Interesting dream last night. Actually, there've been a few of them in the past several days. There was a great one last… I dunno. Saturday, I guess. Time sucks. In the dream (which took place in the daytime as a result of a late night of computer frustration), I was home. The particulars escape me now, but Zelda was there. There was some disapproval on her part concerning the way we (my family) handled meals. I think I was preparing dinner for my mother and Zelda was thinking I was doing it poorly. But despite this negative aspect, we were interacting, and, as in real life, this was enough to lift my spirits.
As with all dreams, I woke up. Very disappointed in leaving this (home and Zelda), I experienced no encouragement by the cafeteria, who had chosen to treat this Saturday like all other weekends by presenting us with food just good enough to be presentable (by cafeteria standards).
Right, then; let's cover this morning's dream. In memory the scenes are a little disjointed; first we'll see the movie theater. I was in the leftmost seat of my row (that is, it was the first seat to the right of the aisle), and someone I know was sitting to my right. It was very dark in the theater. At some point, someone came in and sat on my right thigh. Of course, I was a bit surprised by this. I then saw that it was Alice Anderson, a girl from my high school class, and was a bit relieved - had it been a stranger I'm not sure what I'd do (I might have been mistaken for someone else): it would have been awkward. As it was Alice, someone I know, it was a little weird but not particularly disconcerting. Her position was, however, uncomfortable, and I tried to shift her toward one that didn't place quite all her weight on one point of my right thigh. Apparently, this was uncomfortable for her, and she shifted back. I allowed her to stay. After a while, though, my discomfort became pain, and I again tried to find a new position for her. She ended up in a reclining position, laying across my lap with her back on my left arm and her feet someplace off to the right over my armrest (I suppose at this point the dream discarded my neighbor). She was pleased by this and declared it to be better than either of the previous attempts. Even in the dream I realized that this position I was practically embracing her, and so psychologically I was a bit uncomfortable. The other uncomfortable aspect was that her rear was pressing against my groin, and though I've never been particularly attracted to Alice, she is not at all unattractive and certainly a cute little female. I began to - er - respond, in a physical sense. Of course, I didn't want her to realize this, so I shifted her a little more to give myself a little more space. If she'd felt anything, or otherwise known why I made the shift, she didn't let on. If her former position had been relaxed, her new one was moreso, and she was now even more "lying in my arms". An interesting element here is that if dream-figment people have thoughts - which, incidentally, would be *really* interesting - hers may have been that I was trying to get her into that position so that I was holding her - to become more intimate. My real reasons, compared to this, are a little ironic.
The next scene in memory is in my room. She is there, as well, and she is going to be in town for the summer. I might add, here, that "in town" is Longview. In the previous scene (the movie theater), I remember contemplating a relationship with Alice briefly before recalling that she does have a boyfriend. Now I find that she will be sharing a city with me for the next few months. I cannot help but think about her being away from her boyfriend. Apparently, she can't, either, and somehow she asks me if I would like us to be together for the summer. Now, I know this paints her character as being rather shallow, but please remember that the casual aspects of a male-female pseudo-relationship have been in my mind recently and are most likely manifesting themselves here. I somewhat awkwardly reply that this would be my first experience with this, but that if she is interested in it, so am I.
This next scene does not include Alice. Alan, Ben, and I are in downtown Longview for some reason, walking back to campus. Actually, as I think of it, we are coming back after eating out at a Chinese restaurant. Funny, that. Well, anyhow, we happen upon an alley behind a pizza parlor, littered with old pizza boxes. There are rats in them, eating leftover pizza. Our investigation of the boxes (and rats) frightens a particularly large rat, who hurriedly leaves. I see this, and call out, "R.O.U.S.! R.O.U.S.!" (there is a scene in _The_ Princess_ Bride_ in which the protagonists are threatened by ROUS's, or Rodents of Unusual Size). This checks the rodent, who turns back and gives me a queer look. "You know of us?" he asks, and when I tell him that I knew some of his people from the swamplands he becomes friendly. We talk some. Alan and Ben have gone on and are about to cross a highway. It seems the ROUS's in the city have found it rather a bad environment. Their numbers are diminishing, and now there are only 12 or so left.