(Trevor lies on a couch, while behind him Mary sits in a chair taking notes. She is wearing a suit and glasses. Her hair is in a bun held together with a pencil.)<\/p>\n
MARY
How are you feeling today, Trevor?<\/p>\n
TREVOR
I’m okay. A little sluggish. Didn’t get a good night’s sleep.<\/p>\n
MARY
Yes?<\/p>\n
TREVOR
Restless. My dreams were too vivid, I think. Probably shouldn’t have had that burrito before bed.<\/p>\n
MARY
Tell me about the burrito.<\/p>\n
TREVOR
You don’t want to hear about the dreams?<\/p>\n
MARY
I haven’t had breakfast yet. (BEAT) And sometimes a burrito is just a burrito.<\/p>\n
(They both chuckle at her bad joke.)<\/p>\n
Alright. Tell me about your dreams.<\/p>\n
TREVOR
They started out like they always do. I was thirteen and mowing the lawn. It’s July and I’m working up quite a sweat. Now, our yard was pretty small, maybe a quarter-acre of grass to mow, but in my dream it’s this huge expanse. It’s at least three, four acres. And it feels like I’m pushing uphill in both directions.<\/p>\n
MARY
(Furiously scribbling notes) Mmmhmm…<\/p>\n
TREVOR
I keep thinking I’m going to run out of gas and need to fill up the tank, but it keeps going. Engine sputters a few times, but it just keeps running. The sun’s beating down and I’m sweating a ton.<\/p>\n
MARY
What are you wearing?<\/p>\n
TREVOR
Wearing? I guess I’m in shorts. I’ve never thought about…no, wait…I’m wearing my uniform from my first job.<\/p>\n
MARY
What job is that?<\/p>\n
TREVOR
I was the guy in the El Pollo Loco costume who held the sign down by the road. Terrible job. I lasted a month. I think that was a record. That costume smelled like cigarettes and puke.<\/p>\n
MARY
So you’re mowing the lawn in the costume. Do you have on the chicken head?<\/p>\n
TREVOR
No. Just the rest of it. The feet are huge, too.<\/p>\n
MARY
(More energetic notetaking) Mmmm…<\/p>\n
TREVOR
And then suddenly, I find myself lying by a pool.<\/p>\n
MARY
Are you alone?<\/p>\n
TREVOR
My mother’s there, feeding me grapes. It’s kind of weird.<\/p>\n
MARY
Are you still in your costume?<\/p>\n
TREVOR
No. I’m in swim trunks. And you’re there, too, painting my toenails.<\/p>\n
MARY
(Notes) I’m there? Hmm. What are your mother and I wearing?<\/p>\n
TREVOR
She’s in one of those old-timey swimsuits. You’re dressed like you are now. Suit, hair up, glasses.<\/p>\n
MARY
Very interesting —<\/p>\n
TREVOR
— I love you, Mary.<\/p>\n
MARY
No, no, no. You’re just projecting your feelings onto me.<\/p>\n
TREVOR
No, Mary, really I do.<\/p>\n
MARY
(More notes) Mmmhmm. (BEAT) Tell me more about your mother. How does it make you feel when she feeds you these grapes.<\/p>\n
TREVOR
I guess it makes me feel good. I was hot and thirsty, and the grapes are cool and moist in my mouth.<\/p>\n
MARY
And what do you think the grapes represent?<\/p>\n
TREVOR
Represent? I don’t know.<\/p>\n
MARY
Okay, we’ll get back to that. Let’s move on to something else. Last time you said you were having some performance issues. How is that going?<\/p>\n
TREVOR
I, I just can’t get excited anymore.<\/p>\n
MARY
Does anything excite you? Any fantasies?<\/p>\n
TREVOR
Um, this is kind of hard to say…<\/p>\n
MARY
This is a safe place, Trevor. You can say anything in here.<\/p>\n
TREVOR
When I woke up from the dream I was pretty excited.<\/p>\n
(Mary flips pages, she’s taking so many notes now. Her pencil breaks and she pulls the one out of her hair to continue unabated. Her hair falls around her shoulders.)<\/p>\n
MARY
I think we’re about to have a breakthrough–<\/p>\n
(The door opens and Sally, a teenage girl, comes in.)<\/p>\n
SALLY
Mom? There’s a call for you from the hospital. Something about seizures, or something? One of your patients.<\/p>\n
MARY
(Getting up) Thanks, Sally.<\/p>\n
SALLY
Dad? Can I borrow the car tonight?<\/p>\n
BLACKOUT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Trevor lies on a couch, while behind him Mary sits in a chair taking notes. She is wearing a suit and glasses. Her hair is in a bun held together with a pencil.) MARYHow are you feeling today, Trevor? TREVORI’m okay. A little sluggish. Didn’t get a good night’s sleep. MARYYes? TREVORRestless. My dreams were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[99,155,182,236],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sketches","tag-humor","tag-psychiatry","tag-sketch-war","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}