Today at lunch

We talked about the storm last night. It woke up a number of people, but not me. There was a loud crack at one point, and a tree was struck by lightning, but far away from here.

I don't know how they did it so quickly

But someone made a movie of my dream. Garland's been busy for the past few days. Now that Sergeant Tanner is gone, and Kelly is upset, he's offered to help her by sitting for the painting she started of Sergeant Tanner before he left. She was doing it from the top down, and she'd only painted as far as the hair, so you won't be able to tell, although Garland's hair is longer than Sergeant Tanner's.

A.W.I.A. 22: More Back

I had seen almost nothing of the facility by which I was being contained. I was in the hall that ended behinded me and continued ahead, and I was doing the thought experiment I was telling you about.

It was like this: If I was not a prisoner, I did not have to reenter the room with the man who claimed to be a doctor. But maybe I was being led to believe I was not a prisoner so that I would trust him, and actually, his net was just too big to feel like a net yet? Eventually, I would swim into the ropes. But, because I did this thought experiment, I quickly saw the only way to continue to imagine that I was not a prisoner was to avoid seeking proof of my freedom.

I decided to reenter the room. The man who claimed to be a doctor was sitting at the table where I'd left him, trying to look like he'd been doing that the whole time. Fair enough.

"Hello," he told me.
I did not see how this could be a trap. "Hello," I said back, after due consideration.
The man sighed. "Why don't you and I just level with each other?"

"Have you not leveled with me?" I asked. I was frankly surprised he'd give so much away so quickly, but could only assume it meant he was hiding more than I'd imagined.

"Maybe," said the man who claimed to be a doctor.