I was in the World of Tanks, but on foot. Matt, Bill, and Mike were also there. I could sense that Dave and Tim and others were somewhere in the village but I didn’t know where. The village was empty of people and sparsely populated with rural buildings—farmhouses, barns, a train depot. A few of the buildings were partially demolished, by tanks I presume. I could hear tank fire in the distant hills but I had a sense that they weren’t coming here. It was very sunny, bright, and I had to use my hand as a visor over my eyes occasionally when the sun would reflect off a building.
Pamela Anderson was there, the original Pamela Anderson from Tool Time with Tim Allen. She had on the overalls and the tool belt. She didn’t say anything. She awarded Matt a package of paper towels. On one of the paper towel rolls was written something that would allow Matt to unequivocally win at World of Tanks. We didn’t see her give it to him, we just knew it had happened. No one said anything about it, but it was a big deal and we all knew it.
We were standing in the middle of a wide street. Bill had the package of paper towels at his feet and was starting to open it. Without speaking, Matt communicated that Bill had better not ruin the paper towel roll by pulling it out by the cardboard center and telescoping it up from the package. We all quietly acknowledge that this was something Bill would do. I wasn’t sure which roll in the package had the writing on it or if the writing was on the outside of the roll. All of us were jealous that Matt had been gifted these rolls but we were trying to be happy for him. Bill was insulted that we all thought he would intentionally ruin the rolls and he walked off down the road. Mike took a few steps in the same direction as Bill and then stopped. He had his hands on his hips. He stood there for a long time watching Bill walk away. We could all hear Grodin’s thoughts in our own minds but we couldn’t remember them. No one said anything.
I turned around to look at Matt but he was gone, so was the package of paper towels. I knew what house he was in and I could sense he was there. I felt he was going to be okay. Mike and Dave and I walked into town. It was an abandoned WWII European town with dirt roads, or cobblestone. On the corner of one of the buildings there was a chrome toilet paper roll hanger. It was the modern day kind with a spring-loaded holder. Every building in town had these installed on them. It was clear Bill had done this. There was a new roll of toilet paper on each holder and written on each roll in fancy script it said, “Thine own self be true.”