I was at a poorly-lit, smoky bar watching the Sex Pistols perform. I sat at a small round table directly in front of Sid Vicious. They played their set, and the whole time I couldn't help but think "I want Johnny Rotten's autograph." But I didn't want to ask him for it, because I figured if I did, he'd hit me or something. Punk musicians didn't seem to be the type who would want to give an autograph.

They finished playing, and the band left the stage. All except for Sid. He stayed on stage and talked to the crowd. It reminded me of the whole VH1 - Storytellers thing, where he just kind of talked to us. I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying--I was still obsessed with the idea of getting Johnny Rotten's autograph.

Wouldn't you know it--someone walked up beside me and asked if I could borrow a dime. I looked up and sure enough, it was Mr. Rotten himself. I shot my hands into my pockets when it occured to me that I wouldn't have a dime. "I'm sorry--I only carry bills. I refuse to carry coins," I said. The person sitting to my right said "I may have a dime..." and I said "No! Don't give him a dime! I want to be the one who gives him the dime!!" Then Johnny informed us that he found a dime in his pocket so there was no need to keep looking. I sat at the table and felt stupid. I stuck my hands into my pockets again, and wouldn't you know it, I found a dime.

I turned around and saw him sitting at a table behind me. I said "Here's a dime. I don't care if you don't need it anymore--just take it. I want to be able to say that I loaned Johnny Rotten a dime." He turned to me and said "I don't want to be called Johnny Rotten anymore. It's John Lydon, okay?" So I said, "Okay, then I want to be able to say that I loaned John Lydon a dime." He said "Much better," and took the dime.

I went back to my table and sat down. I don't know what I did. I probably just stared at the wall, or maybe I just listened to Sid. I don't remember. But after a bit, from my left came John Lydon. He thanked me for the dime and shook my hand. But as soon as he did that, he started to twitch and act funny, and then within 5 seconds he aged about 40 years. Where once was a fairly normal looking 40ish man was now a frail and wobbly man in his 80s. He looked like he was about to collapse, so I stood up quickly and grabbed him. I said "You need to get to a hospital!"

I cradled him up in my arms and walked out of a side door along the stage which was most often used by the bands. I headed out through the parking lot past buildings and fields and whatever else was between us and the hospital. I wasn't finding a hospital though, so I decided to stop at the Target store up ahead. Sitting in front of the store were several girls from my hometown. I asked them if they knew where the nearest hospital was, and before they could answer, John said "Put me down! We're not going to a hospital! I wanna talk to these girls!" I was a bit shocked, so I just put him down like he asked. He slowly waddled over to them and put on his womanizer persona. I walked over to a tree and sat down until he was ready to go.

Return to The Dreams Page.