I dreamt that I was tickling my beloved’s belly and repeating the words of one of my favorite Venetian proverbs: “Prima de parlar, tasi.” We were standing up in the livingroom of my house in Motovun. On occasion, I would say it in Italian, as well: “Prima di parlare, stai zitto.” She was giggling and pulling away from me, but my teasing made her angry. I remember wondering how far I could get before she would get really angry. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I almost laughed out loud. She was sleeping next to me in her apartment in Zagreb. We had a tiff yesterday evening, and I repeated the proverb several times. “Before you speak,” I was quite angry this time around, “shut up.” This is what I tell her every time she rushes with her judgment, which she does quite often. At any rate, the dream was right on the money. It was as true to life as dreams ever come. The only difference was the teasing on my part. I fell asleep again quite soon, but I did not mention the dream to my beloved when we got up in the morning. I knew it would make her rather angry, and especially the Venetian proverb.