Those dreams were only half-blossomed, cut short by whatever carbs or sugars or crack cocaine was in that damn pizza. I remember that strip any time I have a night like last night, where a pizza I gorged on way too close to bedtime sent my sleep no deeper than half-unconscious, with sparkly, brittle dreams I can not remember now. I found that strip over at IFTHEYWERECOUNTRIES. Even as a kid I remember thinking it a weak cliché for writers to set up a bizarre or terrifying situation only to extinguish it as having “only been a dream.” NEVER FORGIVE SCHULZ for this one. I don’t remember how old I was but I remember gasping at the next-to-last frame, taking no solace in the closing frame that reveals it was a dream. The string didn’t snap and there was no double-pepperoni reference but it’s all good. My recollection of this strip is about as accurate as it needs to be, I think. OK, let’s see if I can find that strip to see how accurately I remembered it. The last frame shows Snoopy atop the dog house, mumbling that he really needs to stop eating that double-pepperoni pizza before going to sleep. Charlie Brown looks up in horror as Snoopy plunges to the ground, smashing into millions of pieces. Snoopy is no ærodynamic kite, as gravity quickly informs him. Charlie Brown is flying Snoopy like a kite, as Snoopy asks himself why he agreed to do this. Charlie Brown ties a piece of string around Snoopy’s neck, then starts running.

I’m reminded of a Peanuts cartoon, it must have been a Sunday strip because it had extra panels.

But some nights and mornings it can be real work, descending into the needed but frighteningly vulnerable state of unconsciousness. When it does one is, of course, blissfully unaware. The state between consciousness and sleep seems so tender and thin it can seem like a miracle sleep ever truly arrives.

Who had the tiny piano in charlie brown