Fixing the Fish Tank

The Dreamer is outside, on a boat. He comes up from the cabin below. The Dreamer’s friend and business investor Aurelien is fishing. He asks the Dreamer to dive down to fix the fish tank. The Dreamer asks questions about how to fix the clog. The Dreamer does not seem to have done anything, but the clog is released. Air bubbles come up from the bottom to the surface. 

Then the Dreamer is in a library. He is reading a collection of books. Two of the books have gold highlighting on the titles in the binding and they are about National Socialism. The reader has not read these books, but is looking forward to it. Then grammar and high school friend Charlie Kipp is there. Then the dream is at the desk of the Dreamer’s high school condominium where Charlie and the Dreamer had business. Charlie steals the unread books from the Dreamer. The Dreamer confronts Charlie. Then the Dreamer throws a punch. Charlie punches back.

Then the Dreamer is inside his truck at a gas station. He waits for another vehicle to finish the fuel pump then pulls into the space. He sees that another driver wants to use the same pump but he was here first. He rolls down his window to talk to the other driver, calmly with a smile. The other driver just goes to the next pump. The Dreamer didn’t park well at the pump so he fixes the parking job. A concrete garbage can appears in front of the pump and the Dreamer bumps it. The gas station owner is unhappy but there’s no damage to the car or the garbage can. The Dreamer smirks it off. He meets the owner of the gas station. The owner invites him to his office. It is implied that there are shady pleasures there. The Dreamer says no thanks, he is traveling with his family. 

Then the Dreamer is inside a discount clothing store attached to the gas station. The Dreamer doesn’t want anything here. The only way out is through a window. Other people are trying to get out too. Then it’s the Dreamers turn. He uses his strength to pull himself out in one fell swoop, but something flies off of his person, a round bit of brass. He looks for it but can’t find it, considers it lost. 

Context: This is the first time I have dreamed of Aurelien: he’s a 5% owner of my business. I have been contemplating whether to continue my reading of Nazi history, or to put it on the shelf.

Associations: “Gold writing” is a recurring motif. Charlie was a “good” business partner in high school: we made CD mixtapes at my desk in my condominium and he sold them at the high school. Always gave me my cut. Charlie is also the name of my loving dog.

Feelings: strength, frustration, ambivalence

Interpretation: This is a dream about (partial) resolution of aggressive impulses. The Dreamer experiences some relief from his efforts to remain calm and “fix the clog”. The Dreamer also handles an aggressive situation, the competition at the gas pump, with a cool head. The Dreamer does not accept any “quick pleasures” from the gas station owner, and does not want anything from that owner’s discount store. The Dreamer escapes that situation. He may have kept a cool head and escaped, but he lost a little bit of brass in the process: a small loss compared to the energy that could have been spent in the mishandling of any of those situations. However, the Dreamer has not yet resolved aggression associated with the literature that he reads. His “good” business partner Charlie takes these aggressive books from him, and the Dreamer is mad, but perhaps Charlie is doing him a favor — saving him from harm that is yet to come. It could also be that even though Charlie seems to be the Thief, perhaps these books are like a Thief that steal some of the Dreamer’s libido.