My wife has incredible recall when it comes to her dreams. She has very lucid dreams, and she can retell them in great detail. It is one of her many attributes that I admire. I am lucky if I can remember one dream a year. As luck would have it, that dream came to me over the long Forth of July weekend.
My dream featured our newest pet dog Jacquline. In my dream Jacquline had some condition that required the removal of her skullcap. I evidently was talented in the removal of Chihuahua skullcaps, because I performed the operation. The procedure was a success, and Jacquline happily romped around our dream house with the top of her brain exposed.
It’s strange how things that would be just horribly wrong in the real world seem the norm in a dream world, and as such it didn’t seem strange at all that this little dog was scampering around with her brain showing. It didn't even seem odd that her brain cavity resembled the inside of an eggshell that had been cut in half the long way, and that her brain was no larger than a small marble. It was even a little amusing to watch her run along with this little brain wiggling around in her eggshell braincase whenever she moved.
Then tragedy struck.
As my wife and I engaged in some dream conversation, Jacquline came up to us and started to paw at my wife’s leg. My wife exclaimed, “There’s something wrong with my baby!” I looked down, and there was Jacquline in the throes of what looked like a grand mal seizure. I picked her up, and realized her brain was missing! Immediately I knew that our cat, Thalia, had chased Jacquline down, and had had her brain for an afternoon snack. As I stood there with her in my arms, apologizing to her for removing her skullcap and knowing she was going to die, I woke up.
I was filled with a feeling of relief knowing that Jacquline was sleeping peacefully next to me, skullcap safely in place. Yet I was a little miffed that I couldn’t dream of some other topic like, oh, I don’t know, total world domination or omniscience or something along those lines. But no, I have to be the guy that removes Chihuahua's skullcaps so that Siamese cats can feast on their brains.