I have extremely vivid dreams. They are so strong and detailed that some nights I feel as I’ve gotten no sleep as either a participant or observer of these dreams. When they get to a certain point I have to take Ativan before bed to keep them from waking me in full panic attack mode. It’s been a challenge at times, but whereas a common reaction to, “Let me tell you the dream I had!” is a groan, people I regularly share with can’t wait to hear the next installment of whatever my brain has concocted.

One may think having a book related dream might be rather mundane. You forgot to bring your book to class, you are in the biggest bookstore ever and can’t choose a book, or you get lost in the library stacks.

It starts off that I am at some sort of technology/weird kitschy item expo. As I look around at the booths, one being a company offering business cards and wallets made out of strange materials, a woman approaches me. She kind of looks like Judy King from Orange is the New Black. She asks me if I like to read and if so to come over to her booth on the other side of the aisle. I cross over where she has a sort of lounge chair, almost like a dentist’s chair but more comfortable set up. As I sit, she begins to explain that her product is a collection of short stories. As you read each story you chew a special piece of gum. The gum brings certain tastes and smells as you progress in your reading. I can’t recall any of the specific tastes, but I know that I remember something woodsy and dirt-like. When I got to the second story the woman brought me a cup of very weird rooty tea. On the surface of the tea was foam that was in the shape of small Runt candy like bananas. I had to drink it in order to get to the piece of gum floating around inside.

And that is it. I woke up from this Willy Wonka madness wishing I could invent such a book companion. I suppose for now I will stick with my beer pairings until we level up to Wonka’s vision. As we all know, his gum didn’t have all the kinks worked out yet.