Visit to My Brother

              I dreamed that I was in the back yard trying to water the pumpkins, but the water for the wall sprinklers came on at the same time. I discovered that N had rigged up a 3 way splitter (instead of the 2 way that is there now.)
              My brother had still not contacted us, so we went up to his house. His kids were all out in the back dressed in their Sunday finest. B and A were pouting because their dresses, the extra poofy kind with broad white and yellow print in A's case and blue and slate in B's, were making them “look fat.” Both of them spent several minutes tucking and pulling to try to create some semblance of shape.
              While they were fussing I went inside to try to find my brother and his wife. My sister in law was there on the couch, trapped by several of their dogs.
              N and I shooed the dogs away then helped vacuum up the rugs. N and L sorted out the junk in my sister in law's “mom purse.”
              I stepped back outside to herd the puppies into the side yard where they could be kept away from the kids who didn't want to get messed up. While I was securing the side gate I heard a ruckus in the front yard. It was full of media trucks and reporters. “This can't be good.” I said, making my way around back and struggling to get a comb through my hair, which the wind kept tangling right back up. I told the kids that there were a lot of media people out front, and that they might want to watch what they said. I could sense disaster written all over this situation. A grabbed her dress and pulled the skirt apart from the high-waisted to reveal her almost slender tummy and hips.
              “I'm pretty sure your mom isn't going to like that, let alone your dad.”
              “It made me look fat the other way.”
              “Now you have butt crack, that's a lot better.”
              She rolled her eyes and flounced off to tease her sisters.
              My brother hopped the fence of their back yard and asked “What is going on?”
              I didn't really know, so told him about the media in the front yard.
              “I can fix that,” he motioned for me to follow him into the house.
              Inside the house, with a dozen chains from its collar to the perimeter of the room was a 10 foot tall Rotwieler. The dog was looking out the window, listening intently to the noise in the front yard.
              “I have to get him to use some restraint.”
              “He's looking pretty restrained now,” I said. I was completely in awe of the animal's size and healthy condition.
              My brother crossed under the dog, patting him on the chest and came back with a leash for him.
              The dog whined.
              My brother puffed on his fingers and made his head blow up into a huge blue and green fish head!
              “That's all I have for you this time. When I come back from my next trip I'll have something even better.”
              “I want to see the whole thing next time,” the dog responded in a deep rumbling voice.
              “Ready to go for a walk and see what the people on my property want?”
              “Woof.” The dog actually spoke the word rather than barked.
              I remember thinking that if the news had gotten wind of the talking dog, that might actually be the reason they were there.
              “All right, wife, round up the pack we're walking to church!”
              My brother turned to me, N was all ready prettied up and ready to go. “You're welcome to come along.”
              “I wouldn't miss the walk for the world, besides, I can keep your dog company while you're inside.”
              “Goody, bring ball?” The giant dog asked.
              I looked around and found a much chewed basketball, my sister in law handed me a plastic grocery bag to carry it in.
              I didn't get to see the media reaction as I suddenly found myself, upon touching the plastic bag, turned into a fish. I slipped down the drain in the center of the room and was flushed out to the sewer.
              I swam around, looking for an exit, and came to a large square tank made of algae covered stone. It was huge, at least sixty feet deep and easily one hundred foot or more on a side. There were a dozen circles of light coming from above and one large rectangular area along one wall. There seemed to be an exit there. I swam up towards the rectangular area, staying in the darker parts of the water.
              “You're a smart one, then, aren't you?” I heard a voice.
              The wall near the lit rectangle moved, I could see great green scales ripple in the light. It was a giant eel. It turned to look at me, then sucked in a large amount of water. It was a giant puffer-fish eel, thing. Long spikes lifted themselves from its scales as its body swelled. “I can make them look like yours, too.” It smiled at me. Then it relaxed, inhaled again and this time the long spikes were replaced with small domes, about my size, with hundreds of little spikes. “Try it.”
              I inhaled and found that I swelled up to the size of a basketball, covered with three inch long spiked scales.
              “There ain't nothin' goin' to eat that,” the giant eel laughed and swam down into the dark.
              I very much had the impression that if I hadn't been able to inflate myself I well might have been the eel's dinner.
              I could feel a current of fresh water coming into the tank from the exit near the rectangular light. I looked up and could see water falling into the tank from a foot or so up. Every so often a mackerel would sail out into the tank behind me. I could sense the water level rising, so decided to wait rather than jumping up and trying to swim against the tide.
              I could only hope that once I got to the open ocean I could somehow find a way to turn myself back into a human.