Method accepting two different types as parameter

Question

I am writing a method that should accept as its parameter an object of one of two types which do not share a parent type other than Object. For example, the types are Dreams

Answer 1

How about something as simple as this?

utterlyDestroy(Object parameter) {    
    if(parameter instanceOf Dreams){  
        Dream dream = (Dreams)parameter;  
        dream.crush();
        //Here you can use a Dream 
    }  
    else if(parameter instanceOf Garlic){  
       Garlic garlic = (Garlic)parameter;   
        //Here you can use a Garlic  
       garlic.crush();  
   }
} 

If the utterlyDestroy is too complex and big and you just want to call the crush then this does what you want

Answer 2

As I'm using :

void fooFunction(Object o){
Type1 foo=null;
if(o instanceof Type1) foo=(Type1)o;
if(o instanceof Type2) foo=((Type2)o).toType1();
// code
}

But that only works if Type2 can be converted to Type1