The Real F/U

Finally late yesterday afternoon a guy came to hang the picture and fix the file cabinet. After he hung the picture he said he’d have to go look for a part for the file cabinet and said I’d have to move some of the files in the top drawer so he could get to what needed fixing. So I began shifting files down to drawers below. The top two drawers are packed full, a sign that the journal is receiving many submissions, which is a good thing. However, when I pulled out the top drawer—you can see what’s coming here. The whole cabinet began to fall top over at me. I almost caught it, but didn’t. All that was on top of the cabinet—foot-high stack of papers, gallon of water, box of Grape Nuts, two boxes of tea, bag of dried plums, plastic bowl, framed picture of my brother, mug my brother gave me—came crashing. I yelped and the woman in the office next door came running.

She helped me put the heavy drawers back in the cabinet. Coincidentally, this woman had appeared in my dream the night before, which I had told her in the morning. (She had appeared in a dream once before, which I didn’t tell her about.)

The Dream: I was flying a small plane. I had watched Mark do it and figured I could do it. I did well, but I wasn’t secure with the details of landing. I wobbled a lot and could see the crew below could see I was a new pilot. I felt a little embarrassed. Nonetheless, I landed it. Turned out that even if I had been an expert, I couldn’t have landed right because a wrong part was on the plane, which the crew pointed out to me. So I did as they suggested and Shin came with me to the car dealership so I could get the right part. This is where I saw the woman from next door to my office. We both smiled and exclaimed, "I can’t believe I’m seeing you here!"

In the end, as with most things—it was pretty funny. Everyone seemed concerned about little me almost being pinned between the file cabinet and the door. I wish after the first brief flash of concern that they’d seen the humor.

Here’s to going home from work today! Last night’s bellyache caused insomnia and now my right eye is swollen with tired and allergy. I’m a pirate in a skirt. Furthermore, technology is against me today. Damn terrorists, evildoers, toothy dogs, rabid spit.

By the way, thanks to Jeremy, Arab Strap plays all day here at the office of abominable snowmen and good-hearted leprechauns.