I had hurled two scoreless innings in relief, and the lead was 7-2 when Mets’ skipper Gil Hodges pulled me after the eighth inning. He reasoned the Chicago Cubs might figure out a nervous rookie’s sidearm delivery and limited variety of off-speed pitches the second time through the lineup. But then he uttered five words I’ll never forget: “Kid, you’ve made the team.” My elation lasted for just a second, until it occurred to me I’d have to call the principal at Kennebunk High School to arrange for substitute teachers during my absence.

That’s when I woke up.

The human mind is capable of blending random bits of fantasy with reality so seamlessly that a sleeping person’s alternative universe can seem utterly real until, after a few seconds of semi-consciousness, those nocturnal scenario(s) dissipate like morning fog.

On occasion my imagination conjures up dreams less pleasant than sports fantasies. One recurring example involves being late for something important, like work, or a job interview, or classes at the high school I graduated from over 40 years ago. And there’s always a bizarre reason for my tardiness, like inappropriate attire, lost car keys, or being suspended high above my destination in a hot-air balloon that won’t come down no matter how much ballast I throw overboard. Then I’ll suddenly notice it’s 1:50 PM, my appointment’s at 2:00, there’s no way I can get there in time, and panic sets in.  Such dreams probably don’t qualify as true nightmares, but they can be a troubling way to groggily experience one’s first moments of post-sleep morning semi-consciousness.

Here’s another bizarre scenario my dream-constructing imagination created recently. It was 2016, and an abrasive narcissist with an insatiable ego and his own reality TV show decided he wanted to be president. The twist: he concluded the surest way to attain the White House was to run as a Democrat. Widely ridiculed initially, he painted himself as a lifelong civil rights advocate and abortion rights defender who favored strong government regulation, affordable health care, and opening the nation’s borders to all who wanted to come to our once-great country. While he inflamed an astonishingly gullible electorate with a fact-free litany of real and imagined national problems, he quickly reassured the increasingly rabid hordes by claiming only he could remedy America’s currently horrific shortcomings.

Brushing aside the Old Guard with derisive nicknames like “Crooked Hillary” Clinton and “Bumbling Joe” Biden, he swept through the Democratic primaries despite mounting concerns over his never having held elective office, not to mention criticism over his refusial to share his tax returns, his publicly ridiculing a handicapped reporter, and an “October Surprise:” video tape of him bragging about grabbing women by various body parts, with or without their permission. But to the surprise of virtually every print and broadcast pundit he swept to victory over the Republican ticket, who he had dubbed, “Thieving Mitt” Romney and “Low-energy Jeb” Bush.

After the election additional unattractive information came to light, including a bogus eponymous university, shady business dealings with Russian oligarchs, and dalliances with adult film stars. But the president-elect and his army of ambitious, ethically-challenged sycophants haughtily dismissed media critics like “Windy Bill” O’Reilly, “Smarmy Sean” Hannity, and “Jabba the Hutt” Limbaugh as nothing more than shrill purveyors of “fake news.” Similarly disrespectful treatment of political opponents like “Wimpy Paul” Ryan, “Un-dead Mitch” McConnell, “Surrendering John” McCain, and “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz made his critics on the right apoplectic, but his reliable defenders on the left, most notably Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, explained away his occasional mis-steps as part of an inevitable “learning curve.”

The president’s daily pre-dawn, incendiary tweets energized his core supporters, the vast majority of whom resided in major cities or wealthy liberal enclaves just outside them, nearly as much as they infuriated a rural America appalled by his demonstrated lack of scruples and general amorality.

Mainstream critics on the right were beyond frustrated: the more the president lied, the more fiercely his increasingly strident base, many of whom were being negatively impacted by his policies, defended him. But Republicans ceaselessly pointing out the obvious hypocrisy of the president’s spineless Democratic defenders did little to dampen the ardor of his nominal base; if anything, it further galvanized their enthusiasm for him.

Most of my dreams could never become reality. I know for certain I’ll never pitch for the Mets. But I’m not so sure some of America’s progressives wouldn’t abandon their core principals to unquestioningly support an arrogant, ignorant, lying bully were he (or she) their party’s standard bearer, just as Republicans have been doing for the past two years.

And that’s a lot more troubling than the possibility of being late because of a non-descending balloon.

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