Midnight Air Castle

I had one of those dreams that make you feel like you are falling. I am a ninja in my dreams, so I jump like one when I fall back into the world of the conscious. Just as I am figuring out where am I, an unidentified flying object hits me at the side of my head. I come to realize that I am in my room and I identify the projectile as a pillow.

“You are a dork, Gatito.” Yes, my girlfriend calls me “kitten” in Spanish. I call her the Dinosaur Queen, or the Goblin Queen after her taste for dance and shiny things. “Someday you will give me a heart attack.”

She grabs my arm and pulls me back to bed, then she hugs me as if she was a python. I love that crushing feeling, but unfortunately it is difficult to maintain it during a summer night. “I can’t sleep”, I say.

“Can you bring me water then?”. I agree and proceed to walk silently out of the room. I don’t turn on the lights of the hallway in order to not wake up anybody, my parents are asleep in their own room.

I find it awkward to tell my parents that Ana is staying with me at home. I mean, we are both young adults and we are still having a “sleep over” dynamic. They were already living together on their own when they were our age.

As I go down the steps, I imagine how it would be if Ana and I had our own house. It would be a place where I could move about freely during my night-owl sessions. We would have a wide backyard where I could wander while looking at the stars without passers by looking at me like if I was a skin-walker.

I enter the kitchen and pour water in a jug. Ana drinks a lot of water, a glass would not be enough, I may drink some myself. I return to my room, where I find Ana wide awake while watching Facebook videos. “I want a fox”, she hands me her phone, where there is a video of a confused fox trying to dig through a white blanket as if it was snow. “Look how pretty it is.”

“I don’t know, it may be illegal to get a fox as a pet, but maybe we could befriend one if we lived by the woods or near a wildlife rescue centre.” I say.

She opens her eyes as wide as they are and gasps as if I had given her a surprise gift. “Yes! Let’s live by the woods, please!” The mental image makes me smile; we have the same idea about the place where our ideal home would be. There is something about trees that is mesmerizing, I have always thought about them as beautiful creatures. I would like to have trees in our backyard even if we got to live by the woods. I would hang handmade stick charms on their branches.

“I would also love to have a pool.” Ana loves swimming. She can’t be scared away from water, not even by sea snakes. In fact, she got surrounded by sea snakes in Acapulco once. She grabbed one by accident and shouted before throwing it back into the water. She claims that the snake shouted too. Snakes don’t shout, of course, but well, people still have full conversations with their dogs and the inability of the dogs to talk don’t make those conversations any less legitimate. The snake may have shouted on its own snaky way.

“If we live by the woods and we have a pool we may find bears in there during summer,” I tell her, thinking about those internet videos showing wildlife getting into people’s gardens, “what would you do if you found bears in the pool?”

She thinks for a moment while considering the idea. “I don’t know. What would you do?”

“I don’t know. Probably call animal control, or simply shoot a photo.” I start to get into the imagination game. I keep adding parts to the castle in the air. “As long as the bears don’t get into my art workshop or my gym.”

“Well, the bears can exercise in the gym then get refreshed at the pool. After that, they may admire your weird paintings.”

“My weird paintings will disturb them so much that they will leave. We won’t have to call animal control.”

The game keeps on going. Suddenly future me is a painter, a sculptor and a dedicated writer. Future Ana is a great psychologist and an expert flamenco dancer. Looking into the future we see both of us together by the fire of the chimney with mugs of hot coco warming our hands during the winter. We also have someone with a PhD living with us in the house, a grey cat called Doctor Mantequilla —Ana has a talent for pet names— we also have a Shiba Inu called Inunagi.

“And how would we name our children?” Ana asks. I choke on the water I was sipping.

“I don’t know. I think it is too soon to think about that. I will know when the moment comes.”

Ana fixates her big eyes on me. I get nervous not knowing what to say about future children. She reads my mind and smiles playfully at my nervousness. She hugs me as before. “I love you, Gatito.”

“I love you too, my Dinosaur Queen. I love you a lot.”