The Simpsons

attention, shoppers, a mother's love is forever,

But mother's love rat poison

Is only on sale till the end of the day.

Aw.

Mommy! I was waiting by the window.

Can I carry the bag with the milks?

I'm really strong.

I drew you picture.

Yes, she did.

She drew it in pudding.

oh. Pretty.

But we should clean that up.

No!

-No, no, no! -Fine, fine, fine.

-Pudding mommy can stay. -No kill pudding mommy!

You should've seen when I ate part of ketchup daddy.

no!

Look what I got.

Oh, I love you, love you, love you.

Oh, let's play bubbles now.

This is a perfect moment.

Marge, what's wrong?

It... It's slipping away.

You need to stop that.

W-what did you say?

Bart!

-Whee! I'm flying! -Ah!

Bart! Bart! W-what is happening?

No!

Oh!

Oh.

Oh, no. He popped.

No, no! Don't sue me, dracula!

did you say something?

Oh, I-I was dreaming about

Those bubble parties

We used to have with the kids.

But I was so sad.

Why were you sad?

Because I knew it was gonna end.

I get it. That's why, for me,

The last foot of a six-foot party sub is...

Bittersweet.

honey, you're drenched!

it's bubble juice.

Oh, honey, you don't look so good.

I mean, I think you look great,

But someone else, say, a doctor,

Might be alarmed at your pale skin

That is both hot and cold.

Why did we eat at Tuesday o'fridayhan's last night?

I had three glasses of froz-sé.

And a couple froz-oody marys.

we got pretty hammered.

Ugh. And then we bought hot dogs

From that sketchy street vendor.

Oh, but they smelled so good.

-Wrapped in bacon... -Hmm?

...Sizzling in that hubcap...

Oh.

-Ugh. -Homer, don't listen.

We have to keep the--

Romance alive!

I wonder why you didn't get sick.

The clinical term is: I'm all throwed up.

Should we call dr. Hibbert?

No, no, I-I'm good now, it's all gone.

All better.

Ooh, bounce-a-thon is tomorrow.

I don't think you're gonna make it.

I'll call the school in the morning.

I have to go.

I volunteered for three jobs

Where is he?

Peek-a-boo!

oh.

-Where is he? -

Where's my special little guy?

Bart? Where are you?

don't let go.

Hmm?

It's okay.

Your coat.

- -bart?

Can somebody help me?

I've lost my little boy.

Bart!

Oh no. I was just about to beat

These mutant houseflies at tennis.

What do you want?

I've lost my-my little boy.

you know this is a dream, right?

bee-eer-err.

Well, that would explain a lot.

yeah, in the waking world,

I'm not great at didgeridoo.

Is this one of those dreams

Where you know you're dreaming?

There's a name for it, somebody once told me...

I'm the one who told you.

That's right.

I'm your inner lisa.

I remember everything lisa ever said to you.

Exactly the way you heard it.

Really? So you can tell me what lisa said

About dreaming when you know you're dreaming?

Yep. It's a scientifical concept called "lucy dreaming."

It was invented by sleep doctors from a country somewhere.

Wow. She's as smart as old sheldon.

Since this is your lucy dream,

You control everything that happens.

So I'm the one making homer an otter?

Yes. He appears in many forms in your dreams.

Dad's an otter because yesterday

He was lying in a kiddie pool,

Eating nachos off his belly.

It's a table that's always with me.

sometimes dad's a clown,

Sometimes a potato,

Sometimes a clown-potato.

And sometimes, he's both of the property brothers.

-Why am I these guys? -Why am I these guys?

Never mind, I know why.

But why am I having nightmares about bart?

Did something happen?

How do I look at recent memories?

It's your lucy dream, you decide.

Oh. So I can decide that all my thoughts from yesterday

Are stored in, I don't know, the oven?

Sure, why not?

Hmm.

hmm. Here we go.

mom! Come quick!

whoa!

I'm here. I'm here, bart. What happened?

-Splinter. -Oh. That's it?

It's kind of bleeding.

Maybe not.

when did your hands get so big?

They're bigger than mine.

I dunno. Maybe I got freaky-big hands.

Tweeze, please.

I guess it's been a while since we held hands.

Ew. Did you get it?

-Hmm. -Thanks.

So that's why you're having nightmares.

Bart is super rude and full of splinters.

Maybe. Or maybe I'm just sick off hubcap hotdogs.

Why would awake-me eat those?

That doesn't seem like awake-me.

After enough booze slushies, you think you can do anything.

I challenged the valet to an arm wrestle,

But he turned out to be just a sign.

Why was I drinking frozen wine

In a casual dining chain restaurant

On a school night?

I dunno. After our meeting with bart's teacher,

You said you needed a drink.

Hmm.

Hmm...

Whoa!

Look, whatever bart did,

We'll pay to have it cleaned or replaced

Or for its therapy or--

Bart hasn't done anything.

I'm meeting with all the parents.

Even the normal kids. Oh!

Bart is normal.

I-I mean, we don't say normal anymore, I mean--

I-I'm talking to all the parents.

You're not special. I-I mean, you are, but--

What did you want to talk about?

As you know, bounce-a-thon means

We're getting close to the end of the year.

So it's a good time to talk about

The transition to fifth grade.

You know, last year of elementary school

And then it's on to middle school and then--

-Middle school? -

Then everything changes:

Girls, acne, drugs, body odor.

Listen, I've taught fifth grade.

Please buy your fifth-grader deodorant.

Like, real deodorant, not the "natural" stuff.

They may look like children, but they smell...

Like nervous cab-drivers.

The point is: Don't freak out.

Okay. About what?

Well, some parents start thinking,

"oh no. This is the end of my kid's childhood."

But fifth grade isn't the end of bart's childhood, right?

I mean, technically, it is the last year of it.

- -

Did you find out what happened to bart?

It's what's going to happen.

He's going to grow up.

Mm.

Damn kid.

It was such a strange dream.

Bart was four