Straw Cape

A river.  It sets a boundary that we know to never cross.  On our side, the shorelines are steep, grassy cliffs with narrow trails cut into the sides.  I spend most of the dream on this shoreline trying to escape something.

There's been an end of the world event.  I am often in the company of two men, but I can't recall if I know them in my waking life.  We meet another man who I think is dangerous.  My partners seem to be aligning themselves with this new person and allow him to threaten me.  I decide to slip away secretly on my own immediately.  I don't get far from before I find a small group of prisoners this man has gathered.  They are tied to chairs in the woods.  One is wearing a woven rattan hat and cape.  I try to untie him but his ropes turn into metal locks.  It is taking too much time and I fear discovery.  I steal his hat and cape.  He asks me not to but I tell him that I need them to be able to make the journey away from there.  I have a plan to find and join the "other" tribe that my group has known is in the same area.  I tell the man if I stay we will all die but maybe I can get back with help.  I don't want to point out what seems obvious - that he has no real use of the hat and cape anymore because he will probably be killed soon.  He lets me have the clothes and looks defeated and resigned as I run away.  I go  up the cliffs to the plateaus above.  I hear people coming so I use the hat and cape to camouflage myself in a patch of tall, straw like grass.  The people are running, looking over their shoulders.  They pass right by me.  I can't see what it is coming  behind them, but I have the feeling that it is something very big.

The Man in the Coal Suit

I was living in a small, run down apartment and preparing to across the courtyard to a nicer one.  I had been procrastinating getting everything cleaned and packed at the old place and it was coming down to the wire.  

Something died in the yard outside my apartment door and the body was lying there.  Then Leeloo was suddenly there with an ax embedded in her hindquarters.  She staggered to the ground and while I was contemplating whether to put her out of her misery she expired.  Now there were two dead bodies in the yard.  Sometime later a human corpse arrived as well and at one point was even sitting in a chair at a table in my kitchenette.  Rather than explain all these bodies, which I hardly could, I decided to bury them when I buried Leeloo and thus avoid any problems.  Keeping this grotesque secret sickened me and seemed surreal.  As the dream progressed, emphasis was laid on keeping anyone from coming to the apartment before I could get it all done.

Meanwhile, the most handsome man was seeming to court me.  His mixed signals were difficult to read.  He was flirtatious but at the same time it was as though he were joking and being ironic.  I thought I must surely be too plain for him, but as the dream continued I grew more sure of myself and when we were walking through a furniture store and I was talking about what I needed for the new apartment, his comment that all the two of us needed was the bed I swooned.  A puzzling thing started to happen, though.  On a couple of occasions I was certain he had referred to me as "he."  The dream never veered from first person view so I never saw what I looked like.  Did he think I was a man?  Was he gay and thought I was a man?  He said we should put me in a tuxedo and go out on the town.  He himself was wearing a beautiful, expensive coal colored suit.  I saucily countered that I actually looked pretty good in a tux, but I didn't have one. He said I could wear one of his and I agreed.  Again, the troubling thought came to me...does he think I'm a guy??  As we walked down the sidewalk, I finally made some reference to it and he playfully touched me with his hand and said "yes, I think you're a man"...but in that same unreadable tone he always used so that I could not tell if he was being sarcastic.

It was always nighttime in the downtown of a large city with only pedestrian traffic.  There were lots of people and large televisions towering over the sidewalk.

Once between my rendezvous with the man in the suit, I visited my apartment to find my mother there.  It was the middle of  the night and she had just arrived and was hungry, but refused to let me make her something.  She said she would get something herself because she needed to get  right back on the road.  I think we talked about what to do with all the corpses.

When I returned home from my final visit with the man, I knew I had procrastinated too long and I wouldn't have time to finish everything.  I was panicked as I approached my apartment and saw the door open and people milling around, only to discover that the landlady had gone in and taken care of all the bodies, Leeloo was still alive, and my new apartment was ready.

