In her dream, the staff and the board are all bobbing around in these weird bouncy chairs. Every once in a while, without warning, someone would be hurled into oblivion. Rachael, who is sitting on a phone book, says, “Hey, can we get some normal chairs?”

I start screaming at her that she’s being unreasonable. We’re a non-profit, I say. We can’t afford chairs.

When Rachael first came to work here five years ago, she had a choice between two chairs. One smelled like cat pee, and the other was broken and uncomfortable. I bought her a nice office chair. I said that no one should have to choose between cat pee and torture.

That was the moment Rachael decided she might be able to stay.

You don’t need to be Freud to get this. It’s about life in an under-resourced nonprofit. Eventually, you want to stop being jerked around, and to just do your job in a reasonable way.

That’s not a lot to ask. We have one more month to our summer fund drive. We’ve raised $45,443 toward our huge $140K goal. We won’t get there without your help. Please mail your gift to 2129 Second Ave., Seattle, 98121, or make a secure online gift at www.realchangenews.org.