The Stuff Of Dreams

Someone told me there’s a law saying that a person cannot be held legally responsible for anything they do in the first thirty seconds after waking, but I’ve never been able to find proof of it. The idea seems loaded with opportunities for abuse--the “Drowsy Defense,” maybe?--but there is something about it that makes sense. How many times have you had that waking instant when you didn’t know where you were? Sometimes even in your own bed. It is an unsettling feeling when you can’t find your bearings right away. It’s also weird to encounter someone who is still very much asleep but their subconscious didn’t get the memo. A few years ago, I woke in the middle of the night to Nick rummaging around in the dresser making an ungodly noise. Annoyed at being roused by such bizarre behavior, I asked him what in the world he was doing. He kept slamming drawers and said, “It’s the way they market the music!” Then I realized I was dealing with a sleeping Beatles fan who’d been reading too much John Lennon biography before bed. I told him we’d work it out and to come back to bed, which he did, but I have reflected many times on how very asleep he was and how that might have manifested itself in other circumstances. In Robert Munsch’s Get Out Of Bed!, Amy has a hard time falling asleep, but when she does nothing can wake her. I wonder how she feels about the Beatles.

http://www.amazon.com/Get-Out-Bed-Robert-Munsch/dp/0439388511

http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001772.shtml