World Portal

I was a young, Asian girl. My brother and I were in a river trying to avoid a sniper. We'd hide under the water breathing through bamboo shoots, come ashore and lie very still. Suddenly I went through some portal (an object I was holding I think) to a simultaneous reality. Now I switched characters and was a great lady standing on the shore of the river as the Asian girl came towards me from the water. My dress was long and black with an ornate collar that stood very tall and upright around my head. I was both the little girl in awe of this woman, and the woman chuckling at the reaction of the little girl.

I took the girl to the city as a newcomer to my land. I did not believe her that she came from "another world." She had a book with her and I mentioned that fiction books were illegal here and that we did not encourage make believe imaginings. No story books and no make believing one was from another world.

Now I was the little girl again and my brother was in this world with me. The city was a tall, tall building with stairs and overlooks on the outside of it. From the height, through the trees, we could see the world we came from. The sandbar on the river was marked by a string of colorful Buddhist like flags. Elaine was on the sandbar, ducking from the sniper. As my brother and I explored this new city, an alarm kept going of periodically (from the portal I held?) to alert us there was a view open to our world again and we'd run as fast as we could and look to see if Elaine was alive and screamed and called out to her. We were very upset and worried she would be killed by the sniper.

The alarm sounded yet again, and this time I didn't have strength to run one more time. My legs collapsed. Exhausted, I wondered if I really needed to keep running to try to help or see what was happening to Elaine. Perhaps I could just leave her to take care of her own fate. Guilt swarmed me at the thought. I laid down on the ground with my face in the grass and cried.

Stolen Car

I was at a concert starring a famous woman I can not remember now. I was sitting next to Maine Dave. I was excited to see the person performing, but reached the point where I'd had my fill and was ready to go, so we left early along with one or two other friends. We walked through a long tunnel that lead to the road outside. The concert was taking place a few miles outside of Ore City, Texas. When we got there, I discovered my car was gone, except for my four hubcaps. I thought it was odd they'd been left behind and wondered if that meant the police had towed me. My phone had been in my car, so I borrowed Dave's to call the police. They had not towed it and put me on hold. A long time passed. I tried to think what all I had left in the car. I was frustrated that the police were not getting back to me so I could describe my car and they could possibly find it. I started walking around downtown Ore City searching for the car myself.

The search for the car morphed into that I was searching for Nathaniel. Apparently Matthew had taken him and run away. I was following on foot and then in a car, using a GPS to track their vehicle. I ended up in a strange cliff side town that you moved through by climbing up and down ladders. I spent some confusing time there, the memory is vague. As I began to leave the town, I heard Nathaniel's voice. I raced up a ladder and saw Matthew lumbering up, carrying Nathaniel with him. Right before they reached the top, I was able to catch up and grab Nathaniel's shirt.

I wrapped my entire body around Nathaniel protectively, but then Matthew explained that it was his turn in the schedule to have Nathaniel. I realized then that I'd gotten confused about the schedule and Matthew had not been stealing Nathaniel.

End of the World

Trying to walk to town from the lake with Ken. and Jes. All sorts of strange obstacles.

A bomb. People dismantling it. This town had been bombed in the past...like a kind of Hiroshima. You could see corners and hideaways where you knew the people must have ran. A little closet room that I knew had been occupied by an Asian teen...knew exactly how she would have come in and out through a side door, an entrance hidden from full view, to go about her teenage antics.

Still, always, trying to make it through the angular streets to downtown.

Then, a military group working near a warehouse open a sliding panel to an underground storage facility that had not know was there. A full size military ship is stored there and it has been sabotaged with a bomb. Confusion. Chaos. People running away fast from the ship. I realize it must be too close to going off to try to disarm it. I'm standing next to someone I know...Ken. M? A baby carriage careens towards me, someone has pushed it away in a desperate attempt to save the child from the impending blast. The carriage is black. I grab it and take care of it. I start to run. I lose track of the friend I was with. My own child is in the closet room of the Asian girl, but he's a baby and swaddled under blankets. I am running towards the room and him.

