(3/2/10) einstein gives me a lesson

(Entered in paper journal at 6:15 AM on B-train into work from Brooklyn.)

Dream #1

I stood before a folding table (?) outdoors, possibly under the shade of a tree, with a girl who was taller than I and possibly my age or a little bit younger. We were working on some kind of science project. There might have been papers and books strewn across the table.

The girl either had a screw (or bolt) or held a paper showing a diagram of the bolt. She asked me what the threads were called. There was something about the distance between the thread-windings that was not exactly right for our experiment (possibly because of the way they would conduct electricity). But the woman couldn't remember what "threads" were called.

I "went" to inquire -- by turning around and walking, through the driver's side window, into a car. Albert Einstein sat in the front passenger seat. He may have been studying something or scribbling something, as if he sat at a desk. I stuttered, "Uh... uh... Professor?" I wasn't sure whether it was correct to call him "Professor."

Einstein, not looking away from his papers, said, "Yes?"

I asked, "What do you call the winding protrusions on a screw?"

Einstein and I were both now out of the car, walking toward the woman, who stood before the table. Einstein said, "Zose are called ze Crotons."

I now looked at a yellowed piece of parchment on the table. The parchment showed a draftsman-quality drawing of an upturned bolt with the word "CROTON" printed above it.

Albert Einstein now warned me and the girl about our work together getting out of hand. He said he'd really wanted each of us to partner with someone else for this project. But as the girl and I agreed and then started walking away, Einstein muttered something to himself about how happy he was, and how auspicious it was, that the girl and I had started working together.

The girl and I were now inside, in a place like a Barnes & Noble bookstore. The girl had walked off, talking on her cell phone. I felt like it was time to start working again, so I went to find the girl. She was a few display-shelves away. (There were no aisles, per se, but rather display bookshelves all set at odd angles to each other, creating a nice sense of space.) As I approached her, I heard her talking about her personal affairs. So I decided to walk away and let her have her private space.

I found a couple shelves with modern-looking picture books on them. One book may have had a pink cover with a silkscreen black-paint print of a woman's face on it. Another book may have had a mirrory-silver cover with blocky, black capital letters printed on it. I thought I might look at one of those books.

But now the woman, possibly still speaking on her phone, walked toward me to "pick me up" so we could go back to work. She may have said something about doing so to the person she was on the phone with. We may have walked over the back of a couch, which may have served as the barrier between the bookstore and our work area.