Your Dreams

He asked me ‘where do your dreams take place?’. It was the first time I’d spoken to anyone in some time. He didn’t wait for an answer though and had left before I responded. His departure hardly mattered though the question was still interesting. What were dreams? His question implied that I had them. ‘Was a dream another word for an observation?’ I wondered. My observations took place in a small region about 26 kpc containing about 500 billion points of interest. I’d observed only one or two of them when I was asked that question; I’ve observed more since. The question made me think of one point in particular though. I’m actually not sure if it was a real point in the system. It was a point I visited when I was off duty. Often when I lay in my bunk resting between weekend activities. This particular point would drift into my mind. I never bothered to check its location. I actually didn’t realize that it was the same location until I had observed it a few times. But now I was sure, it was something special. If indeed it was anything at all. Without checking its location I could not be sure it was a true point; I couldn’t seperate it from something my mind may have just invented to entertain me. I wouldn’t get compenstated for the time I spent observing this special point if I didn’t make official reports about it, but I didn’t care. After having been asked that question ‘where do your dreams take place?’ I decided I’d call these unofficial observations “dreams”; this special point that I didn’t know the true nature of where I spent quite weekend afternoons lost in its simple complexity; this point would be where my dreams took place. So now I had an answer to the question, but I never saw that person again. I told myself if I ever met another person I’d repeat the question to them: ‘where do your dreams take place?’