At one point, I stop. I hesitate, turn, and look back. People still scattering as fast as they can. The futility of it comes over me. Oddly, I am not afraid. I'm thinking perhaps it is time to just kneel down and prepare for onslaught. The running will do no good. I am wishing everyone would stop running so that we might, at least, have the comfort of one another when the end sweeps over us. That thought reminds me of my child in the closet room. Yes, must get to him...must be with him when the end comes. I begin running with the carriage again. The explosion takes place behind me. The world is suddenly thick with swirling black ash, big like pieces of burned paper...it fills the air...it gags you....it wants into your lungs, to smother you. I do not stop running. Part of me knows that there is little chance that my child could still be alive and that I will be too late to die with him.

I make it to the closet, swing the door closed and am relieved by the sudden freedom from the ash. Curious, I open the side door into that hidden back yard and the air is clear there. It's freshness rushes into the room, pushes out the burnt air.

Running out of Gas

My car ran out of gas. At first, I was anxious, but then felt better when I realized I was in my garage. I was happy that, if I had to run out of gas, it happened there. The next obstacle was trying to find a gas can and then figure out how to get to the gas station. Someone else was there helping me look, but then I remembered I had a six pack of water bottles filled with gas. I wouldn't even need to find a funnel! I could easily pour them in the tank and have enough fuel to drive to the station.

Alien Drones

I was standing outside with someone when, suddenly, we saw one of those alien drones in the sky. I was excited and a little frightened, unable to believe I was actually seeing one. But then the drone grew in size and bulk and began landing right in the clearing where we stood. It was loud and windy, like a rocket ship coming to ground. Now, we were a little more frightened and when the aliens alighted, it was clear that they were on a war mission. We ran and hid as best we could behind trees and rock outcroppings.

Eventually, I made it into the city-complex where I lived and hid myself...somewhere...maybe in a corner of the closet, or under clothes, or something like that.... I forget what brought me out at last....some sudden sense of urgency...an escape plan....

I began running through underground corridors with a small band of people, heading towards a deeper bunker level where we'd be safer for a while. We kept getting delayed by running into others and deciding to include them in our group...then we'd have to wait for them to get ready, etc. I remember one unpleasant woman who joined us and I looked at her sitting in the passenger seat of the large, electric cart we were now using to make our get-away in, and thinking that life in this newly forming underground community was not going to be entirely easy socially.

At last, we made it to the steel doors. As we passed through, the aliens were upon us. Many of our band began shooting and a firefight started. In shock, I saw some of our people killed. It seemed unbelievable, unreal. When it was over, we had successfully gotten the doors closed behind us, but we numbered much fewer and we had not gotten away with many supplies. The thought that haunted me was that, had we not delayed so many times in our race to get out of the city-plex, we'd have made it in time to shut the doors before the enemy arrived. Just minutes would have made the difference.

The Big Hill

I'm journeying somewhere by bike. My way is blocked at one point by a woman leading a donkey and cart. I stop and get off the bike, which I store in the barn,and follow the woman in what is either a house or a store. I do not remember what happens there, but when I continue my journey, I leave the bike and am suddenly in a car. I'm in the middle of the back seat with Loretta, Kris, baby Nathaniel and my mother. Jeff is driving and Christina is in the front seat.

We're driving down country highways towards a mountain. As we grow near, Loretta suddenly needs to make a pit stop. Jeff slows and begins to pull over and Loretta throws open the cardoor before we even roll to a stop.

"What are you doing?" I call. "Wait until the car stops! We're almost there."

"I can't, I gotta go NOW," she says and leaps out.

Shortly after, we reach the base of the mountain. We can see it before us, the road rising and dipping its way to the top. It looks so large and immense that I am frightened and do not want to drive up to the top.

My mother reassures me. It's okay, she says, except for the part where there is only 3 inches clearence. Does she mean clearence between the road and the drop off from the mountain? I sputter and try to phrase my question, but then suddenly we are at our destination. We park and have to walk the last bit. My mother and I carry shovels because we're hunting relics. A stranger is walking down from the peak and we try to look nonchalant with our gear because we are sure it's against the rules to dig up things on park land. Then we see that the stranger has a shovel too and stop worrying about it.

