Maius Intra Qua Extra

Ever had something a dream recur and you can't figure out why? I just had this little snippet in a dream last night that I've seen maybe six or seven times over the last few years and it's just puzzling.

This is it in its entirety: I look down at my left index finger, then with my right hand, I grab the fingertip (index finger on the outside of the joint, thumb next to the finger nail), apply a bit of pressure and pop! The fingertip comes off. It is neither bloody nor painful. The fingertip (the distal phalanx, if one must be precise) is concave where it used to be connected to the finger, and the remaining part of the finger is smooth skin, like my father's fingers used to be (he had an accident which lopped off the ends of two fingers, long before I was born). It's a mild curiosity, and then I replace the fingertip on the finger, and it's fine - there's not even a line where they fit together.

It's just one part of a larger dream (not the same dream each time, just a dream), but I don't ever remember anything else about the dream, just that one little scene with the finger. Often, after I wake up, for an hour or so, I compulsively check my finger to see if I can get it to pop off again (because wouldn't that be cool?).

Weird, wacky stuff.