A Dream

Last night I had a dream that both amused and frightened me.

I didn't see the dream through my own eyes. It was watching a movie about myself. I was a published author, elementary school teacher, and mother.

The dream started in my sons Kindergarten classroom. It was show and tell day, and the kids all sat in a circle on the floor. The teacher sat on a bean bag chair, and beside her was another been bag chair. A little boy named Jimmy was finishing his turn, and my son was next. (For some reason, everyone in the dream except my son had a name) Jimmy went and sat in the circle. My son got up and sat in the bean bag and held up a book. The cover was blueish and had grey writing across the top that said Erin Bohte.

"My mommy's a writer and she wrote this book!" my son said with big wide eyes. He held the book out at arms length, between his two hands. It looks silly and large in his small hands. Perhaps that was just distortion from the dream.

Jimmy, the little boy who had been before my son, stood up. "Your mom doesn't write books! She's just a teacher! That's not her name!"

"It's a pseudonym!" my son shouted back.

A little girl gasped. "That's a bad word!" and she slapped her hand over her mouth.

The kids all looked up to the teacher, who pursed her lips in a smile, as if she were trying not to laugh. After a moment she shook her head, and got up

The dream then shifts to outside my sons classroom. Instead I'm watching myself in my own classroom. The phone on the teachers desk rings, and I go over to pick it up. On the other end is my sons teacher. She wants me to take him home. She talked to the principal and they decided to suspend him.The school doesn't tolerate things like that.

"What did he do?" I ask.
"He used the word pseudonym."
"But that's not a bad word."
"Well he's a kindergartner."
"I'm sorry, Ms. Burke," I say "I'm not sure what you're getting at."
"Well you see, the other kids think that he insulted them."
"Then explain to them that he didn't. Pseudonym is just another word for pen name."
"I know what it is. But the children do not. Even if he didn't mean to insult them, he did. At the very least he insulted their intelligence by using such a big word."
"You're suspending my kid for being smart."
"No no. We're suspending him for insulting his classmates."
"Well why do I have to take him home? Can't he take the unicorn?"
"Does he know how to ride it?"
"He sure does."
"Maybe he should be in 8th grade."

And from there the dream dissolved into nonsense. I think my son DID end up riding a unicorn home.

I'm tickled by the idea of being a writer/teacher/mother. Even more if my kids are proud of my books. I think the idea of kids riding home on a unicorn is pretty amazing.

The thought of a child being suspended for being smart is frightening though. I remember getting told off for things like that in early grades, but I don't think I was ever actually punished for it.

Anyways, thought you might find the dream a little interesting. I sure did.