Dream Log: April 3, 2001 (idea)

For some reason, I was walking through the yard of a friend of our familys' (the same friend we rented the minivan from to attend The Horny E2 Portland Conflagration. She a lagoon-type pool setting with natural-looking rocks. It was night time. I was barefoot (I never, ever walk barefoot -- I am as militant about always wearing shoes (or at least socks) as srkorn is about never wearing them). I was running through their yard, jumping over cactus and hopping up and over large rocks, trying to avoid cactus spines, but the rocks went on and on, and got bigger and bigger, until I finally bounded up some enormous boulders. When I looked ahead from this new vantage point, I thought I saw my old elementary school in the distance.

Meanwhile, I remembered that I was supposed to be house-sitting for these people, so I went back in the house. I invited my friend over to smoke a joint with me on their beautiful patio. While I was waiting for him to arrive, I took my boots and set them on the stairs, except that in reality their house does not have a staircase, nor do these stairs lead directly outside onto the patio from the living room. It was dark, pitch dark (this is a "desert" neighborhood, where street lamps are actually forbidden).

The doorbell rang. I answered it. What looked like a married couple, both sets of their parents, and a little girl aged about 4 were standing there. They were inquring about "the room for rent". I told them I didn't live here, I was just house-sitting for the family that does. The father-guy said "well, we're very glad you're moving in" (??) and starting setting up dolls, little-girl wallpaper, and other such accoutrements around the bedroom (I'm not sure how we got there. It seems to me like the front door of the house somehow opened directly into the bedroom). I specifically remember this guy giving a frilly-costumed teddy bear a gentle hug before setting it on a cloth-covered rocking chair. Meanwhile, I took the little girl's hand and talked to her about the university system. I remember her being absolutely adorable and that I wanted to hug her (oddly, when I woke up later, I realized that the girl was my girlfriend's little sister at age 3).

Things get a little blurry, but the scene changes back to the owners' very nice living room, the one with the staircase that supposedly leads outside to the patio. It was still very dark in the house. I saw some kind of light come on downstairs (in their real house, there is a short staircase that leads to the bedroom wing) and some noises.

At this point, a sickening feeling overtook me, the kind of feeling I used to get when my brother and I had been smoking pot and were afraid we were going to get caught by our parents or busted by cops -- a feeling of being generally, irrevocably screwed -- as I realized that I wasn't supposed to be housesitting for them this week, that was last week! I'm not supposed to be here! What am I doing ?! I got the vague sensation that I was covered by something stifling. I fought against it and felt like I had been underwater and was frantically trying to swim to surface (this makes sense because deep water has always terrified me). I finally realized I was asleep and woke up, throwing the covers off of my face.