I fell asleep on my older son’s bed this afternoon, mostly because I was wobbly and dizzy. Not because of the three extra blankets, assorted pillows, pajamas, and stray t-shirts in the way. It was around 80°, and slowly the items got tossed to the floor.

My dreams tonight will be sinister. The poster that faces the bed is a very large one of King Kong, complete with stringy saliva between his teeth. He looks truly upset about something.

Alongside that is a picture of a sand-colored tank. In all the movies I have seen with tanks, there is always a scene where one comes chugging along, then turns to target the hero, who is in a tower or tall building, aiming his gun in the opposite direction. The tank is ominously slow, but nothing can stop the inevitable.

Then there are pictures of marching bands. No doubt I will dream that something has thrown the band into chaos, and there is stampeding, with me on the ground. Actually, that is pretty much what this bug feels like.

There is a quarter of a not-terrific watermelon in the fridge from the holiday. On the one hand, food needs to be cold and juicy. On the other, it should be hot and steamy. Someone will be bringing two containers of soup from Safeway’s deli. Perhaps the shock of hot and cold will quell the wildly successful quorum sensing going on in every fiber of my being. Probably not.

If the gnomes will let me be (now concentrating on my head) from their relentless pounding, I might be able to sit up for a movie. But it has to be a child’s movie.

I must step up my efforts to corral more flies, as it appears the mantises are putting away one every other day.

For a minute, it looked as if the fruit fly had somehow killed the mantis. The mantis was on the bottom, not moving. I jiggled the container a bit, and it righted itself, fly firmly in its grasp.

Maybe it just felt like eating while lying on its back.

Lately when I ask, it’s always me, back with the fever, which explains why I can’t make decisions in my day job.

Having slept 12 straight hours or so, I feel somewhat better, and the wretched headache is gone, but the little gnomes hammering my muscles and joints are still at it.