Mad
I send a co-worker a thank you card and it is returned unopened. She is mad at me about something. Everybody is mad at me about something. A group of students walk up to me and they are all upset. "Kenleigh" accuses me of telling people she had had an abortion. I hadn't told anyone, I didn't even know!
Baby
I want to check on the baby and make sure it is doing okay. I know babies can't survive at this age outside of the womb, so I take my womb out. I hold my uterus in my hand, I don't notice then but I can realize now that it's much smaller than it should be at this stage. I can see and feel the baby moving around in there and I'm glad to know it's okay. I need to put my uterus back in, but I'm not sure how to make sure it goes in the right way. Also, as I stuff it in, I don't want to accidentally squash the baby.
Doctor
I bring Marie, Otis, Michelle, and Anne to a doctor's appointment. Unfortunately, it's a new doctor I wasn't expecting, she reminds me of the scientist from The Girl With All The Gifts. As the others watch on, the new doctor straps a device to my head that flashes images in front of my eyes - or more accurately, inside of my brain no matter where I look. She is measure my response to the images and I realize she is doing an experiment on me. The images because more and more bizarre and she gets a crazy look in her eyes. She is a scary doctor and I want to get out of there ASAP.
Museum Store
I am visiting a museum which showcases donated items sent in by regular people. Some items are put out as display-only (the museum part) and others are put out for sale to fund the museum. I am walking through and I spot a basket of my half-finished knitting projects for sale. I am horrified! Do I have to pay for these to get them back? I don't want them to be for sale! I look at the tag and see a log of when they were donated and I remember donating them. I guess I probably won't finish the projects, maybe it's okay for them to be sold to raise money for the museum.
The museum sprawls out into a historic village in the next town over from where I live (in real life). There is a long row of historical homes and each home is full of items that are for sale, staged to be a lived-in home. Other people are shopping, and some people rent out rooms like a hotel in the homes.
I see Thomas and he tells me that he's bought a warehouse at auction for $833 behind the row of houses. Next to the warehouse is a big church, both are in poor condition. The warehouse had had a fire at one point, but was only partially damaged. Because the building (including contents) has changed hands, a legal proceeding is taking place where all the contents are catalogued and formally transferred over to us. There is a lot of dirty glassware and miscellanea set out to be catalogued, but one item is drawing a lot of attention. There are several partially burnt bales of a very valuable dried red corn seed. The corn was thought to be extinct, and this is the last trove of seed. It has some historical or genetic value that is making everyone very interested. Even with the fire damage, it's thought that this corn will be worth several hundred thousand dollars at least. I'm really proud to be the new steward of the corn, and to have gotten such a good deal on the purchase of the warehouse.
Suddenly, one of the burnt loft boards breaks and corn rains down from the loft - it is in pristine condition and unburnt. Everyone cheers at this discovery.
Eight Amish girls wearing blue dresses walk up in a line towards the corn pile. They are each carrying a large sheaf of stiff, dried pasta noodles that is about 5 feet long and a large, handmade doll. They set the noodles and the dolls along the edge of the corn. The dolls all have "Angel Horns" - two white horns on the top of their head. One doll is carrying a smaller doll that has a "Devil Horn" - one purple horn coming out from the middle of the forehead. The girls perform a ceremony to bless the corn and leave. A man speaks to Thomas and comments at how happy he and his daughter must be. I laugh because the man doesn't realize that I'm his wife. Thomas corrects him and also says that I am the "Most culchie girl he'll ever meet" (culchie is an Irish word for country).
Thomas wants to go celebrate his windfall. I go downstairs in one of the houses where a lot of people are staying to tidy up. I see a lot of trash and broken things sitting around so I start to gather them up to throw away. I realize that the people downstairs are all extremely impoverished, and that I'm trashing the belongings that they use everyday, their only possessions. I gingerly take each item out and set it by the sink to wash and set out for them. I start washing some very chipped and cracked teacups and I want the people to know that I respect them.
Birth
I go to the hospital and they tell me it's time for me to give birth. A lot of thoughts go through my head, but before I know it the baby is out and being fussed over by the nurses. I can tell that it's a big baby. I'm so happy it's okay. The baby has been out for several minutes and I hear one of the nurses refer to "her." I realize that I was so relieved that the baby was okay that I hadn't even wondered the gender. I look down at her and see an apparently two year old girl with blonde curls, blue eyes, dimples, and a big smile. I think she's wonderful and I want to call Thomas to come and see what a lovely daughter we have. In the way that weird things happen in dreams but don't seem weird, she transforms into a large yellow striped cat. I try to hold her under the covers but I don't want to smother her. She is running all over the bed and I wonder how I will be able to get her to hold still to nurse. I also wonder if she'll claw or bite me when she's nursing. Motherhood can be a real challenge!
Stew
I am visiting Ireland and haven't really had time to prepare. I find a friend of someone I met on the plane who will let me stay with them for one night. They are filming a movie and I agree to act in it. We are acting out the scene in Michelle's room and in consists of me stepping out from the closet, pushing someone, and confronting someone else walking in the door. I don't understand the plot and we have to keep filming this scene over and over. It doesn't seem like it's going to be very good, and I'm getting tired of doing it.
The man starts to get handsy and I yelp out for him to stop. The woman tells him to leave me alone. He apologizes and says it's always like this when new people are getting to know each other and establishing their relationship and boundaries. I think it's weird. The woman asks, "Didn't she come here with a baby?" The man says, "Yeah, it's over there." He points to a pile of clothes and an empty bag. (Bear with me, it's getting weird). I reach in and pull out what looks like the back of a phone case full of a mushy substance about the texture and appearance of an over-ripe peach. The substance is breathing - I can hear the breath and see it pulsing with each one. This is my baby - somehow it had gotten "stewed" on the flight. It's still alive and healthy, but it's in this different state of being. There's no way for me to take care of it really, or to be with it, unless I also am stewed. I turn to the man and say, "I want to be stewed. I want you to stew me. If you promise to stew me afterwards you can do whatever you want to me. I just want to be stewed so I can be with my baby."
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