Joe or Jo?

Dreams intrigue me. I don’t know what they mean, and I don’t try to seek meaning; but they do amuse and entertain and scare me, so I respect them.

Are dreams just my brain cranking out random thoughts? Are they coded messages from my subconscious? I tend to believe more the former than the latter.

I’ve begun trying to write down my dreams while they’re still fresh in my mind. The longer I wait to capture them, the more elusive they become. So welcome to my dreams. If you are a guest in them, don’t be alarmed–I’m just reporting here, not making any analyses or assumptions. If it doesn’t make any sense, or ends abruptly–it’s a dream, dammit!

The dream: I try to call my old friend Joe on the telephone. [In real life, I haven’t seen Joe for over 30 years or more, but I’ve been in touch over the years by phone and email and the internet.  He is currently a Literature professor at a college.]  I dial his office number, but am puzzled to have it answered by a female voice.

“Hi, is Joe there?” I ask with uncertainty.

“No, she’s not here. Would you like to leave a message?”

She? What the hell? I’m positive that was Joe’s office number I dialed.

“Um, sure, tell her to call Chris Hertzog back when she gets in.”

“All right, I’ll do that. Thank you.”

The woman hangs up, and I’m left holding the receiver, trying to puzzle out my old friend Joe’s sudden change in gender. The only thing that makes any sense at all is that Joe had a sex change operation. But wait, I checked his–I mean her–Facebook page the other day, and Joe was married to a woman.

So–the only possible answer is that Joe had a sex change operation, even though he was attracted to women, because he (she?) was really a lesbian. Problem solved.