Purple Glasses in Walmart

I heard once that it’s impossible to read in a dream. Reading involves a separate part of the brain than what is active during dreaming, apparently. Last night I dreamt about walking around a Walmart. I strolled through the cereal aisle skimming the shelves with my hand. A box of cheerios crashed to the floor in front of me before I even touched it. My mother used to exclusively buy cheerios. She always insisted they were better for our “growing bodies” than other cereals. I insisted they gave me trauma flashbacks. In the seventh grade my eldest brother and his brute friends force fed me a shoelace that had been soaked in rain that morning; it dried crunchy, and tasted almost like cheerios. Bending down to pick up the box, I noticed a rip in the side. I ripped it all the way open. There was a sketch of dinosaur bones on the inside of the box, scribbled in thick black sharpie. And next to the drawing were instructions... that I could read. This was the moment I knew it was not a dream. It was a vision. There was a dinosaur buried under Walmart and I had to find it.

I biked to the Walmart down the block, and arrived with two scraped knees and a dirt smudged shirt; no tumble would keep me from finding those bones. I walked inside swinging my arms with purpose. With each swing, I became more determined; especially after the swing that took out the old woman turning out of the aisle in front of me. I hit her right in her purple glasses. Her whining propelled me on. “Ohh... my jaw, my jaw has got to be bruised. Owww.” Five more swings and I was in the hardware section. The dream showed me the spot in the store that I would have to break open: the green linoleum tile under the sign for movies. I swung an arm past the hammers and grabbed a nice big metal one. It had purple rubber handle. The same shade as oldie’s glasses. I passed her, still crumpled on the ground, on my way to the movies sign.

“Look,” I exclaimed. “Purple!” I knelt down to grin in her face so she knew I meant it.

Now at the green tile, I prepared to make the first swing. Right as I was about to let the hammer fall a store employee grabbed my arms.

“Sir, you need to leave!”

“The bones are here, I know it.” I explained gently. I needed her to calm down. She was never going to understand in this distressed state. “I have to break the green tile to find them. It’s an Allosaurus. Big one, perfectly intact right under here.” The employee blinked. She seemed at a loss. Maybe it was an inner battle of curiosity and professional obligation I was witnessing.

“I don’t- what?” No, it was just panic.

I sighed. I did nothing to cause her distress. Did she not understand what I said? “I had a vision of an Allosaurus buried here, under this green tile. This is a huge discovery.”

“That’s not green.” Another employee had come to her aid it seemed.

“What? Yes it is.” This new employee was even more dense than his panicked colleague.

“It’s blue, sir. We only have white and blue tiles.” I took another look. Blue. Had it always been blue?

“In what Walmart can I find green tiles?” I smiled politely.

“I don’t know, man. You need to leave now.” I dropped my smile. He was very demanding. Turning on one heel, I marched back towards the store’s exit. I swung my arms all the way to my bike.

I left the purple handle hammer with the panicked girl. I knew I could trust her more than the other employee. He wouldn’t know that the handle matched the woman’s glasses. The panicked girl would be eager to fret over the old woman, she would see her glasses.