“Beetle”: Dreaming in Flensburg, Part 5

This is a good one from the dreambook.

There’s a red beetle. I think it’s a spider at first. I catch it in an old anorak’s zip pocket. Then I get home, and let it out. It limps because it was squashed in the pocket.

It wants to learn human knowledge, so I must think about topics for ages, while it sits on my hand and reads my mind.

Then one day it drowns for some reason. On its body is a small fungus thing, which is the real intelligence. The beetle was just its carrier, a la Aldiss’ Hothouse.

I was thinking of a Members Only. Not an anorak.