...and cause objects to levitate. There was a time when I was powerless to escape the Dreamscape snake man or keep myself from being stabbed in the back by knife-wielding thieves and/or aliens, but as I've grown older I seem to be in more control in my dreams. Occasionally demons still harass me but I either use my burgeoning flying abilities or my "scream attack" (a load, obnoxious roar that, it turns out, as a disturbing snorting/snoring sound that actually awakens my wife) to dismiss them - probably some sort of precursor to sleep apnea.

The most enduringly dreadful dreams I have now don't have to do with monsters or demons threatening me, but rather my children. In a vivid sequence I saw my oldest son walking out of a house and just from the look on his face I knew he had been sexually molested. The pain was palpable and did not subside after I bolted awake - getting up to check that both children were safe in bed.

Just like so many things in modern life, control is an illusion. The illusion holds for myself and my daily situation for the most part, but it can't color the reality that those precious little non-clones of mine venture out of the house on a daily basis and there is nothing I can do to keep them secure during that time. They have to look out for one another.