a dark swimming pool. a young woman floating on a float in the shallow end. something was in the water. i thought it was a--hey! that IS a bat! she keeps on in pleasant conversation as it goes closer to her. now it is floating over towards her, wings held stiffly out, upright. its wingspan is about four feet. i say, no, Im not kidding, that is a bat! she shrieks a little. i get a baseball bat that i knew was lying around there some where, and start waving it about, menacing the bat, which does not seem much fazed. Do you want me to kill it? I ask her, or just scare it? She says, o no, dont kill it. I go over towards the deep end, where my dad is reclining on something like a bed. On my way there, dexter comes lunging up, on his way to the bat. I catch him mid-belly in my arms. He feels warm and dexter-like. I go on up with him, by my dad. There is a house next to us. A different young woman, high school or early college age, comes out. She is practicing some lines for some school play. She goes back in. I talk with my dad about the bat. We decide after deliberation to let the dogs run after it because they probably wont catch it. JD and Nero are already running down there. I let dexter go, with a coachmanlike Hya! and he rips off down the slope. The dogs nose around down there. The bat is already gone. Im not sure where the floating girl went. Meanwhile, the mother of this other girl comes out of the cement house, out a sliding door, and tells my dad that his daughter would certainly like some help practicing her lines. Dad seems reluctant. I think to myself, I could help her. I know I could do it, too, and not just because I am gay--but that wouldnt hurt! Earlier, I kept wandering around in UMKC dormitory, which was several stories tall. I go from floor to floor to keep anyone from getting suspicious by seeing me too much. I am half looking for a place to sleep. At one point, on the fifth or sixth floor, I think I pass a part of the hallway in front of some doors I recognize. It is where some first thing happened to me, when I first went to college. Not my old room, but a location where something significant happened with the people who would turn out to be my core group.