Best way to start a day.

I just woke myself up out of a dream, laughing.


My dream started with me inside of Fenway, standing in the bleachers but down at the front in the aisleway, at the wall. Centerfield. The Red Sox, of course were out there. The field was sometimes normal grass, but I also remember it being made of wood, like basketball court flooring. Petey and Ellsbury came out near where I was standing with a friend (dont remember who, maybe Mehdi) and I could see that not only had Ells changed his number from 46 to 2, but Petey had changed his from 15 to 27. I called down to him, asking why he had changed his number. His response was casual, and to the effect that there was no superstition or significance behind it- he just did it. I felt good that I had connected with my baseball hero, and the dream continued on I'm sure, but anything that happened was insignificant and has been forgotten, until the point where I'm standing again at the CF wall, and Petey's there too, very close next to me. He starts chatting at me and we have a conversation- the most that I can remember of what was actually said is that at one point, I looked at him and said "My mom will be disappointed to hear that you're not really that little," to which he replied something about "5'4"", clearly not in reference to himself as he stood at least 2 or 3 inches taller than I (but a reference, no doubt, to the guy at the game last night who kept shouting at our smaller players "5-4! Hey! 5-4!"), and knelt to the ground to jokingly emphasize his reputation for being small, chattering the whole time. For whatever reason, he tilted his head toward my hand and I patted his head like I might do to a child. It wasnt a romantic gesture, just very endearing. Oh, and he had hair, maybe 1/4 or 1/2 inch long- not bald. Well, that conversation was satisfying, whatever it consisted of, and soon he was headed off. He turned to leave, and said goodbye. I lingered at the field as I do after games, just looking around. Someone nearby, who i knew, started telling me how cool it was to see Petey talking so animated with me. Lucky me! haha.
Eventually, I decided to leave too. The stairway was like a castle's, built with large stones, pillared, with many openings to the outside. It was also an extremely long way down, so as soon as the field left my view, it was like I was no longer at Fenway. Anyhow, I started to descend, and noticed Petey at the very bottom already outside the long enclosed stairwell, which snaked around slightly in a clockwise manner, the inside of whatever structure I was now at being to my right (consequently, the wall being to my right). I halted; even though we were far from each other, i didnt want him to think that I was following him. But as I stopped, he turned around (couldnt have heard me) and peered up through the pillars of the outer enclosement of the stairs, and upon seeing me shouted Maggie!" and something about Meryl Masterson's cookies (wife of Justin Masterson, Indians pitcher. her cookies are sooooo good.) He waited a few minutes for me to get to where he was, and we conversed back and forth to each other while i was ascending. Then we started walking together, talking very much like old friends- funny how, when you read about someone in the paper, online, in their book.. and watch them on TV night after night.. and spend many many days sharing the same space and the same goal with them, you start to feel endearment, just as if you are friends, that you would be friends if you had that one missing piece of having actual meaningful and personal interactions; of course we're not friends, but my subconscious did a great job of putting on a show last night of what's really going on in there, and i'll continue- and wherever we had been turned into a school, after hours. Halls were dim and in some places the lights were turned out; there were a few workers here and there, fixing things in the roof, stringing things up, and as we talked we ducked around these people and construction sites. More and more, I got the sense that he was on a mission, headed for something in the building. After a long time of navigating the hallways, we ended up in this pretty small walk-in utility closet space. We couldnt even really move more than a step or two in- it was about 4 feet deep, maybe 5, and three or so times as long. He opened a cabinet in front of us, inside of which were many small rolls of paper, like those used for receipts. Without stopping he stepped right into the metal cabinet, having to somehow stand in one box that was sitting at the bottom of the cabinet while stooping slightly under the shelf above him, and then sort of diving into the other large box set next to the one he was first in. It was comical. He set about rummaging and sort of tossing/launching anything that was in his way. The whole thing was pretty feisty, for no reason that I could see. He's pitching rolls of paper this way and that, and finally comes up with a small box no longer than his forearm, shaped like a square but long like a rectangle. He stepped out of the cabinet, shaking one foot as if there was something on it that shouldnt be, very cool-guy-ish. Petey came over to me and held the box up for me to see- it was weathered, brightly colored- a boardgame. I looked at him like, That's what we came through this whole building for? A little box, a game? I remember thinking, wow, that is SO random. A little boardgame buried in the middle of a box of receipt paper, in a utility closet/room in a school which I've never been to and feel lost in.
We walked out of the utility room, Petey holding the game, and I must have said something- either about his difficulty with the rolls of receipt paper or something else equally as playful- because he replied in very Pedroia form (cocky, dramatic, think little dog yapping at big dogs) something like, "Well I just about got killed to death." I know, doesnt sound like a punchline- believe me, it was more masterfully delivered at the time, and must have referred, again, to his fight inside the cabinet with small rolls of paper so he was being defensive and that's the main point, the way in which whatever moderately funny line he chose was delivered. I tried to fight the smile that immediately started to spread across my face, but I couldnt- I was too happy and amused to be hearing him be this way- and in no time i was laughing uncontrollably at how ridiculous he is. As laughter bubbled out I watched him out of the corner of my eye.. he was trying hard not to crack a smile of his own, but after 5 seconds of my outburst he grew his own little smile that told me that yes, he understood just how absurd he is sometimes.

Then I woke up.