My Life and Dreams

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Dreamtime

February 27 2016- 1987 Again

I was sitting on the couch in my living room reading the TV Guide one moment and the next I was in the basement of our old apartment. I was sitting on the bean bag chair made of blue jean type material. A music magazine was in my hands.

The page that I was looking at had an article about John Taylor on it. The picture of him was very nice. He looked as he did in Duran Duran’s Notorious album days. I was so happy to see this.

My outfit was different in this reality. I was wearing the gray top with geometric designs and belt with Chic jeans like I used to have. Mom would usually get me that brand and PS Gitano from Bradlees, the department store that she worked at.

I was sort of jealous of my classmates who had the more expensive designer brands like Jordache, Sassoon, Gloria Vanderbilt, Calvin Klein, and Sergio Valente.

It was odd that my bedroom was not in the cellar. I saw my Teddy bear calendar on the wall- it was April 1987. By then, my room had been down there for about a year and 9 months.

My brother’s room was here though. My parent’s had built it in 1982, I think. We used to have to share the big bedroom upstairs.

This section of the cellar was still as it had been before that, including the tan carpet. The brown paneling was a part of the décor for as long as I could remember and remained there as part of my room.

The bean bag chair was placed in the center. I remember it mostly being up in the sitting room, which was formerly my bedroom.

The blue couch was up against the wall with the end table next to it. My small, black Panasonic boom box was on that table.

The big wooden stereo/TV cabinet was there too. It was in our living room in the 1970s. Sliding doors were on the front of this. The television was in the center and on top of it was the turntable underneath a cover. I can’t remember if the stereo had AM/FM.

The compartment for records was next to the TV. Mostly, my parent’s albums- Johnny Cash, Elvis, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Christmas ones by various artists-were in it. A few of my brother’s and my Disney records- It’s A Small World, Mary Poppins, and The Best of Disney – were too. We still have all of these.

I loved having a furnished basement. The one that we have in our current apartment is pretty creepy. I hate even going down there to do the laundry.

Was I home alone? So far, it seemed that way. But then I heard someone coming down the stairs. When I looked over at the staircase, I saw my Ginger pup. I was extremely happy to see her.

Ginger was such a good and beautiful doggie. She was a terrier mix. I think that she might have had some Shetland sheepdog in her too. She looked somewhat like the famous dog Benji.

I sat up on the couch and Ginger jumped up next to me. I gave her a big hug and she licked my cheek. It was wonderful that she was still alive in this fantasy world. Dad had her put to sleep in November of 1986 in reality.

I will always be mad at him for this. He never even had the vet find out what was making her so sick. It might have just been an infection that meds could have cured.

I petted her and told her how much that I love her. She would always comfort me whenever I was feeling sad. I hope that I get to see her again in the afterlife.

The radio magically came on then. I heard Casey Kasem talking; his “America’s Top 40” was on. The next song was Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer”.

I wasn’t even into that group back then but did have a poster of Jon on the wall. I had won it at a ring toss game down the shore. I thought that he was kind of cute which is why I kept it and put it there.

My interest in Bon Jovi wasn’t until 2000 and lasted about 11 years. It was never as intense as the Duran Duran one though. Is it weird that I wasn’t a big fan of either until many years later than my classmates?

I went over to the cabinets that our grandfather had built into the wall. We kept our games, Tupperware, and other items in there. As I was about to open one of them, the scenery began to fade. It was disappointing that I didn’t get to remain in the alien holodeck for any longer but I was glad that I did have a bit of time with my sweet doggie.