledge of reality. The neighborhood was full of mansions and I was happy to think that I was rich but then Maggie finally pulled into the one driveway that accompanied the smallest house on the block. the house was a brown seventies style one story track home with an odd, carport/porch with a buzzing, dingy, yellow light that I could see the bugs swarming around lazily. I jumped out of the back of the truck and swerved toward the door, Maggie and Phill following me. I went through the way of the carport and found myself in an old brown and yellow kitchen where I opened the beige fridge only to find not much of anything but a can of budweiser and some limp carrots. I slammed the door and walked out into the living room where there was a man that I did not recognize stretched out on a lazy boy snoring as the TV blared an infomercial about Ginsu knives. I walked down the hall toward the room at the end that had a light on and hardcore music growling from behind the cracked door. I pushed open the door as Phill and Maggie stopped in the hallway about 3 ft back, lingering uncomfortably as if they knew what I would find.
within the room there was a four poster bed with a wizened little black woman lounging in it, her old fashioned nightgown hitched up to her waist, her offwhite baggy, holey underwear bunched up, showing the harsh shape of her pelvis underneath as she held a black little baby around six months old that was fat as hell across her stomach and cradled it with her left arm. Beside her was a little dirty redneck looking white kid huddled under a a brown, scratchy looking blanket with one hand stretching out and over, holding onto the fat babies ankle. The music was still deafening yet I could hear them discussing the effect that the screaming may have on the baby. I turned away in embarrassment ushering my awkwardly hovering friends into what seemed to be my room.
Nothing in the room was really familiar. It was all ALMOST familiar but just fell short of anything I really recognized. There was a single bed against the far wall, a little to the right and covered with a dingy white afghan that was littered with stuffed animals. next to the bed was the kind of nightstand I had when I was a little girl but slightly different. It was classic seventies, with the white wood and gold edging and each drawer was decorated with a fancy little handle that had carved little angel faces in it. on top of the nightstand was a boombox that was little and pink with unicorn and butterfly stickers on it. I knew something was not right so I told Maggie and Phill to sit down while I found some clothes to change into so we could leave. the room was awkward and small with a dirty dark pink and white shag rug that they sunk down to while sitting as close as possible as though they were apprehensive about something. maybe they were picking it up from me? or maybe it was just something strange in the air of the house. I made my way to the closet to the left of the door and could still hear the screaming metal from down the hall and now what seemed to be a small child screeching. I began to search through the closet that suddenly looked just like my closet from the room I grew up in but none of the clothes made any sense. they were all floral prints in pinks, blues, yellows and mauves yet...they were the exact cut of each article of clothing I actually own in real life. even the shoes were mostly the same but all the wrong colors and sizes. at this point I spotted a beige art portfolio on the top shelf of the closet and thought that I should look into it and make sure that my art was still intact. I opened it and lots of brightly colored papers filled with butterflies and hearts and big bright shapes of nothing in particular floated to the ground. amidst them was a passport. I opened it and some photographs fell out and I picked them up and upon looking at them realized that they must be of my oldest daughter but she was an adult so I was even more confused at this point. It was then that i decided to look at the passport. The passport belonged to Barbara Martinez. She looked just like my daughter and her birthday was August 14 1987. Suddenly it all made sense. I walked into the wrong house. This was Barbaras room. not Briana. an honest mistake I guess. My face grew red as I turned to my friends and told them what had happened. you know what they said? "Oh yeah, we were wondering if that was what had happened!" as though this were a normal occurrence?
the subconscious is a strange thing.