I dreamed my friend Kerri and I were in a fabric store. We were planning on making hourglass hijabs to wear as we watched the rising of Rigel, the end star in Ursa Major, which would be peaking over the horizon to the far north tonight. I wanted to buy a very special fabric for the floor-length head cover, and I saw so many beautiful patterns. There was a deep blueish-gray silk with fans and flowers embroidered on it in shades of red from dark crimson to bright cherry to a pink that was almost white. There was a light synthetic patterned in geometric splashes of black and gold and deep green. There were colors of the rainbow in every weight and texture.
I finally settled on a very special bolt that was printed with blue sky above a desertscape in gold and rust and sage green, with silken fringe along the bottom, threaded through polished oak beads. I thought it might be too long, since I'm not that tall, but I knew I could trim the long fringe. But when the proprietress brought it down and began to unwind the three yards I needed, we could see that beneath the first wrapped layer, the top edge of blue sky had been eaten away by moths or time. I was very disappointed, because it was really that blue sky that did it for me.
So Kerri and I went with some pinstriped navy lightweight denim, with broad bands of navy ribbon and lace for the ties and trimming. The proprietress offered to also make the hijabs for us, if we'd wait, so we decided to do that. While I was waiting, I went to examine a selection of fantasy steampunk ready-made outfits. There were corsets and cloaks and dresses and tunics. I found and fell in love with a heavy hooded cloak in silvery blue-gray silk-wool blend. I thought about buying it, but I was already spending more than I really wanted to on the hijab, so I let it be.
I left the fabric store because I had somewhere I needed to be. Kerri said she'd keep waiting, and we'd meet up later. I went to my high school gym just in time for a volleyball game with some of the folks I'd gone to school with. I did fine as long as I was serving and playing in the back court, but when I rotated up front, I couldn't hit anything to save my life. Eventually, I rotated out and set to work sewing letter and number patches onto my friends' jackets. I'd cut the patches myself, out of felt, and they looked very professional. Another guy I'd gone to school with came in, and the patches on his shoulders looked like they'd been a kindergarten class project. They were also pale peachy-orange, instead of the deep, bright orange they were supposed to be. I offered to redo them for him, but he said, maybe later, and went down to the gym floor with the rest.
They'd taken the volleyball net away, and were rehearsing for a sort of performance. Some of the guys were doing acrobatic flips across the floor, some of the men and women had formed a hip hop dance troop, and one guy was playing this coordination game with a group of women where he waved his hands in intricate patterns, and they had to try to anticipate his motions and stay as in sync with him as they could.
I finished my patching and left the jackets in a neat stack, because it was time to meet up with Erik and Kerri and the boys. Kerri waved me over to one of the turrets that stood at each corner of the gym, with circular stairs that lead up to each level of the stands, and some abandoned hotel rooms along the top. The door was very low. We always called them hobbit doors. I crept through, then started up the stairs. I met them up in the top room, and asked if there was a restroom up here, because I needed to go before we headed out. Kerri smiled ruefully, and said no, the restroom was back at the bottom, so we'd stop there on our way out. We all began circling back down the stairs, and then I woke up.
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