DREAM
I go to the doctor with a group of people. The nurse comes out and says to me, "Congratulations, you are pregnant! These two gentlemen are the fathers."
I look over at my two friends, and I feel no anxiety about having their children. They're older, mature, caring, and stable.
"The egg split into three parts: one part for each of them, and one part salmon."
"One part salmon?"
"Human-hybrids are rare, but they can live long, healthy lives."
I go back outside with my friends, and I observe my belly throughout the day. It's not very big. I would think that a fish-human baby would be quite large. I wonder if I really am pregnant.
Then I remind myself that a medical professional not only said I'm pregnant, she pinpointed the fathers. I have to be pregnant.
I wonder what kind of a future my baby will have after I see what a seal-human hybrid looks like. It just looks like a seal. But I have to assume that it has the mind and heart of a human trapped in a seal's body. It can't socialize with other humans. It can't work together with other humans. It can't marry. It's all alone. And its human parents go on an ice floe and feed it fish every now and then. It seems like.a sad, lonely existence.
That's not the kind of life I want for my child.
I imagine what my child will look like. I'm sure it's not just going to be a plain old fish. Then I imagine it will have a really creepy, alien-like upper body and a large, fishy lower body. And it will have to live in the water. I feel sick.
INTERPRETATION
I think this reflects the worries I would have if I were to have children. Is this the kind of world in which the child would thrive? What if it was born with some unusual proclivities, like a genetic predisposition towards drug addiction, or what if it was born with a frail, neurotic temperament? Where is the infrastructure necessary to having a happy life in our time? There are such few jobs and houses. If I can't somewhat guarantee that the child won't have a miserable life, why have kids?
