Dream Room

I was at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences all day today for the annual Vascular Biology retreat. Everyone has to wear suits and ties (or equivalent); it's kind of fun getting dressed up and seeing everyone else looking nice, but it's a long day of sitting and there's no beer or wine to help you along, only coffee.


The AAAS building is very beautiful. Very calming, set in a little pocket of woods, built in eihter the 30s or the 70s. After lunch I slipped out of the orange-couched conference room and had a wander around. There was a lovely sitting room off to one side where I sat down. There was a terrific thunderstorm going on outside with lots of cloud-t0-cloud lightning and rumbling thunder. I could see the trees blowing around through the 12-foot-tall windows. Instead of dwarfing the furniture, the high ceiling made the room feel spacious and the sofas were like little soft, cozy oases across the sea of cream carpet. The windows were framed in cedar and divided up into square panels. The room was dim but warmly lit by two onyx-based lamps.

I sat on the softest sofa, tucked around the corner from the door, and watched the warm rain fall and the green leaves drip. I thought I would like to stay forever in that peaceful room. I was curled up in the corner with my legs tucked under me, my short gray skirt up around my thighs. I imagined him coming round the corner, tall and elegant in his cream shirt, and sitting down with me on the sofa and stroking my leg.

When I left I could feel the heat rising from the pavement through my sandals and the tiny leftover drops of rain on my neck, and the thunder was still rumbling.