Teeth

The dream was that his teeth were connected to a circuit board, which slid up into his palate and connected to contacts in his sinuses and were then relayed through the magic circuitry into his psyche. He tugged the loose tooth, loosening the one on either side with it, they were connected. He then courageously slid the board down, looked at it in the mirror, and then calmly slid it back up to where it should be.

He woke up and his teeth were where they should be. Tight and fast. Good. Where was he. Oh, the basement. There were legends of floods, but the floor was mighty dry. It was a fantastic morning, but he could only see out the little frame of a window at the ceiling. He flung the sheet aside and touched the floor with his feet. It was cold, that floor.

Clothes, he would need. There were some! Over there! Jumping up and down, he proved the "one leg at a time" proverb all wrong. "Alright then" he mumbled. Outside of the door, there were steps. He climbed them into the realm of the albino olympist and the biology student. They were nowhere to be seen. It was safe. The sink looked dangerous and he avoided it, but he needed water and a mirror. The floor was covered in a film he would do well to also avoid, but there was no convenient method presenting itself. Jack just touched as little as he could of the floor. The bathroom mirror showed him his regular teeth. There was not his toothbrush, but there were paper towels on top of the toilet that he could use. And so he did.

Outside was a minefield of dogshit. He navigated it as fast as he could, taunting error. The tennis court was a clean smooth sheet. The next challenge was the cliffs of bamboo. There were ravenous animals that could leap out at you if you slowed. No dog dared to shit on the cliffs of bamboo.

*Pop* and cool, usual strides on the street. They could be watching, after all. There were fences in the yards, but he knew that the train tracks left a path for those who needed to cross them. The young would not be defeated by little fences. It made him think of the Berlin wall, snowleg, and ultimately the Stasi. "Shh!" he calmed himself. The sports fields were empty. They were mostly devoid of animal poop, and he was young enough to be a student. All clear.

Soon enough, he were on Main St. to the right, Main St. ended over and down and past things he didn't need to see right now. To the left was a high wall on the bank and then further a cafe where folks with money ate. He walked calmly past the cafe.

"Hey! Where are you going, itsy!?" "Uhm, nowhere?" "Sit down!" "Ok."

He found himself in his orange soccer shirt at a table. No money. "What will you have?" "Water. With ice?"

Mario bought him a coffee and asked if there was anything else he wanted. "No, I think I'm Ok." Jim Tunis spun around in his seat. Jack looked up at the sky. Everything swam. The dialogue was random and antagonistic. It became easier and laughing. Everyone seemed drunk on spring air. They cited their associations and until they were dead and pinned down and on display, like butterflies in a museum, they were too wild to catch. It was like the dead took a holiday and let the living breathe.

Jack said, "I had a dream about my teeth last night. I wonder what it means."

Mario smiled and said, "Ut oh. What happened?"

"Well, some were loose. Does that mean anything?"

"Well, sometimes teeth represent control over things."

"What things?"

"Well, your life."

"Yeah, well I slid the teeth down and then I saw that they were connected to a circuit board and then I slid them back up. What does that mean?"

"Ask yourself."

Itsy touched his crazy teeth. They were there. What could he use them for? Cutting fishing line, biting ice, flicking with his tongue, smiling. Well, they were still there. He decided he was ok then.

"Ok then."