Tag: Person: Sister’s Husband

  • September 22, 2024

    (racetrack event / waiting for pickup / suspension explanation)

    I’m at the My Company racetrack in Hometown, near the library parking lot, for an event. Sister and Sister’s Husband go home, and I stay for a while before calling to get picked up.

    As I leave, HS Chinese Teacher’s son from my school trip to China comes to pick me up. We cross the street toward the Belfry, and he runs down toward the park to get his car. I move closer to the racetrack parking lot so he doesn’t have to come as far.

    He gets stuck in a line trying to get his car out. I end up waiting in a different line where people are getting rental cars. Near the back of a large group, people are dressed vaguely as Mario and Luigi. I pass by a pair talking about using a AAA card to rent. Apparently the card will be wrapped by the service. The rentals are only for use around the racetrack and have to be returned if you go farther. This is meant to prevent pollution by keeping the cars within the same climate area.

    I’m near a group with a dad and a girl dressed as Mario, a man dressed loosely as Luigi, and another man in a black hoodie. The man in the hoodie is confused about the racetrack and keeps talking about suspension. He jokes that they must be proud of creating a little ball, clearly not understanding what suspension is.

    I interrupt and try to explain. I say that suspension involves the front forks and rear cushions, using springs and oil. The man tries to cut in, but I keep going. I explain that the oil has a property where its mass doesn’t change when compressed, and when it’s forced through a small hole, it resists compression and maintains its volume, which reduces how much you feel bumps.

  • March 14, 2024

    (watching tv / romantic drama play / theater intermission)

    I’m watching a play on TV in a small, bright, carpeted bedroom, maybe Childhood Friend E’s room, with Sister and Sister’s Husband. Sister recognizes kanji characters on the screen and tells Sister’s Husband it says the Osaka Opera House. I’m confused because that isn’t what was written, but I don’t know the actual translation, so I don’t say anything.

    I see a meeting between two rich people in an arranged marriage. They don’t hate each other, but they aren’t in love either. The meeting takes place in a building next to a bridge on a river. They sit in a basic wooden room with a rectangular table. Through another door, away from the river, we pass into a roofed area, maybe a parking garage, though that doesn’t fit the time setting.

    Under the awning of the building, two lovers meet: a rich merchant’s daughter and her peasant lover. They are in love, but it isn’t approved, and they have to hide from everyone.

    I assume at this point that the story is about the difference between living with social approval but no love, and living with love without social approval. Hannibal is somehow involved, possibly one of the people in the couples.


    Backing up from the play, I’m in a theater. I’m sitting with Mom and Dad, and I get up and move further back. The lights come on for intermission, and I find myself sitting right in front of Idris Elba. He’s recognized, but he’s just out with his family and small baby. I defend him, saying celebrities should be allowed to go out and be regular people with their families. They let me hold the baby’s basket. She’s very cute. I stroke her face, and she grabs my finger.

  • July 17, 2021

    (house with medical past / naked embarrassment / ghost pursuit)

    Sister and Sister’s Husband move into a house. It’s fully furnished from the previous family, including a medical area where their daughter used to live. She had a condition where her hands could never fully dry out, so her bed is surrounded by shallow tubs of water with toys to keep sensation in her fingers. There’s also hospital equipment like IVs. She could only see friends occasionally, on good days.

    At one point, there’s a gathering. The adults sit at the dining table, and the “kids” sit at the kitchen bar. I sit between a fair-haired girl and a dark-haired girl. I start talking to the fair-haired girl as if I recognize her, but when she turns, I realize I don’t know her. The dark-haired girl talks to me like we already know each other, but I can’t remember meeting her. It’s awkward until she mentions an online friend I had, and I realize I’ve never met her in person before.


    Later, I’m inexplicably naked in the house. I need to get to my room for clothes, but Sisters Husband is walking around. I avoid him by heading into a bathroom off the living room and close the door just as he comes into view, though it catches slightly on the rug.

    Sister’s Friends B and I arrive by bus. I see Sister, Sister’s Husband, and Sister’s Dog going out to greet them, so I run through the house to get dressed properly.


    At some point, I become the dark-haired girl, who lives near the house.

