#457 I Dream of Zenia With the Bright Red Teeth - Margaret Atwood
I read the title and immediately thought of the Stephen
Foster song: I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, but the title is
where the similarities end. Charise, Roz, and Tony are three friends battling
their coming middle-age. Each has had mid-life crises symptoms, some of them as
innocuous as regressing to watch vampire movies.
“Why are the three of them indulging in these adolescent
pursuits…They seem to have thrown away all the maturity and experience and
wisdom they’ve collected like Air Miles over their middle years; just tossed
them out, in favor of irresponsible buttery and salty munching and cheesy,
adrenaline-soaked time wasting.”
Charise however, is having a more serious reaction to aging.
She has been having vivid dreams about their deceased friend Zenia. Zenia was
the wild-card of their group and one-by-one stole a boyfriend from each of
them. Just as the dreams begin, Charise has re-kindled a relationship with
Billy, the boyfriend taken by Zenia.
Her new dog, doesn’t like Billy at all, and like an old
friend that knows some secrets, does what it can to ward off the dangerous bad
decision Charise is about to make.
Notable Passage: “In dreams the time is always now.”
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