Tales From The Town #229: Laundrette Dreams

Yulia uses the laundrette as a source of divination. Sit and stare into the swirl of soap and socks and see a glimpse of what’s to come. It might not be as accurate as tarot cards or tea leaves, but it’s more satisfying somehow. An hour removed from everyday existence, an excuse to think, a chance to dream, an opportunity to plan.

Her main worry is what she’ll do when this place closes down. It just wouldn’t be the same sitting on the kitchen floor watching the washing at home. Everyone would say she’d gone mad.

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Notes:

1. Written January 12th (or maybe January 13th), 2026

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Tales From The Town #186: Dreams Of Animals

On the night of the 31st August, 2024, at exactly 1:23 am, the occupants of the house all simultaneously dreamt dreams that involved animals entering and/or occupying their home.

Agnes dreamt of autumnal dogs sleeping by the fire.
Ethel dreamt of cats and where in the house to find them.
Tina dreamt of a lightly freckled doe shivering in the hall.
Claire dreamt of otters misbehaving in the bathroom.
Anya dreamt birds were nesting in her bowl of all bran.
Oya dreamt of spiders weaving net curtains over all the open windows.
Daniel dreamt entire zoos into every room.
The dolls dreamt of ogres.
The house dreamt of all the ghosts it’d known.

What conclusions can we draw from this? None.

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Notes:

1. Written on August 13th, 2024

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The Six Universal Plot States Of Fiction

1. A dream
2. A dream within a dream
3. A dream within a dream within a dream
4. A dream within a dream within a dream within a dream
5. A dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream
6. A nightmare

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Notes:

1. Written on November 11th, 2023

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Tales From The Town #103: A Dream Of The Watch

Antoine opens his eyes and wonders what the time is. He looks at his watch. Or where his watch would have been if he still had a watch, if he hadn’t lost it in the woods years ago, if it was still on his wrist and the numbers still glowed like tiny green phosphor stars in the gloom of the cave.

He lies back down, closes his eyes, begins to dream. In his dream, he opens his eyes and wonders what the time is.

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Notes:

1. Written on March 20th, 2023

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Dreams Of Houses

At night I dream of houses. Ones I haven’t seen in years, places I used to live, or stay at, or simply just visited once, some long time ago. Retracing the layout of the rooms in my mind, floor plans and blueprints etched out in perpetuity in the architecture of my mind.

Yet always still there’s grey areas in these maps, smoke-filled absences at the edges of my mind. Houses where people’s bedrooms remained unseen behind permanently shut doors. Basements or lofts never entered. Garages always locked.

These places are always nothing but shadows to me. Even now, there could be anything back there.

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Notes:

1. Written on November 10th, 2022

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