Ellen Burstyn on my way to Kathy Bates

In the dream, Ellen Burstyn had very short hair from the 70’s, like Jonathan Rhys Meyers playing a faux David Bowie in the Todd Haynes film Velvet Goldmine. But Ellen was sexier because Ellen is sexier. Ellen was standing waist deep in water in the middle of a living room. It was nighttime and there was a fire in the background in the fireplace but we could see through it into the kitchen, where a glass bowl full of fat strawberries sat on the counter. Kathy Bates walked into the frame and started cutting the strawberries up and I watched her pop a few into her mouth. She turned and looked at me through the fire and gave me a warm smile, the kind that makes me feel seen and appreciated, the kind I know no one else in the room has noticed except for us, the kind that makes me want to kiss the person giving it to me immediately, because it is so genuine, generous, that I must move fast and seal it with a kiss, because joy requires it.

As I waded near Ellen Burstyn to get to Kathy Bates mouth, I noticed her colorful gauze smock floating on the surface of the water and I thought to myself in the dream, “like Ophelia”. Ellen’s fingertips grazed my leg beneath the water as I passed and I swore I heard her say, “Same time next year.”