In my final dream of the morning, I’m at a minor league baseball stadium with Paul Di Filippo. We’re not paying much attention to the game itself as we sit in the bleachers, though, entertaining ourselves more by eating stadium food and drinking our bottled water than we are with what’s happening on the field. In fact, as I get up to head over to a nearby snack bar to restock us, I never even notice that a foul ball is heading our way. It bounces once against an empty seat and lands right in my hand, surprising me. The crowd reminds me to hold it high over my head to claim it. As I do, I can hear a small boy cry out, “That was supposed to be my ball!”

I walk down to the bottom of the bleachers, and the player who had hit the ball comes over to autograph it. I look at the ball as I hand it over, and it’s nothing like an official baseball. (I know this because in real life I once caught one and had it signed by Cal Ripken, Jr.) Instead, it seems solid rubber, is green, and has already been signed by others many times before.

As the player, who turns out to be nicknamed Sparky, signs the ball, we joke, but he tells me to keep it clean since we’re being picked up by live television. While we banter, I’m thinking that perhaps I might turn the ball over to the child who’d bawled about wanting it, but then the player asks my name, and autographs the souvenir to me directly, which kills that idea.

When Sparky is done, and I go to shake his hand, he refuses. It takes me a moment to realize that he’s fearful I might crush his throwing hand.

I head back toward my seat, and to Paul. I have to climb through an area suddenly filled with Goth kids who hadn’t been there before. They’re dressed completely in black, and to complete the picture, they seem to be only eating black food, such as chocolate cupcakes. There’s an army of them there, so many that I never do make it back to Paul, instead waking as I navigate them.

I think I’ve pointed this out before, but considering the number of dreams I’ve shared over the past year (which you can find by clicking the “dreams” tag below), I should probably repeat the following. You might think from the fact that the dreams I share all have to do with comic books, science fiction, or other forms of literature that my dream-life is very narrow and circumscribed, but that’s far from the truth. I actually have a very active subconscious. I usually dream 4-6 times per night, so you’re only getting to hear a fraction of them, as I try to share only those which seem appropriate for my audience here.

After all, you wouldn’t want me to get NSFW, would you?