Saturday Memory

February 7, 2026

I met him some years ago when I went regularly for coffee on Saturday mornings at Starbucks in the local Safeway. I had seen him before as he stood out. He was a cross dresser appearing in women’s clothing. We met because there was only one seat left and I invited him to sit down at my table. I learned right away that he was a writer, and that he was writing various things that detailed different outcomes than had been true (e.g., World War 2). He was not yet published but he was committed to his projects. We met many times and our meetings continued until my Saturday plans changed, and I started going to a new coffee shop in Everett (Narrative).

I had not thought of him for several years and had not seen him walking around town as I often had before. B But a couple of days ago, as I was driving home from Safeway, I saw him walking with a cane. I felt good that he was still out and about.

That night, I had a dream. In the dream, I was walking in the hallway of some business-like building with a colleague. The man referred to above walked by, and I went after him to reconnect. We did so and quickly caught up on writing and other things we had discussed. It felt good to reconnect with him.

I don’t usually dream about things that happen in my outer life, so this stood out as being important for that reason. I connected it immediately with a persistent feeling I have been having, namely, there was “something new and different” to come into my writing. The connection to the cross-dresser and our mutual interest in writing seemed to be an expression of this feeling. So far, something new and different has not yet appeared, but I am very expectant and even more so since this dream.

Russ