What next? Will I start dreaming about $300,000 houses?

It is almost impossible to believe that I got gas for $2.03 a gallon just a few weeks ago. I got it at an East Coast on Midlothian Turnpike as I was filling my tank to head up to Philadelphia. That would have been March 9. When I got back to Richmond, I don’t remember precisely what the price was but needless to say, $2.03 was a distant memory.

Yesterday, my husband scoped that same East Coast as he was headed into the city, checked the price at $2.41 and made a mental note to fill up there on his way home. By the time he passed by at about 6 p.m. it was $2.47. And that’s about the cheapest it gets. BP on Robious Road is up there at about $2.57 (by the time you read this, who knows …) And if the pattern I’ve been noticing holds true, it’s higher still in the city and the West End.

Here’s the only funny part. The other night I had a dream that my friend Carolyn is driving me and my kids somewhere and pulls into this sketchy looking garage. A truck moves out of the way to reveal gas pumps and teenagers dressed in those natty little gas station attendant uniforms from the ‘50s. I am stunned to see the price on the pump -- $1.81. You know it’s gotten pretty bad when you start dreaming about the price of gas … and it’s still almost two bucks a gallon.