I think my body’s making up for not getting much sleep the other night, because I’ve been having vivid dreams lately.

Last night I dreamed that my brother and I were riding a New Jersey Transit train into Manhattan. The train was moving slowly and we weren’t sure way. Then the train stopped, and some ticket-takers came down the aisle and told us that it was a hijacking. We saw that they had guns. One of them walked down the aisle carrying a big garbage bag and asked everyone to empty the cash from their wallets into it.

I took out my wallet and removed the cash — several twenties — and put it in the bag. I realized I still had a dollar bill left in there that the guy hadn’t seen, and I was going to keep it, but then I thought better of it and took that out too.

Then my brother, being a badass, pressed a very visible silent alarm button. It was above the seats, just like the “request stop” button is on buses. He pressed it for several seconds. I was sure he was going to get shot, but nothing happened.

Then the crew was done robbing us, and they drove the train down a side track. It stopped on a street corner in a country neighborhood so we could get off. Tall trees, overgrown grass, a house at the corner. We all jumped off the train in a civilized way, but my heart was racing and I couldn’t wait to get away from there.

Later in the dream, someone told me that I was expected at the police station, where I was supposed to recount my story about what had happened. But I knew that the policemen were in league with the train crew and I refused to go, because I thought they were going to do something bad to me.

I guess authority figures scare me?

I also dreamed that the news media reported that Joe Lieberman had died while on a trip in Afghanistan, and I was glad, because he wouldn’t be able to help McCain anymore or speak at the Republican National Convention.