Friday Prose Prompt
Ah, it's Friday again! And it's also the cusp of a three-day weekend for me. Because of MLK day. And inspired by that, I'd like you to write a short piece (let's say between 100-500 words) that begins with:
"I [have/had] a dream..."
“I had a dream last night,” I said to Becky. “It was so weird. If I tell you about it, can you psychoanalyze it for me?”
“I can try,” she said. “What was it this time?”
“Okay, see, I was at work. I knew it was work, but it wasn’t, you know? Like, the buildings were different, and my office was different, but the people were mostly the same and I just knew it was work. And we’re leaving, right, and my boss has left early - he usually tries to sneak out a few minutes early, you know - and we catch up with him in the parking garage. I know, I know, we don’t have a parking garage, but we did in my dream. Except now the outside of the building really is the building, and the parking garage is just where the side parking lot is. So, anyway, like I was saying, we get out to the garage - the second floor, I think it was - and he’s just standing there behind his car. Oh, he was driving a big red pickup, too. Which in itself is weird. But, anyway, we can’t see why he’s just standing there until we come around the edge of the cars, and we see this giant lump black fur. It’s behind his truck, actually, now it’s a van, I don’t know how that happened, anyway, and the truck - I mean, van - is running. I remember that. And he looks up and says, ‘I backed into it, I didn’t mean to.’ We get closer and I can see it’s a giant gorilla. It’s just lying there, looking peaceful, and there’s no blood around or anything. And we all look at each other and do the ‘You touch it!’ ‘No, you touch it!’ routine, and then I woke up.” I took a deep breath and looked expectantly at her. She was silent, so I went on. “I mean, I’m totally sure it means something, you know how weird things have been at work and I think it might be trying to tell me something…”
She looked back at me levelly for a moment and said slowly, “You know, sometimes a dead gorilla in an imaginary parking garage is just a dead gorilla in an imaginary parking garage…”
*Note: the author of this piece does not actually put any stock in the interpretation of dreams.
"I [have/had] a dream..."
“I had a dream last night,” I said to Becky. “It was so weird. If I tell you about it, can you psychoanalyze it for me?”
“I can try,” she said. “What was it this time?”
“Okay, see, I was at work. I knew it was work, but it wasn’t, you know? Like, the buildings were different, and my office was different, but the people were mostly the same and I just knew it was work. And we’re leaving, right, and my boss has left early - he usually tries to sneak out a few minutes early, you know - and we catch up with him in the parking garage. I know, I know, we don’t have a parking garage, but we did in my dream. Except now the outside of the building really is the building, and the parking garage is just where the side parking lot is. So, anyway, like I was saying, we get out to the garage - the second floor, I think it was - and he’s just standing there behind his car. Oh, he was driving a big red pickup, too. Which in itself is weird. But, anyway, we can’t see why he’s just standing there until we come around the edge of the cars, and we see this giant lump black fur. It’s behind his truck, actually, now it’s a van, I don’t know how that happened, anyway, and the truck - I mean, van - is running. I remember that. And he looks up and says, ‘I backed into it, I didn’t mean to.’ We get closer and I can see it’s a giant gorilla. It’s just lying there, looking peaceful, and there’s no blood around or anything. And we all look at each other and do the ‘You touch it!’ ‘No, you touch it!’ routine, and then I woke up.” I took a deep breath and looked expectantly at her. She was silent, so I went on. “I mean, I’m totally sure it means something, you know how weird things have been at work and I think it might be trying to tell me something…”
She looked back at me levelly for a moment and said slowly, “You know, sometimes a dead gorilla in an imaginary parking garage is just a dead gorilla in an imaginary parking garage…”
*Note: the author of this piece does not actually put any stock in the interpretation of dreams.