The Dream Thread

[Etude in B Minor]

I was in the hospital a while back for some surgery; not minor, not major, but enough that I had to stay for 2 days in the hospital after the surgery. They gave some painkillers the next day, quite good stuff. I slept like a baby. But as I was being woken up by the doctors doing their rounds, I had the weirdest dream. Not at all like a normal dream. I felt like I was a living TV set switching rapidly through channels trying to find the right one. All of these scenes were flashing quickly one after the other. Some were beautiful, some were scary, some very quite alien. I didn't spend much time in each one, just a fraction of a second so I didn't get any details, just impressions. Finally I reached the one corresponding to my current life, where I was lying in the hospital bed, and the flashing between the scenes just stopped. Like a roulette wheel coming to a stop. My perception of the world felt very strange, like it wasn't real. It wasn't until the doctor spoke and said my name that I started to feel normal.

I am sure the strangeness was entirely due to the painkillers, but it was quite interesting nonetheless.