Too big for my boots
This was another dream about being in school. I was in a small classroom and was being taught by my old primary school teacher, Mrs. Jones. She looked exactly as I last remember her more than fifteen years ago. There were around ten or fifteen people in the class and I was older than all of them. They were all being really disruptive, making noise and wreaking havoc, as children do sometimes. I was feeling frustrated that they wouldn’t settle down. The girl in front of me was incessantly tapping a market pen on her desk.
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap. It was making me angry, and so I took the marker pen I had in my hand and made a clear, small red cross on her white shirt where here right shoulder blade was and made a stabbing motion with my pen towards the cross. She didn’t react, and I thought that she had noticed me but just refused to say anything about it.
She was Melony, from The Cider House Rules by John Irving, which is the book I am presently reading. I couldn’t see her face, and I think her presence may be to do with my curiosity regarding what she would look like in real life. While reading the novel I’ve been trying to imagine her appearance. I think she is one of the most interesting characters in the book, primarily because she is portrayed as being ugly, and she makes no attempt to hide this, yet she still has this sexual prowess. She doesn’t give a damn about anyone or anything, except Homer Wells.
Back to my dream, and the class began to settle down once the teacher gave everyone a mathematical problem to do on the white board. I didn’t involve myself in the problem solving, but I was annoyed that between all of them, they couldn’t solve it. I watched them wrestling with the numbers until they eventually came up with the answer ‘0%’. How could that be right? I thought to myself.
I got up from my chair as they all turned to me, and working the sum out in my head while walking towards them, I took my pen and wrote ‘10%’ on the board, which was, of course, correct.
There are so many elements in this dream that it’s difficult to know where to begin. Firstly, Melony’s presence may come from a kind of admiration I have for her, although she isn’t someone I would want to be friends with. I’d probably be scared of her. I can’t think what my marking her can mean, or why I would want to stab her. It could be that I don’t want her to find Homer Wells (I haven’t finished the book yet). I imagine that Homer doesn’t want to be found by Melony either.
The equation on the board was the only thing that calmed everyone down, and only I could solve it, but it was so easy for me. In my life at the moment, I have been thinking a lot that my work is not testing me, and that it’s becoming a little too easy. I have a lot of freelance work, and while it pays quite well, it’s not difficult. Could that be the connection? That I feel like I am too old for the class that symbolises my current situation? And what of Melony tapping her pen? I have a feeling she represents a friend of mine, but I won’t go into that here. And 10%? I’ll have to give that some more thought.
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