Imaginary friends

I dreamt I was going to writers' group and it was at Bruce's house, but on the way I stopped off at Gail's - not possible in real life since Gail and Bruce live far apart - and Gail wasn't there, but I met imaginary members of her family, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews. Odd.

Monday night was writers' group night. One of the many things I love about it is that we all talk about each others' characters as though they were real people. People that we have created and are manipulating into life. We say,
'I don't know if so and so would really do that, this person wouldn't just stay quiet while that is happening, that person wouldn't ....' It makes us know our characters more,think about them and gives validity to them. I liked that aspect of critiquing fiction straight off, because in a way, the people we create are our imaginary friends.

I used to have imaginary friends as a child. Three. Two of them had the same name, and two of them were black. I suppose I had somehow brought them back from Nigeria with me. My parents didn't freak out at all, if I mentioned them they just asked about them. I don't remember when the imaginary friends left me, but they did. Probably.

Actors in TV soaps often say that people think their characters are real. They can't believe an actor is alive after the person portrayed has died. People come up to them in shops and ask about something they've said or done, remonstrating with them, telling them they should make up with their friends or family.

I know that Kevin finds it disturbing when I talk to the TV. I don't let him talk during programmes but I talk to the actual characters. When Roland finishes reading the French news in the morning and says 'au revoir et merci,' I say,'au revoir Roland.' When a character does something stupid I tell them, when the weather is not to my liking I call out,
'Come off it Tamara, we want sunshine on Sunday, that's why it's called Sunday.' Or some such.
I talk to the news readers, if Kevin isn't in the room I correct their pronunciation of far away places, more in line with the BBC, I put in the 'ands', 'thes' and 'ofs' when they say the date. I do this less now, I'm getting more used to it.
I answer them. If Alton Brown asks if we'd like to try something I say 'yes' or 'no'.
I tell them how shocking what they're wearing is, how that colour doesn't suit them or that no-one is wearing that this year.

Solecism. The notion that everyone and everything apart from ourself is imaginary. The world may not do what we think we'd want them to do, but then, nor did Gail's family in my dream, and I definitely invented them.

Far away, the people I yearn to see are now fixed in my head. I can and do ring them up and speak to them, I have pictures of them, but until I'm actually there with them, they are in my mind.

Who is real and who isn't? What does real mean ? Last night Alana told us about when she met Fidel Castro, and there she was, in a picture with him. For her, at that moment, he was real, but for me, he's just a character in a story. The things he did, the actions, just parts of the story.

How do we know that anti-matter is real? Because we see its effects. How do we know if other people are real? Because we see their effects, or we interpret it that way.

Is it God that makes the wind blow, or physics, or my mind? Father Christmas brings presents, the tooth fairy leaves money, the Loch Ness monster stirs in our dreams.

To some extent or another we all have imaginary friends, and we also have imaginary foes. And our imaginary foes can control us more surely than our friends can.