Sleep Dream.  I’m in a public space that looks and feels a lot like The Market. But in the middle of the space, rather than a deli counter, there is an old fashioned bar/ counter of dark wood. It is barroom lighting, shadowy. I go up to the bar to sit down. I notice a woman sitting there already. It’s actually a counter that butts up against a wall. It is 4 seats long. The woman is in the chair/bar stool farthest to the right. She has a mop of wildly curly, dark blond hair. She cuts a svelte figure in a tight, long-sleeved shirt and tight, long pants. A Seventies feel to her look. I sit down right next to her. She turns to look at me, with a big smile. It turns out to be none other than – Bette Midler! We strike up a humorous conversation. There flows a sense of comfort and ease between us, an intimacy. She tells me that she is there filming, and is on break. We talk with our faces very close together. I really look closely at her face, as she is talking. I’m struck by the paleness of her complexion, her skin neither smooth nor shiny. I’m particularly struck by her eyes, how very small they are, how almond shaped, with their epicanthic folds. Gay guys walk by and smile at us in a catty sort of way. I don’t care. Bette says with a smile and a tone of bravura: “Eh, just ignore them!”

I’m in a department store, at a glass topped counter, where men’s shirts are sold. The atmosphere feels queeny gay. Bette is helping me pick out a shirt, and we both know that nothing will come of this.