Prairie Home's New Kid Companion

We have to move again this month. My first-trimester nausea has given way to second-trimester puking. And I'm pushing my book manuscript along like an ant behind an 18-wheeler.

So, yes, my normally active dream life has exploded into something far more unpredictable and exhausting. I don't so much have REM cycles as I have whole REM nights. (That's why the yoga mat I keep in my office now sees fewer down dogs than cat naps.)

Dreams now come in prodigious, 360-degree sweeps. Most are classic anxiety dreams, but steeped in too many real-life people and details to offer the comfort or insights of distorting dream symptoms. Which is why I was so grateful for the little bit of comedy that sneaked in the other night.

Early Thursday a.m., I dreamed that New Kid on the Hallway was the featured guest on Garrison Keillor's radio show. My first reaction was, "Wow! Garrison Keillor must read New Kid!" Then I worried that New Kid would be forced to give up her anonymity. But no, I reasoned, it was a radio show. So the only people who would see her face were those in the live audience.

But it turns out that New Kid and Garrison had worked out an even better solution. The dream cut to the Prairie Home Companion stage in St. Paul. Garrison and New Kid were sharing a microphone, swapping jokes. But New Kid remained completely hidden, because she was wearing a refrigerator box.

I was mentally congratulating New Kid for her brilliance, when the refrigerator box suddenly lifted a few inches from the floor. Suddenly visible were New Kid's feet, clad in red patent-leather tap shoes. The feet began a skillful dance. A microphone leaned in closer to record the sound.

The audience and I cheered the surprise dance performance. And I had to wipe tears from my cheeks, so happy and amazed was I at New Kid's success.