last night's dream was like some sorta project for my subconscious

there was this kid
late teens or early twenties
he was some sort of
chosen one
or future superhero
i kept seeing him
almost as a cartoon
in stealth mode
blending into his surroundings

he lived with these old old arabic men
who mostly never talked
they might have been brothers
or they might not
and i'm not really sure how many of them there were
there was a phone call:
happy 50th anniversary
but the wife had left long ago
and he'd never mentioned it to his friend and family
didn't answer them now
just nodded and hung up the phone

another man was being tortured to reveal the location of the kid
first they cut notched doilies from his ears
then they burned him with a red hot poker
then they destroyed his genitals
and when he didn't talk then
they shot him in the head
and the kid was outside watching
his body the starry sky


wow, i said, i need to figure out the back story on the protectors
so i went to the information center
there weren't any computers anymore
the center took it's place
but i didn't really understand how it worked
i went in
there were childcraft yearbook encyclopedias
and other amazing detritus
i sat down
this woman sat down next to me
she started telling me about this magazine she had
it didn't sound like it had anything i could use
but she wanted to sell it bad
she wanted 54 cents
so i gave it to her
and she's all like:
not like that they'll see
but i was not hip, because, like i said, i didn't understand how it worked
they saw
she said:
keep it
and ran out
i started looking around to see how to fix whatever i'd done
the center controlled information
and they'd sell you an article for 6 dollars
copied
you couldn't buy the magazines at any price
they were brought in to the center
by desperate people who would trade them for drugs
or violent criminals who used their collection
as an excuse for their violence
and were rewarded in some way by the center
i walked out
and it was like they could smell the magazine on me
i'm not sure if i made it through alive


there was a further exploration of the world
there was a coffee shop run out of an old victorian row house
and i was discussing business with a customer
i had these popsicle things i thought would be a huge success

there was another part
to do with a restaurant
more like a dining hall
which reminded me of
the macrobiotic center the hare krishnas ran where i'm from
but i can't remember most of it
i remember i found a cafeteria line
at an adjacent building
that had egg custard
which was my favorite dessert as a kid
but there was a bunch of really good information
about how the world worked
that i just can't remember


and then i was running
and screaming
and jumping
because i was so excited
because it was snowing