I have a nighttime talent that goes beyond sleep and sex: I awaken whenever dreams go awry with malicious, malevolent content. Seriously. The nightmares are  infrequent, thank goodness, for the villains are vibrantly real, the faces fully recognizable – and, if I ever meet these people in life, I will run like the devil. Especially if the blond acne-faced man looms nearby, conniving into my graces as he was in the dream sequence. Or the walls of the rooms are painted such as those we were in.

The nightmare interruptions, when I come ‘up, up, and away’ awake, are usually transient. I turn my head on my pillow and return to sweet sleep. Last night I remained awake until my mind was clean and clear from the wicked smarmy intentions. It took about 20 minutes.

I enjoy an other wordly protection from evil in dreams. I wish I could do that in life. Sometimes I feel as beleaguered as poor Alice in Wonderland. People and places are not always what they seem and there are no lines to read between, few time outs to figure out, let alone alter, the plot. God protect me from the sociopath next door, down the street, and especially the one across the country.