Category: Writing

I was in NYC last night – meeting amazing people. There were many details, of which I remember none. 

I almost missed the trolley. I was saying goodbye to 2 friends and I didn’t want to leave them. My luggage kept getting moved around. I had a large suitcase, my big black tote with the rainbow handles which was heavy and bulky, and another big backpack. It was hard to carry them all at once. It was impractical to have so much luggage. The first trolley stop was where we started our goodbyes but I realized my luggage was in a building closer to the next stop, so we ran across the city. I finally gathered everything and and we waited for the trolley but we had to stand in this tiny little area that was squeezed against a big wall and I was worried that we were going to get hit/smothered by the trolley because we barely fit in the space, especially with all of my luggage. When the trolley came I realized I didn’t have a token and exclaimed it out loud. A big and gentle woman at a picnic table slid 2 tokens toward me, one large, one small. I tried to decline but she insisted. I tried to take just one but she said it was after 11 o’clock, suggesting the fare increases at certain times. I finally started to climb on the trolley after several goodbyes and the conductor explained that the back section was closed, again because of the time, but the front section where we were allowed was having a technical issue because it kept spinning. This section was like a carousel. Normally they would only rotate if somebody was trying to get off or after people were seated and they needed to access other seats. But now it was stuck rotating pretty quickly and it was a challenge to get onto the spinning seats and try to get all of my luggage up there. I managed to get my large suitcase and the big black bag there but the tote with the rainbow handles was missing. I told the conductor that thought I had it but I left it inside and I’d be right back. She shrugged disapprovingly but allowed me to go so I started running because the building which used to be right there was now down the street through an alleyway with a series of curves and a dirt road with muddy sections and a lot of obstacles for me to tackle. I ran really fast and wondered if I had overlooked the tote, if it was still back by the picnic table or on the trolley all along.  I finally found it and started running back. I could see the trolley in my sights, and the lady at the picnic table. As I ran closer, I could feel the pressure of the trolley about to leave the station. I’m not sure if I even ever made it because that’s when I woke up. 

I was taking my houseboat to overnight camp.  Somewhere in the middle of the 2nd day of the journey, the first half began to sink. I was already out in the open with nowhere to go so I just took my chances to see how far I’d get. I was stunned to wake up in front of the place I was going. I went inside a bunk but the counselor, Jodi P., ignored me while she talked seriously to her kids. She finally recognized me and I asked if I could use the bathroom and get help with the boat. She said no she was too busy. I went back to the boat, downtrodden, and a huge current had come and swept it away. Mars was inside and I was frantic to save him but I didn’t know where the boat went. Rich W. jumped from the bank of the river, said it probably went to the rocks. We swam that direction to no avail. There was a set of bunkhouses in the way so I had to get back on the land to run to the next section of water that he might be in. Rich said he had to leave. I looked at him imploringly and started running up the hill to the next body of water I could get in. I knew the boat was somewhere along the perimeter, it was just very wide and I didn’t know my way around. Still I was determined to figure it out. I ran up the hill. Rich followed. 

I’m not sure of the order of things but I took a taxi ride and left a bunch of change on the roof. In another segment there was a minute girl with a broken leg. I think she morphed from some animal. Then when I was randomly standing with Matt with my bicycle for a time after the taxi ride, she needed help getting somewhere and I was the only option. We had to put her on my piggyback and ride on my bike. Before that though the other guy was really excited to meet her for some reason, like she was some kind of magical being. He was immediately “in” with her, in a non-romantic way, and praised her profusely. That made her question me because I didn’t give her the same praises. She said “you’re not like them. I can tell”. It was stern and cold and I thought she was disappointed and disapproving of me. I know she was a guide, a force, and a her judgment could send me to doom. I tried to assure her that I was a good heart. She thought I didn’t have a clean soul so I let her feel my heart and my neck with her palm to get my energy reading which was a little bit not great at the moment because something weird happened with the workday being too long or I don’t really know why, but I was tired and I was a little bit stressed out and I said “no it’s just been a long day. I’m OK I promise.” Then we went to leave and I had to work hard to get her on my back with the broken leg even though she was really small. She kept landing on the wrong part of my back and I needed her to go higher.  I said, “It’s because I’m sure they need you to be a pirate. Go around my waist”. She kept throwing her legs below my hips and sliding lower. I finally got on the bike. I went to get on the bicycle with her on it. The mounting was going to be tricky and the cabdriver came back. My money was still on the top of the roof except this time he said that I needed to get set up on a waiting list and then he would come back. So I started to do that and then another driver showed up and I explained to him what he was doing, that he kept coming back for gas but wouldn’t take the passengers. I knew the passengers inside because they were the same passengers that were inside and got dropped off last time I had taken a taxi ride. At some point I was also a snake. I was in a room and a man had a snake that he trained but it was still pretty wild. He kept it in the little foyer next to me while he prepared it for whatever he was about to do, and then he had to let the snake go until the snake tipped. When it would stand straight up he sprayed some kind of solution on it with a spray bottle. The snake saw me peeking around the corner at him. He was fine for a while, as long as I was very still and slow, but then I was sitting on a bed or a couch behind the door and I saw that he had noticed me too much so I tried to hide my leg and I shifted a little bit so that he couldn’t see me anymore. That made him upset and he came into the room where I was and started moving like he was going to bite me. I kept saying “take him take him away before he bites me get him get him away from me”. I was really really scared. I was trying to keep my heart rate low like when I was swimming with the shark but it was really hard. Then the snake keeper told me that he’d already bitten someone. That did happen with the man in front of me but I never saw it. He said that the snake chose to bite that other person instead of me. He was trying to show me that he wasn’t going to bite me but I couldn’t believe it.

I went to a pizza shop and ordered a pizza. It took 45 minutes. I accidentally got in the car with the driver who was taking a group home. They ended up at a party. The driver went to get something from his house. He was Czech and I liked him a lot. When he got there the electricity was shut off and this made him fall asleep. 

Finally was able to get him on the phone but we were gone for an hour or 2 and I was very upset. I hadn’t eaten and I left my wallet on the table at the restaurant when I went to the counter to see if they put my order in. I called and asked them to hold it until I got back but I didn’t know if they ever retrieved it from the table before someone else got it. When we finally returned I had no patience left. The restaurant was almost closed and the staff had changed over. The woman working refused to get the manager and said they would have to charge me for that. After asking several times and her continuing to ignore me I shouted very loudly to the air “I need a manager!”  One came and I tried to begin the story. I said, “I was here earlier and I ordered a pizza” she said “si, cons Dana”. Yes, I continued with getting stuck with the driver for 2 hours and all the things that happened. I said I want my wallet, I want my pizza, and I want it on the house. I didn’t want to get the driver in trouble. I still liked him.

Kelly A was also in my dream. I confronted her about blocking me on Facebook. I kept trying to soften her. It was the first time I saw her give a little. It made me hopeful.