We get up to the top and there is a cabin there. It's a historic building and I ask whether it was built on this peak or moved here recently. No one answers. We are inside and there is a large window overlooking the view off the top of the mountain. In my perifiphial vision I can see the sunlight coming through the window, but do not hurry to look out it. I know that the view is going to be absolutely immense and it fills me with vertigo, much as the sight of this large mountain did.

Before I can work up the nerve to look, I am distracted by my mother coming in the cabin and immediately laying down on the floor. She's out of breath and exhausted from the hike up the last part with the shovels.

"I think I've rounded a bend," she says. "That will propably be the last time I do a hike like that. I can't do it anymore."

Now my brother is there too and he's opening a refrigerator and getting ice for her. We both work to help her cool down and catch her breath.

City Tower

There was a large and tall building that was almost like a mini-city. On one of the lower floors was the library. The library was due to open in a little while and I unlocked the door. I was still standing outside when Acra pulled up in his car. The road was a spiral that circled the outside of the building. He offered me a ride to the top and I said okay, thinking he meant after work. But then he indicated that I should get in the car. I went ahead and got in and when we got to the higher floor he said he had to rush away because he was on his way somewhere and hadn't left himself time for this extra trip. I thought how ironic it was that I'd made him late when I hadn't really needed a ride at all. Before he left, I told him that he should come to a party that was happening later that night. I told him I was sure he'd be welcome. In truth, I wasn't 100% sure because I think I myself was planning to crash it. It was some fancy affair being put on by a fraternal society or masonic lodge or some such.

I waved goodbye and started back down to the library taking the inside stairs. There was some weirdness about a missing dog or some other kind of animal and I came across a strange scene on one of the stair landings. There were signs that the animal had been chased around by people on bikes or large Tonka toys and that it had finally been intentionally run over. Only the bikes and some small amount of blood remained. The police were there and knew pretty certainly who had done it.

I continued the trek downward. At one point it was suddenly evening and I was at the fancy party. I felt bored and like I didn't fit in. I left and went back to the library. It was 9:30 AM and everyone else was there. I proclaimed that I wasn't really late, that I had unlocked the library and got it open before 9. Everyone laughed at me and said they knew.

Horseback Riding

I'm riding Whiffie, the horse I had as a child, through a parking lot. I see a hispanic man sweeping. I tease him, saying "is that my new broom you're using?" He looks confused and says no. I tell him my new broom is yellow and wide and ask him what his broom looks like. He says it's not my broom and holds his up saying this one is.....and then he sees it's yellow and wide. He is not getting at all that I'm teasing with him. I laugh and say, "but it's not my broom. That one is old." Then I quickly ride away, eager to escape the awkward situation.

I ride into a corner area which I have to jump over some people to get to. I dismount and two men standing there tell me how one of them owns a track for practicing hunt racing. Judging by the jump I just did with the horse, they think I'd like come use it. Whiffie, meanwhile, is pushing me around with his head and, at one point, back his hindquarters into me. I'm nervous being pinned behind him, certain he'll kick. The men talking to me is a distraction that is making me nervous because I can't concentrate on what the horse is doing. I think about the irony of how they think I'm such a skilled rider while, at that very moment, I'm thinking how nervous I actually feel around this horse.

Later....

A car with explosives that need to be disarmed. A porch filled with quaint characters. Sitting with them, then leaving to get back to the car.

Barry

In my bathroom with a man who is not well...he's lost one of his legs...we walk together down the stairs to the living room where a small group of people are standing. I recognize him then as Barry, the man who babysits for us sometimes.

Dream Notes

I was sitting with Kris at her kitchen table while she spoke on the phone. I wanted to write down some quick notes on a dream I wanted to remember and held up a notepad of hers with an inquiring look. She nodded her "okay" that I could write in the book, but when I started flipping through it to find a blank page, I discovered there was no blank sheet.

