Hail to XKCD

Here is the original XKCD comic.

A living memorial

I'm on a bus with a bunch of people, heading out to a gathering which I know is a memorial service for Carl Paul (in real life, Carl has been gone for over a year and a half). We arrive at our destination which is in a park with a large gathering tent. I take a seat in a white plastic folding chair. Everyone is dressed a bit like hippies, it is a beautiful day and the air is warm. We see Carl alive walking around greeting everyone, wearing his tan leather jacket with the fringes in front. I think that it is strange that he is here, as if he knew he was going to die soon, and wanted to get everyone together one last time. We are all seated as he walks around with papers to hand out to people. I stand up to help him, because I know he must be weak, but he shoos me away. Finally I get my papers and I realize that they are individually addressed and that is why he refused help. Along with the papers is a small box. I open it and there are two items inside, presumably things he wanted me to have after he was gone. One item is an old HP calculator, which I believe to be more valuable than my own HP 32S. I am really touched by this gesture as I know how dear this calculator must have been to him. The thought crosses my mind whether to hock it on eBay or keep it for sentimental value because I wouldn't really use it. I quickly think that this is an inappropriate thought to think at a memorial and try to get my mind back on the service.

Observations: Our minds often confuse the living and dead when we dream. I didn't know whether Carl had an HP calculator in real life, but he was the type of person who would treasure one. I tried to find the actual calculator from the dream, it seems to be an HP 38e, but I dreamt it was bigger and had more buttons. Of course, I don't necessarily have to dream of objects that must exist in real life!