Day 163,

This morning, before the children arrived, I asked Cass if she dreams at night.  She gave me an oddly concerned look and said that of course she does, same as everyone else.  I told her that I couldn’t remember any that I’d had since I washed up - except for the Catacomb nightmares - and was starting to wonder if I was actually having them or not.  She said that dreams don’t mean anything anyway, even when you can remember more than blurry bits and pieces, so why worry about something like that.

I let the matter drop and finished readying for the day’s class.

Just as well; it’s about time to call the kids back in from their lunch recess so I wouldn’t be able to write down any more than that right now.

I was invited to dinner with Norman and Marva this evening.  Apparently I looked worse last week than I thought I did.  Enough to worry Cass and her family, so this was their attempt to check on me and try to make me feel better.

I wasn’t able to bring myself to recount the full story of the incident with the nature sprite.  Instead, I simply told them that I’d had a far more frightening encounter than usual with the sprite that had been haunting me almost since I washed up and that I was still getting over it but am basically fine now.

On the one hand, I’m truly thankful to have people like this who really seem to care about my wellbeing me.  On the other hand, I wish I could simply accept that sort of care without feeling like I’ve entered into a debt or transaction in which I’m acting as an impositional burden until it’s been repaid.  As it was, I found myself insisting after dinner that I clean everyone’s dishes so as not to be mooching off of their hospitality.

I also wish I could go into my usual purple prose describing the dinner itself as well as other conversations had around it, but I just don’t have the energy right now.