  01/08/04 For a bit of a backgrounder on what you're about to read, Manitoba is a place in Canada where my wife and I plan to migrate to. At this point, we're both already very anxious of where our plans will take us. By the way, we're not yet married at this time. It's a period of stabilizing our relationship, our families and our friends. So let me just say that we've had it tough for ourselves till about a month after our wedding. Here it is folks. Read on. --- My consciousness brought me to a place which i recognized later on as some sort of a Chinese restaurant.
You know, tables and chairs of ivory white, blinding lights, and mirrors that were set on a large squarish dining hall - very reminiscent of Chinese establishments I'd say. I was eating lots and lots of fried chicken. The companions I kept at the table seem to have faded into the background. Or, I may have just been paying much attention to the chicken I was gnawing. I mean it literally that I don't seem to feel how much I've eaten by this time (which, from the amount of bones set aside on my plate, I would guess is too much).
My interest seem to focus on the texture of the chicken, its color and the aroma. Gluttony, I thought. Next thing I knew, I was strolling down a sidewalk lined with small foodstores keeping company with another person who felt like a really close friend or partner. After passing a group of , say, 5 or 7 who appeared to be friends of mine (although I couldn’t remember who they really were), a small store suddenly came to my attention. There was a plump woman who was stationed there selling me fried chicken from a “bilao”. Disgustingly, I thought, “wow! fried chicken again! yumm!” Although bloated as I were, I didn’t waste any moment and started helping myself with the lot.
Carrying on with my feast, I tried to hide my embarrassment by distracting the vendor with small talks. I couldn’t remember when and what made me decide to stop but the next thing I noticed was that I was walking heavily along a descending path that leads to a humble house and an empty lot on its left that I recognized as my own. As I geared towards the empty lot, I noticed the small wooden gate on its entrance, a few small trees and shrubs scattered inside, and a number of dogs roaming freely in the place.
I didn’t know how and why but I thought carefully which scrap I was carrying should be handed to each dog. A dog that looked like a beagle of white and black fur got my attention. Then, awkwardly, I heard a man spoke in the background – like a narrator. “ A manitoba can smell and get attracted to gangrenous patch… ,” the voice said. Alarmed and rattled, I looked down and noticed the dog sniffing the back of my knee. Suddenly, a black patch appeared. It wasn’t the least bit painful though. To my fright, I saw it growing and spreading – like my liver going down to my legs. Before I could recover from the shock of what I was witnessing, I realized I was already awake. 
