Dream of: 05 March 1996 "Turtle In The Sink"
Walking into the upstairs bathroom of the Gay Street House, carrying a Mad magazine in my hand, I was surprised by what I saw. The bathroom was crammed full of all sorts of junk. A old couch was even sitting along the wall where the window was at the end of the bathroom. Seeing all the junk, I suddenly remembered that a man was living here in the bathroom. I recalled that he was a heavy slovenly man (about 40 years old).
Looking over the junk piled all around, I noticed some stacks of magazines, and saw that some of them were Mad magazines. I saw one stack of magazines which I at first thought were Playboys, and I wanted to look through them. But then I saw that they were actually some kind of car magazines and I left them alone.
Looking at another stack, I began flipping through the magazines in the stack and found five or six copies of the same issue of Mad magazine. The magazines had bright yellow covers with the word "Mad" written in red. I thought since the fellow had so many of the same issue, he might not miss it if one were gone; I might just take one. But then I decided not to, afraid that he might know exactly how many issues he had.
I thought I heard someone coming outside. Only then did I realize I wasn't wearing any pants and was naked from the waist down. I thought I should just sit down on the commode and if he came in, I would just act as if I were using the commode and reading my Mad magazine. But it was a false alarm and no one came in, so I continued looking around. I noticed that some pairs of pants were lying around on the floor, and I recognized that some of them were mine, especially one gray pair of Dockers. I also noticed that a small gas heater had been left on in the room and a pair of pants was lying right in front of the heater where it could catch fire. I quickly pulled the pants away. But I knew that wasn't enough. This was dangerous and the fellow must not be allowed to leave a heater on that way.
Having put on some pants, I walked out into the hallway to the top of the stairs. I looked down the stairs and saw my mother standing at the bottom. She looked as if she were only in her 30s. I called down to her and told her to come up. I wanted her to see how the stove had been left on in the bathroom.
***
I left the bathroom and went outside. But outside it didn't look like the Gay Street House, but seemed more like the upstairs apartment over a garage. Once outside, I realized I had locked myself out. I could see my car parked down on the street, and I thought that somehow the locks of the car were connected to the locks of the apartment, so if I unlocked the car, I would be able to get back in the apartment.
But before I could do that, an Hispanic-looking boy (about 12 years old) walked up onto the porch where I was. I was surprised as I watched him open the door. When I asked him who he was, he told me a man was letting him keep an animal in the sink in the apartment. I thought he must be keeping a turtle in the sink. I wondered how many other people had a key to the apartment.
