Newbery Comes With Healing Powers

So last week, after celebrating St. Bridget’s day with some lovely mashed potatoes and a hot bath, I went to bed feeling better than fine. Then I had this total action dream which was going along pretty good — I like some drama in my dreams and I always appreciate a nice plot twist or two.

BUT THEN I got stabbed in the head with a sword and woke up with the worst headache of my life. A horrible pulsating migraine that no painkiller could touch causing extreme nausea and vomiting and making my very-happy-outlook-on-life turn to please-put-me-in-front-of-a-moving-bus. Anything to make it stop.

Went to sleep that night STILL with the headache. Had more of a situation comedy type dream with people sitting around chatting.

In walks Neil Gaiman and he calmly goes about curing my headache. I woke up and Voila! the headache was gone. I know this sounds crazy, but I can’t argue with the power the Newbery bestows on authors. THEY CAN CURE HEADACHES IN YOUR DREAMS!

Unfortunately, it turns out that the headache was just a side effect of the stomach flu and not vice versa so the rest of the week was not fun. But the headache never came back.

So that was the most crazy part of last week, but then on Sunday, the start of this week and me starting to feel 100% healthy, crazy went to a whole new level.

It was laundry day (see previous post to find out all about my new relationship with laundromats). We loaded up the car, headed over to the laundromat, and got going. We are now old pros at this and have a system down. We got everything going, waited for it to finish washing, popped it in the dryer. Then we had some time on our hands and up comes the dilemma. Do we just leave our stuff and grab the two essential elements at the grocery store down the street so that we can make mock lamb curry when we get home or do we watch over the laundry JUST IN CASE? The level of crazy to normal people in the place was pretty decent. There was only one obviously crazy laundry guy and he appeared to just enjoy shouting and growling loudly. Who can blame him? And really, who would want to steal our laundry? We aren’t washing anything all that spectacular at the laundromat.

So we left. It took us a good ten minutes to pick up the seitan and fresh ginger root at Food Front.

Then we headed back to the laundromat. As we got closer, we noticed something odd. Fire trucks were wizzzing by, but they didn’t keep going. They stopped RIGHT ABOUT WHERE THE LAUNDROMAT WAS. Where there were already several fire engines. photo

I thought, well, maybe it’s the church next door. Someone probably snuck in and started smoking and “foom!” the bibles started on fire.

We got closer. It wasn’t the church.

It was our laundromat. Everyone who had previously been in the laundromat with us was now out on the street. We went up to someone to find out what was going on. It turned out that one of the girls had reached into the dryer to get her clothes and they had started on fire. With billowing flames etc.

Ergo the fire trucks. Meanwhile our laundry is still in there tumbling around in a different dryer and absorbing a bit of a smoky flavor.

I hope no one notices.

Need to get back to making soup and reading Graceling. I’m so happy to be eating again! I’d forgotten how fun it was.

Bridget

3 replies on “Newbery Comes With Healing Powers”

  1. A big “Gah!” to the stomach flu and the laundromat fire. But can I tell you, ever since the Newberys, Neil Gaiman has been showing up in my dreams, too. Last night in my dream, after reluctantly agreeing to play the substitute rat in a play (see Ellen Tebbits), I walked with my husband to a pub. The proprietor said, “I’m just going over to take a beer to Neil Gaiman. He loves this particular brew.” I said, “Can you tell him I said hello?” (Because in a previous dream, Neil and I had had an extensive conversation.) The proprietor said, “Come say hello yourself.” I was surprised to see Neil without a crowd around him. My husband and I chatted with him for a few minutes, and then went on our way, right before the alarm sounded.

    Last night, we were attending a Dan Zanes concert, and Dan Zanes gave my husband a glass of whisky. What’s with the beer and whisky in my dreams?

    I had meant to celebrate St. Bridgit’s Day and Candlemas, but by the end of the day, it had totally slipped my mind. The snowdrops are coming up, though! They are Candlemas Bells.

  2. I know, Terika! I can’t imagine being in the laundromat and seeing flames coming out of the dryer! It was odd enough seeing the firetrucks outside.
    Farida, that is SO crazy! Maybe Neil Gaiman has picked up the ability to walk through people’s dreams since winning the Newbery. I didn’t know that about snowdrops. I’ll have to keep an eye out for some in the neighborhood! I try to keep up with St. Bridget’s day even if it’s just lighting some extra candles for dinner and eating something white and sun-like. I want to keep on good terms with my patron saint. 🙂

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