i only retain some snapshots of a convoluted dream i was dreaming an hour ago.
i and some other patients decided to escape from the hospital, because we wanted pizza. in reality, escape from the hospital would be trivial – take an elevator to the lobby and walk out. anyone in a position to wonder would assume a purposeful movement of patients was authorized by someone else, because as ive noted, patients have wide autonomy here.
in the dream, escaping was harder. we had to bribe some nurses. mostly it was me, mr cho, mr park (who checked out the other day) and a few other nameless but friendly people with whom im on a nodding-in-the-hall basis. we had to sneak onto an elevator.
having gotten out through the main lobby amid a slapstick chase of screaming nurses and IV-stand acrobatics we met my entire HSTEPS class in some bushes in front of the hospital. jaehwan had a car, and yeonju and seosumin had disguises for us.
“oh, now pizza!” mr cho declaimed with his gentle, laconic voice.
but instead, we ended up meeting a russian submarine at the imjin river. i had other friends meeting me on board, including people from my gradeschool years, like jeannine and tammy.
oddly, professor lopez from the university of pennsylvania was there in russian uniform. “no sabia que eras capitan de la marina rusa,” i said to him.
“veras muchas cosas insolitas de mi,” he observed in his precise castillian accent. his eyes sparkled and he straightened his glasses. jeannine became obsessed with making us escapees comfortable, while professor lopez gave a tour of the submarine to our 9th grade accomplices. somehow jaehwan turned out to have learned spanish (something hes always saying he wants to do). that was good since lopez was refusing to speak english.
jeannine became frustrated with the condition of the blankets she found. she opened a hatch onto a wall of water, tossed the blankets through nonchalantly, and slammed the hatch shut again – it was like a cartoon, with a frozen, lingering image of a surprised fish getting slapped by a discarded blanket.
“lets forget that and watch tv.” the tv offered only a selection of korean historical dramas. mr park was pleased.
i woke up and got myself my now standard “pre-breakfast” of fruit and yogurt without andrews help – he seemed too happy to be sleeping through the sunrise.