i dreamt i was in the city with audra. but it wasn't the real San Francisco, it was a mythical one that I have dreamt of before, with soaring highways that float far above the buildings and a huge park in the middle of the city housing a famous university. anyway we were there and having dinner. she was wearing black velvet and striped stockings. after dinner i offered to drive her home but she said she wanted to take me somewhere.

we went into a small brownstone house which had been repurposed as a book store. audra knew the owner and proprietor, an ageing man with a fringe of snowy white hair around his shiny bald head and little round scholarly glasses.

he had books piled all around him, even inside the fireplace. audra and i sat down and started browsing through his collection while he talked. the name of the store was Sage - "that's me," he explained with a grin.

other people came in, girls dressed in vintage frocks with short fashionably messy hair and dark stockings. two of them didn't like each other: one said to me petulantly, "why is *she* here?" i tried to be noncommittal, keep the peace. i suggested we have a party.

and then we had some ice cream. i wake up.