Dream: George Bush joins the Shakespeare Board

Dream 20020706, 10:50 AM:

George Bush Joins the Shakespeare Board

I’m in a large auditorium. I am sitting in a chair along the wall, as if they have brought in extra seats. There is a woman beside me who takes a red thread out of an embroidered tapestry and uses it to fix a tear in her dress. I have an animal with me – it might be Taco.

Sandra Greenway is here, like a row ahead of me. Someone from the stage announces that she has signed a new contract. She stands up so that everyone can see her, and they clap. I move next to her, and ask her why she signed, if she thinks it’s wise – she’s not quite sure, but thinks it will all be okay. Then, the announcer presents the Queen. She looks more like Barbara Bush, though, with big white hair. She’s wearing a burgundy velvet dress, and being wheeled through the auditorium in a big boat-shaped piece of stage machinery; there is a monkey with her too, dressed in a costume. The boat seems to be made of mahogany, and sharp-fronted, like a longboat or a canoe. There’s also a HUGE snake – it seems like a giant garter snake, all length but not very thick. It is slithering at large through the auditorium, and people don’t seem concerned about it attacking or biting. It is brilliant green, and seems to be orange on the underside, or on the sides. There is some other woman who is related to the Queen; she wears a funny tiara and a fancy dress. Then, the announcer introduces George Bush Sr., who has taken an honorary position on the Shakespeare Board of Directors. That is apparently what this entire event is about.

The Queen is walking around the auditorium now, and I nearly touch her as she walks by. After the show, I stay and help clean up. The Queen is coiling cords from a light, and the snake is running free in the aisles. Someone helps me steer it backstage, and I ask what it goes in. They tell me it goes in a big basket; there are all kinds of tubs and coolers here. I finally find a container that is made for a garden hose, and put a twist of the snake’s belly into it; the snake immediately coils into the container, and I put the lid on it. It seems like it’s totally dormant, just sitting there.

Leaving, I decide to take some drinks with me. There is a cooler with various drinks, and I take two two-liter bottles of the raspberry sparkling water, and then a little case of orange juice concentrate that mixes up with water. I am holding this case of little bottles, trying to figure out how much it takes to mix up with, as I leave and walk down the street. There is someone walking along with me, and he tells me that a girlfriend of his used to work with oranges, and she would sometimes toss a cigarette into a box of oranges if they needed ripening; something about the tobacco made them ripen faster.

Reality Check: After this dream, I felt like I needed to go to the Sammons Center; I got there, to find that the Shakespeare Festival had left the day before without arming the building.