Two Short Dreams: Stranger Chainsaws and the Raining Garage

1.

In some version of our backyard in Paris. One of my sisters had invited a weirdo over, and he was obsessing about a tree that was growing crookedly in the neighbor's yard. He wanted to cut it down. Against my pleas, my sister gave this wartyish guy Dad’s chainsaw. He reached over the fence with the chainsaw, sawing at the tree and it crashed down against the neighbor's house. In a frenzy, the dude began to cut at the fence with the chainsaw, slobbering, whipping it around like it was plastic toy, until my sister knocked him in the head and it whipped out of his hands backward at me, falling just inches from my feet.



2.

I’m in a huge, empty garage. Everything inside has been packed up by my family and put in a van to move. They did this while I was sleeping, and nobody tried to wake me up to ask me to help, and I feel guilty. It’s raining in the garage, and there are puddles of gasoline scattered all around. I am alone except for a toddler boy wearing a raincoat, and a car with its headlights pointed in my direction. I’m supposed to be watching the kid. I think he’s my brother. His name is Aggie. A beautiful woman I love in the dream is behind the wheel and her mother-in-law is in the passenger seat. They are both watching me quietly. The toddler runs all around the wet garage, laughing and slipping on the concrete. It’s very dangerous. I dart towards him, carrying both a lighter and an enormous iPhone. The kid runs in front of me, so I grab for him, which throws the lighter and phone in an arc to land in a puddle of gasoline. I slip in the rain, falling, and the back of the poor toddler’s head smacks gruesomely against the concrete. He cries pitifully as I search the back of his head for blood, but I’m also distracted by searching for my phone and seeing that my lighter has ignited several puddles of gasoline. The woman in the car switches on her brights and starts the engine. The toddler starts to sob and shout, both cute and horrifying, “AGGIE DEAD! AGGIE DEAD!”
The fire grows brighter.
“AGGIE DEAD! AGGIE DEAD! AGGIE DEAD!”