    A friend drags me to a church. We were supposed to perform a sealing ritual for a ghost, but this is something different and urgent, like we’re being hunted. Instead of sealing it, she unseals the ghost by swiping a bronze token so its name becomes visible. A hole opens in the altar, and she throws me down into it before escaping through a passage to the right.

    A man named Ilya chases in after me.

    I try to hide, but the ghost has also been released into the basement, and I keep running into her. She wears white rags and is emaciated, her bones visible through grey skin. Her long black hair is tangled and oily, and her face looks partially mummified.

    I eventually find my way up and run toward the sea. Ilya and the ghost are both chasing me. I manage to fly briefly over the water, but then I fall into a rift.

    The rift leads to a spirit world—an endless sandy desert. Above me, the rift opens and closes repeatedly, showing the ocean just out of reach. I try to fly back up but can’t. I walk along the desert, searching for another exit, and eventually reach a shoreline. I try stacking stones to climb out, but they won’t stay stacked.

    Just as I’m about to give up, the ghost appears behind me, and Ilya pulls me back through the rift onto the shore. Even though he was chasing me before, he doesn’t want the ghost to be free.

    As we escape over rooftops back toward the church, he asks what happened. I realize then that my friend intentionally unsealed the ghost.

    I show him the items I have to reseal her: a bronze oval pendant, a pair of her earrings, and a small silver token—one for each of us. He urgently tells me to store them somewhere that locks, because that’s how she’s tracking me. I’ve just been carrying them in a small folding box that closes but doesn’t lock.

    I try to find something secure, but the ghost catches up again and we have to keep moving. We decide to return to the church so Ilya can help reseal her.

    I worry about my friend, but Ilya reassures me that the ghost is following me because I have all the tokens, not her.

  • April 20, 2020

    (return visit / familiar house / masked pursuit)

    I return from Los Angeles to the home of a friend I met there. I unlock the door with a key, but once it’s unlocked, the key can’t be removed from the door.

    Inside, the kitchen feels similar to my grandpa’s, while the living room is large and filled with clothes—my friend is a fashion designer.

    Sister and Sister’s Husband come to visit.

    At some point, I’m running from a man in a mask.

    I end up at an abandoned house set between rice paddies, with a tea table outside. I go in with my friend to look around, but we run into the masked man again.

    He runs out and up a slope. I launch myself into the air and chase after him, flying up to try and catch him.

  • February 27, 2019

    (California set / new job confusion / swamp creatures)

    I’m in a place that feels like California, half indoors and half outdoors. There’s a hill with sand, a road, palm trees, and people in bathing suits, like a movie set. The ocean is nearby, and at the bottom of the hill there’s a hospital.

    I’m staying in a bungalow that looks like a tea house with SHINee. I go upstairs to a kitchen area where there are presents—lots of individually boxed oranges. I divide them into equal portions for everyone and note that we’ll have to eat them quickly.

    We all go out through a door on the kitchen level into a white hallway. Two members split off into a door on the left. I go out a different door, while the others go down either side of a T-split at the end of the hall.


    I start a new job. My boss is a middle-aged woman with shoulder-length brown hair. I don’t get instructions on how to do the job, so I go in but can’t really get started.

    Over the weekend, I have a fainting episode. I go to the hospital and move through multiple floors and crowded waiting rooms before eventually leaving again with no diagnosis.

    On the way back to work, I change into my work clothes—a swimsuit and a dress. I stop to talk with Sister’s Husband, who is a senior at the same job. He helps me register the hospital visit as a half-day sick day. I talk with another coworker, and then my boss comes up and asks about my absence. I explain the health issue and say I’ll work the afternoon, even though I still don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing.


    I go back up the hill and into the same hallway as before, entering a door near the end. Inside is a marshy area. Two members of SHINee have become swamp creatures—a turtle and a crocodile, which is possibly Taemin.

    The turtle struggles to catch food and gets teased by the other. He explains that tortoises are actually the fast ones in water. I feed the crocodile some reeds from the edge, and the turtle says he’ll also need to eat some for fiber along with his usual food.

    After feeding them and checking on them, I get ready to leave. I ask if they want anything special next time. They say they want oranges. I think this is simple, since I already have the individually boxed oranges from earlier that they know about.