Dearest Rachel –
The trouble with summer is that, once the sun is up, and its light floods the bedroom, it’s all but impossible to stay asleep, no matter how hard I try (or how late I was up). I don’t honestly know how you managed to sleep so long in the morning, surrounded by so much light, but as for myself, I’m lying in bed at barely a quarter to six, wondering what to do with the next couple of hours before I need to be at the men’s Bible study (which, now that I remember, is going to be at a local pancake house – it’s the first Saturday of the month, after all, so we just get together to eat and talk).
And it’s not as if I’m particularly hungry yet, either; last night (or really, yesterday afternoon, as we started getting together by three) we managed to pick Kerstin up (Erin actually ran to catch up with us, eventually) and head to a pleasant hole-in-the-wall Japanese place for ramen and sushi. I won’t say I’m still full, as such, but I’m still quite satisfied – not to mention several pounds over 250 again. I swear, I know I couldn’t have eaten that much since I weighed myself last morning – and I’m also aware that merely existing burns a surprisingly large number of calories, so why am I four pounds heavier literally overnight?
But since there’s little else to tell you about, and it’s still early enough that it hasn’t yet had the chance to dissipate, I might as well tell you about last night’s dream. You were there, although you didn’t have a speaking role – in fact I can’t say I remember any of the dialogue throughout the entire plot, such as there was.
It seems we were attending the wedding for your friend Jessica and her husband Mike. And yes, I know that, in real life they were married (at least, by common law standards) some time before the pandemic, let alone your departure, but to be sure, I don’t recall that they bothered with a ceremony at the time, so maybe this was their opportunity to rectify that situation. Not that dreams really have to have that much logic to them, of course. Anyway…
What made this of particular interest (especially for you), was that for some reason, it was to take place aboard the TARDIS. Yes, the Doctor’s time and space machine. I don’t know how they managed that; I don’t even recall them being particularly into the show (and even if they were, no one could be more into it than you were – at least that I know of; the fans at that one convention we went to were generally as much, if not more so). But then again, dreams aren’t required to be logical. For my part, I was busy just trying to find a dress shirt that still fit me, and a bow tie (because that’s what several of the Doctors had worn at various occasions, so I figured I’d need one to, not blend in, as such – that would have been too much to hope for – as much as just to be dressed appropriately). I’m afraid I don’t remember what you were wearing, so concerned was I about assembling my own ensemble (and being slightly concerned about whether the Doctor would be annoyed it I were to subconsciously grab the lapels of my jacket, much as his original incarnation was known to do, and which I even caught myself doing in real life at the wedding I attended in real life just a couple weeks ago).
How we got to the destination – and whether it even qualifies as a destination when it moves about in space and time as it does – I’ll never know. I’m pretty sure we did see the two of them there, but once inside, we all got pretty lost. The TARDIS is pretty near infinite in size, once you get past the control room at the entrance (and that’s already considerably larger than the exterior, as most first-time visitors are compelled to point out); if there’s a wedding chapel in there, it wouldn’t surprise me, but I doubt it would be easy to find, as it hasn’t shown up in nearly sixty years.
At some point, I was relying on you to lead me about the place, and see if we could find Jessica and Mike, who had gone on ahead. But again, you know how dreams are – this didn’t manage to resolve itself. In fact, somewhere along the way, I think I may have managed to lose you as you ran ahead. But it dissolved into early morning daylight before I had any chance to get distressed about that fact.
So… yeah. Quite the way to start the day, no?
Anyway, I may actually have more to talk to you about later on; I’ll do what I can, but the same busyness that prompts me to write you tends to me the reason I don’t have time to. In either case, keep an eye on me, and wish me luck; I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 