Little Black Book

Monday, 9 am

„What the heck was that??” I think when I wake up. I often have weird dreams, which is the main reason I started my dream journal. However, this has been the most bizarre dream so far for sure! My extensive notetaking has revealed that my dreams can be categorized as follows: my all-time favorites seem to be the “real-life-smoothies.” I dream about real people or real-life events and remix them into a fascinating new story. Most of the time, these are ok dreams. Nothing scary, and sometimes they are even entertaining. One time, for example, I opened up a zoo with all my favorite animals, and all the zookeepers were basically a high-school reunion of the most random people ever. I know I went to school with these people, but I cannot even remember their names anymore, but we sure had a great time feeding animals together.

Then there are the nightmares. In this “fun” category, I noticed three reoccurring themes. The first one is a classic: Monsters. Here, you have your zombies, vampires, and snakes, obviously. Because snakes are scary as hell. Then there are the dying dreams. They are frightening, but at least I am sure we all know these. The last category, however, is the most terrifying, although they start fine. In these, I meet my father. You see, my father died a couple of years ago, and we were very close. So, it is very nice to see him again and talk to him. There is a problem, though. And the problem is that I am recreating the last time I saw him, which was days before he died by suicide. Unlike in real life, I know in my dream that he will die, and I am trying to convince him not to do it. I know – it is horrible! By far the worst dream ever! These always leave me shook, and it takes a long time until I put myself back together.

And then there is the last category: the weird dreams. Here everything is possible: think unicorns and flying. Today’s dream would probably fall in this last category, but it was WEIRD WEIRD. Alright: I hope you are ready.

It starts with me sitting in my favorite book shop. I LOVE bookshops. I do not even buy that many books, but I love the atmosphere there. I walk through the store and stop here and there. I went there to buy a notebook because I decided to start writing down my dreams. I had hoped to buy a Moleskine, and I know that they usually have a good selection, so I went there. I am obsessed with this brand because it always makes me feel like a novelist when I write in them. I decide to go with the “classic” and take the little black book and go to the cashier. On my way there, I see this big artsy photo book that displays a photo of a beautiful library packed with books. It looks like it is in an old castle and has several floors filled with leather-bound books. I stop and open the book and leaf through the pages. The book portraits the most impressive libraries and book shops from all over the world. In my head, I am thinking: “This is exactly what I was looking for!” because this has always been my dream – a tour de book throughout the world. But before I can buy the book and plan the said trip, I change locations, and I am now in a room, but it is actually a field of flowers. Inside a room. And now I am starting to pick flowers. For no reason at all. After I have picked 20 flowers, I put them into a vase (because duh! Of course, there is a vase in a field of flowers). Then I go home to my house (I do not own a house in real life) and ask my partner if they had let out the elephant yet. ELEPHANT! Just in case you were wondering: Nope, I do not own an elephant, nor did I ever want to have one as a pet. For some reason, I then go into my living room, and instead of my living room, there are just nine black squares in the shape of a big square, and in my dream, I am completely fine with that not wondering at all where my furniture went or why I thought wasting prime living room real estate on nine squares was a good idea.

Next, I find myself on the train next to a woman. It turns out we are best friends and have decided to go on the tour de book. Apparently, we will travel to ten countries, and we will visit 50 (!!!) libraries and bookstores. I am very excited! It turns out that most of these libraries and bookstores are in Europe, and the train we are in is actually driving through the ocean, which I like a lot. I keep telling my new bestie all about how I developed this new route to Europe since I hate flying (and apparently, I am a genius that knows how to overcome physics. I do like this dream-me). Next, I find myself in this beautiful library from the book-cover. It turns out; this is my new living room. I am delighted! I sit in the most comfortable chair you can imagine and read my favorite book. It is the best book I have ever read. Unfortunately. I cannot recognize the title, but the book is gold.

Then my partner walks in and asks me if I have bought a lottery ticket. I did not, which I tell them. However, in my weird dream, I know that I did not forget, but the problem was that I did not have the winning numbers, yet. Apparently, dream-me is friends with the lottery gods and knows the winning numbers. The moment I tell them that my partner turns into an owl – for real: an actual owl (I told you the dream was WEIRD) and tells me in a Yoda-voice: “The numbers you have already.” I mean, for real?! However, dream-me seems to be okay with owl-partner and tells them that of course, I have the numbers, but I am missing the last one, and they say with a straight voice (owl-partner’s voice is their real-life deep voice, by the way…): “What is the answer to all questions?” That is when I wake up.

I told you it was weird! I do not even know what just happened there in my weird brain, but while writing everything down, I also find myself wondering if maybe I should take the dream for what it is and give it a try. I mean, what do I have to lose? So, I end up writing down all the numbers: 20, 1, 9, 10, 50, 42, pack my dream journal, and leave the house.

Monday, 4 pm

I am comparing the numbers one last time with the ones in my Moleskine. They are correct. I cannot describe why but I am feeling so incredibly sure that I will win. This feels SO weird!

…Wish me luck!

Tuesday, 9 am

I cannot believe it – I actually won! I did not win the jackpot, but I did win $20,000!!!!! This does not feel real. I never win anything. How is this possible? Am I medium? Can I see the future? In any case: I am so going to book my plane ticket right now, and you will know where to find me next…!