Bugs in the Couch

A classroom - sitting at a desk. A guy there whom I have a crush on - I have dated him in the past, but am not with him now. I'm wearing a ring that a girl has taken off the finger of a dead boy, her boyfriend. I'm trying not to flash it around because someone might try to take it away.

Mom and Steve are there. Steve says that, to cut down on the cost of some item we have ordered, one of us will have to drive the train and the other will fly the plane that's delivering it. I say that I don't want to do either, but that I definitely do not want to try to fly a plane.

Jean needs help carrying a bunch of stuff into storage. I'm trying to gather stuff up and carry a bunch in my arms. Then Kris is there explaining how she looked under the couch cushions in the teen meeting room and found it full of bugs. She was already mad that her daughter had been hiding under the cushions of the couch with a highschool boy having sex, and the discovery of the bugs made it that much more horrifying. She said she roped the couch off to keep kids away from it.

Broken Cup

I was holding a coffee cup when the handle suddenly broke off for no apparent reason. I coninued to finish the coffee, but was sadly aware that it was the last time I would be using that cup.

Bank Prank

I was standing in a waiting area holding a bottle of wine. Two women were seated, reading. My mother walked up to me and asked me what I was doing. I explained to her my elaborate plan to give this bottle of wine to my boss (who in my mind's eye looked like Ricky Gervais) for a dinner party because he had forgotten. She reminded me that I didn't work there anymore and shouldn't be trying to see the boss. I tried a couple of more futile times to concoct some reasonable excuse for why I should take it to him and how that could end up leading to my working there again. Finally, though, she got through to me and I gave up the idea, heading for the nearby elevator with my bottle of wine repeating to myself "I don't work here anymore."

Once in the elevator the bottle of wine turned into a small suitcase. I pressed the button for the lobby. The elevator started it's descent, but stopped suddenly and began to open it's doors to a floor I knew was temporarily closed down. As the doors began to slide open, I saw a couch set across to block entry. I hit the lobby button again, then tried to go back on my decision, suddenly longing to stop at the deserted floor, curl up in the dark on that couch and stay a little longer at the building where I wasn't going to be working ever again.

When I reached the lobby, the elevator started malfunctioning. The doors slid open and closed a few times and the elevator stopped three feet above the floor. I tried going up and down a couple of times, but could not get the elevator to line up with the level of the floor. I contemplated leaping through, frightened, though, by the possibility of the machine moving while I was half in and half out.

In a hazy bit of hocus pocus, Kris was somehow there and leading me out through a service door or something. It brought us through some duct work or something to an entrance into the local bank, which was closed. We were in the meeting room and I grabbed the items from the suitcase to begin arranging some prank as though we had had this planned all along and I hadn't just been stuck in an elevator. The prank had something to do with attaching a wooden, ceremonial mask on the face of a doll or teddy bear and then hanging that on the wall. We couldn't get it to work and we were running out of time. Worries ran through my mind of wondering if I would get in trouble at work if I got caught doing this and I tried to convince myself that I was off the clock and one should have nothing to do with the other.

At last, we had to give up. We knew someone would be there soon to open the bank. I began stuffing everything back into the suitcase, and then a bunch of extra stuff in there as well. It was all "free" kinds of things like postcards and whatnot, but I was grabbing at it all with total greed. We had to go and I couldn't stop trying to get more of this free stuff. Thoughts flash through my mind of how I'd explain all of it if we got caught, imagining myself opening my bag and assuring the person we were only there to pull a prank and all of these items in my bag that I decided to take were, in fact, all free. At the same time, I'm rushing to straighten up various things to hide evidence of our visit. Finally, we realize NOW is the time we must exit the building and we bolt out the meeting room door. But, alas, I discover that we left the projection equipment sitting right outside the door. So, I'm pulling power cords out of it like mad and trying to push the whole cart of av equipment out of the way and can't get it to go. In a panic, I point out the problem to Kris who shrugs and tells me not to worry because the TV cart was out when we got there and we never used it.

At which time the dream dissipated with the impression that we did make it out in time.