noise to signal

In which I dream

I am in an anonymous Eastern European nation. It's time for me to give birth, which is very exciting for the local townsfolk. A woman offers to help me through the process, since I am otherwise alone there.

They move me into a birthing center, all grey concrete, with a television in one corner, a bed in another, and a shower in a third. Nevertheless, it somehow seems cheery.

After I'm settled in, and we have talked for a while, it's time for me to bathe. She helps me get under the shower, and brushes my hair for me, and hands me soap as I need it. I towel off, and she hands me a robe to wear.

We sit there, chatting, me on the bed, her on the only chair, as other people drift in and out, sometimes stopping to talk, sometimes doing mysterious things to the machinery that has appeared in the fourth corner of the room.

Eventually everyone, including me, starts to realize that I'm a man, and somehow we've been mistaken. Slowly, everyone drifts out of the room in an uncomfortable silence, and I am left alone to wake up.