Me And Tyrone Know Karate

Last night I slept the short bitter sleep of a man too dumb to know he's exhausted. In this sleep I had three dreams, all involving people I know.

The first dream took place in an enormous city...completely inside an even larger building. Think skyscrapers inside shopping malls and maybe you'll come close. Inside this massive city I came upon a woman in distress, turns out I know this woman. So I offer her a ride, and off we go, zipping down the streets of the indoor city. We run upon several guys I've known and they're all impressed to see me with this woman, even though I assure them it's nothing, that I'm simply giving her a ride. We get where we're going (some sick little restaurant) and we run into a man she says she knows. Within minutes we're all seated together and the waiter (who I recognize) is bringing us wine. I take my wallet out to show him my ID and realize that the wallet is empty. Suddenly the man the woman knows has everything in my wallet, and is claiming to be me. And the woman is confirming it. I'm enraged. It begins to rain outside. I beat him to death with my bare hands and drag the woman and waiter out the door into the streets...

The next dream starts and I'm in a snowy parking lot with a guy I know and this younger girl. We go to get in my car and there's someone else behind the wheel. We get in the car anyway, and this man begins to get on my nerves so I lock him in the trunk and the three of us who remain begin to head to the girl's house to drop her off. But I don't know where she lives and she's beginning to feel awkward which means I have to get her home quicker, so I start making turns and the next thing I know we're no longer driving, the three of us are walking down a dark empty street...

And the last dream begins. I'm alone in the snow. It's dark and I'm cold. Everything hurts. And then I hear her. She's singing. My angel. That angel. The one who watched over my old dreams. The one who kept me safe when I couldn't do it myself. And it's kind of strange because it's not the sort of dream she shows up in, and the other dreams from this night have all involved people I know. She's not even real. But then she is, because she's not the angel anymore, she's someone else. And then again. And again. But the cold has gone away and for a second I feel that everything is alright. The world begins to spin and when it stops I'm alone again...but now it doesn't hurt anymore.

And I kept a little of those dreams throughout the day with me. So when I got stuck driving at 2:00 on this miserable afternoon it didn't really bother me. In fact there were even a few things which made me smile.

I'm driving these four little boys from Paterson home, and the seven year old with the big mouth who insists on calling me "The Boss" starts jawing at another kid, I interrupt and he turns his attention towards me.

Me: Keep it down little guy.
D'andre: Little guy? Little guy? I'll come up there and bust you in the mouth calling me little guy.
Me: Take it easy.
D'andre: I'll fuck you up. Me and Tyrone know karate. (pronounced Kuh-RA-tey)
(At this point Tyrone [who is all of six] goes off)
Tyrone: Nah! Now I know your ass didn't just bring me into this shit.
D'andre: But we know karate Tyrone, kuh-ra-tey.
Tyrone: Fuck that shit, do you see the size of that nigga?
D'andre: Pssshh. Shit.

I laugh the rest of the way home.

But it's dark now. Last night's dreams and this afternoon's laughter can only go so far.

It's time to see what tonight holds.