I had another dream about older male companions/protectors.

I visit Rands (though it is not really Rands, but some dream-construct in the role of Rands) at a home that in my dream, I accept totally as his, though it is something like a multi-layer, overlarge bunk bed with ladders and platforms that are each the size of a small room. It begins as I perform tasks around and outside the 'house', occasionally climbing ladders to talk to him of one of the other people working or lounging on one of the levels.

My dream subtly alters Rands' house as dream-day passes into dream-evening and the party guests arrive. My inevitability shows up. I am happy to see him there and we spend the next while (time in my dreams is difficult to judge) smooching and lounging around together. Other guests arrive, including Whitney Houston. Here again is my brain's bizarre habit of sticking random celebrities into almost every dream.

Anyway, the party rages on and everyone gets drunker and looser. I do not get drunk. Rands looks less and less like Rands. I think the energy required to maintain one image for a dream-character is too much for my slumbering brain to handle. Unless people are close to me, their faces shift and change. Jamie's face, for example, remained entirely Jamie's face. He is most likely ingrained on my unconscious by now and needs no upkeep to remain Jamie. Rands is not so lucky, and undergoes bizarre changes as the night goes on. His face is altered as well as his hair, which ends up longer than in reality.

By the end of the night, everyone is drunk or asleep. The sun has set and Rands and I are now good friends. We sit companionably with Houston, who reads our fortunes with her Tarot deck.

I wake up contented and happy and wonder the same things I always wonder: Why is it that my own mind goes to such lengths to entertain and please me? And what adventures in Slumberland would I have if I were to sleep for days? Weeks? Would I dream if I died?