The Special Rock Trophy

MORNING OF JULY 14, 2009

I was in a fictional, suburban house late at night, alone, though there seemed to be the sense that maybe a couple of others were in the house somewhere. There was the general feeling that many others had only just left...like perhaps the end of some sort of party.

I was standing in the living room of this house, which was very large and ornate. Every wall and every table was covered by a collection of large, shiny, polished rocks mounted on bases like trophies. They averaged anywhere from a 6 inches to a foot in height. Though many different rock types were present, obsidian actually seemed to be predominate.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and I answered it. A couple were standing there; the husband was dressed in a suit and his wife, an attractive thirty-something, wore a blue party dress. She was obviously a little tipsy, if not full-on drunk.

As the husband stood back looking annoyed and hurried, the woman held up another rock trophy. She explained how she'd "won" this at the party earlier, but wanted to ask if she could exchange it for one of the other rock trophies.

I told her that was fine, and let her into the living room to pick which one she wanted. She went immediately to a particular rock which was very large and extremely phallic in shape. She took it and retreated back to the door where her husband, now looking not only hurried but embarrassed, still waited.

As the woman left she turned to me holding up her new trophy and giddily exclaimed, "I just like this one so much! It's got a shape I'm not really used to!" Now her husband was pulling her away, off to their car. She spared one knowing wink in my direction and cackled in a bit of a drunken fashion as they disappeared down the darkened driveway.

I was perplexed and sort of sorry that the woman hadn't been here alone.