I often have conflict dreams where I struggle like that, Senoufou. And I often have dreams where I am being petty, dreams where I have flashes of anger- like when I squeezed that young woman's nose. I swear I have never done that in real life, never even thought of such a thing!

Another thing that bemuses me: I often create people that I have never known. For instance, in last night's dream, those four women, as solid and distinctive and with their own personalities as they were, not one of them reminded me of anyone I have ever known.

The same is true of the animals that I create. In last night's dream there was a young, small, brown dog, probably a Chihuahua mix, that was happily jumping and running around. At one point I said, Does one of you have this dog? And the woman, the most assertive one of them, the one who announced to me that they were going to stay in the house, was the one who had brought the pup.