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    Frank was again startled by the fact that the dream he
had just had, was indeed not reality. He got up and let the cat in,
only to be reminded once again that he still had no cat food. Frank sighed, not relishing the fact that he'd have to go to the store again. This time he'd pay more attention, he'd been getting absent-minded lately. The aisle with cat food, however, was bent on causing him even more frustration. His cat would eat only one certain brand of cat food, and there was none to be had! He headed over to the canned food aisle and picked up a can of liver- surely his cat would eat that! Frank slowly headed to the checkout line, this time making sure he had the exact change before he got to the clerk.
    "It's nice to see you again, sir," the clerk said, in a familiar voice "how are you doing today?"
    Frank looked at the clerk quizzically, before responding, "I'm doing pretty good. Do i know you?"
    "You were here yesterday, but you were kind of distracted. I'm glad to see you are doing better."
    Recognition came to Frank, and he recalled seeing the clerk the previous day. Frank laughed, before responding
    "Ah yes, i remember now. Yesterday was a kind of funky day, I ran into some random girl and accidentally gave her my cat food, and now there is no more!"
    "So you're the guy! My sister was telling me that story last night, when she discovered she had a bag of cat food.. funny thing is, we have a cat, but he refuses to eat anything but liver after we fed it to him for a week straight." the clerk said, laughingly.
    "Lovely," Frank said sarcastically, "my cat will probably end up like that now too."
    "You can come over later and pick it up if you like, I get off work here in an hour."
    "Okay, well I guess i'll see you in a bit then. Can't have my cat being pickier than she already is!" Frank was excited, he usually avoided interacting with other people, but this guy seemed nice enough.
    As an afterthought, Frank added, "Oh, by the way, what is your name, in case I can't find you?"
    "My name is Brian," the clerk laughed, "and my name is on my tag!"
    Frank was slightly amused by the clerk's sense of humor.
    
    Since he had an hour to wait, Frank decided to drive out of town to the adjacent forest that he had been dreaming about. After a short walk, he discovered that there was indeed a hill, as in his dream. The hill, however, was not near so high, and on top of it was but a grassy area with a park bench.
"Thank God, I was starting to worry that some of this might be real." Frank thought to himself aloud. In his mind, the dream he had had the night before was becoming increasingly illogical and ridiculous. Yet still he couldnt shake how real his dreams seemed. However, his thoughts quickly drifted to other subjects, such as the fact that he was standing on top of a hill and wasnt sure how to get back to his car. He started walking back in the direction he had came, However, it was becoming dark, and it was nearly total darkness as he descended under the foliage. He tripped over several roots, and managed to get his pants all muddy.
"Great, of course, the one day im going over to someone's house, i have to get mud all over my pants." he said, frustrated. Another branch batted him right in the face, and he was starting to get really pissed off. I guess this is what being blind feels like, he observed. Finally he made it back to his car, which he was very glad of. He still had ten minutes before he was supposed to meet Brian, so he rushed home and changed his pants. His face was all scratched up, but he couldnt really do anything about that.
    Brian was happy to see him. "I was afraid you werent going to come!" he said, relieved, "You didnt really have to change to come over and get your cat food."
    "Ahh, well i wasnt decent to be seen by anyone, i slipped and fell in the mud." Frank responded, feeling a bit awkward about the whole thing.
    Frank and Brian walked a short way down the street, to a small duplex right next to the 7-11. Frank felt a bit out of place, but he didnt complain. He was getting his cat food, that was all.
    "This is home!" Brian exclaimed, "Amy will be happy to see you, we don't have many visitors."
    "wonder why..." Frank muttered quietly to himself, as the smell of cat litter assaulted him on his way in the door.
    "Amy, you'll never guess who I ran into today!" Brian shouted back into the other room.
    "Who'd you run into... Oh my god!! How dare you bring a stranger home without warning!" Amy threw a broom at her brother in a playfully angry manner. Her hair was unkempt, and she really did have reason to complain about Frank seeing her in such an unprepared manner.
    "I'm just here for the.. you know.. cat food!" he mumbled, trying to make her feel better.
    "Nonsense! My brother made you come all the way over here to see me in this state, you may as well stay here for dinner!" Amy was obviously embarrassed.
    "Well.. i suppose I could.. " Frank said, not really wanting to, but his manners preventing him from refusing.
    Amy returned after a few minutes, somewhat fresher, and with her hair much neater. She really wasn't that bad looking. Her cooking however, left much to be desired. However, food was food, and food that didn't require work to obtain, was better than none. Frank thanked them for the meal, took his cat food, and headed home.

    Jasmine was very glad to see him, and even happier when he cracked out the cat food. He was thoroughly worn out from all the goings-on, and he soon went to bed. Frank did not immediately begin dreaming, as he was accustomed to. He was thinking about Brian and Amy, who he had just visited. Being there made him feel very uncomfortable, as it was a completely different setting than he was used to, but at the same time, he'd never felt so welcome by anyone before. These people were definitely worse off than him, yet they seemed to have a joy about them that he did not understand. He slowly drifted to sleep, meditating on these things.