Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Burb in Dreamland

This is, to the best of my memory, the dream that I had during the early morning hours of Tuesday.

I am with Sarah at a theater. It looks like Kill Bill, vol. 2 is on the screen. The theater space is not a traditional theater with seats, but rather a open space that seems like a cafeteria or gym. People are sitting, lounging on the floor, which is covered by a dark-colored tarp.

I realize what the content of the movie is, but I don't take her out of the theater. As a fight scene begins on the screen, I try to distract her from watching by explaining that the movie and the characters are not real. It seems that I am succeeding in distracting her. She is looking away from the screen and is paying attention to me. Then she begins to fall asleep in my arms.

Just then, J.J. Abrams and a friend or entourage member arrive in the theater space and recline in front of us. J.J. wants to talk to me and we get into a conversation as the movie continues. Then, after we have talked for a bit, he disappears, as does the movie-watching crowd. Now I am alone with J.J.'s friend. We turn our attention to two people behind us in the corner of the empty space. It is dark, but these two are lit with a spotlight. They are preparing to battle each other, reminiscent of Kill Bill. J.J.'s friend informs me that this is something J.J.'s friends have to do. It seems like a sort of initiation or cyclical test of dominance.

Then I am in the movie. Sarah is gone and I have a small grey and black kitten that is asleep in my arms. This scene is taken from a recent David Lynch short movie I saw. I don't know the names of the two actors, but they are frequent participants in Lynch movies. We are all standing in a field (it feels like Texas or somewhere in the Plains--sunny, dusty) beside a split rail fence.

I am also here with some of my other friends from work, but I don't know who they are. They are sort of on the periphery of my vision, but I can't quite see their faces. I know they are there, however. As we stand by the fence we see another man appear. He is one of those Hey! It's That Guy! actors. I think it was the same actor that played the owner of the Double Deuce but he seems more quietly sinister than his character was in Road House. (After writing this I realized he is also the actor that played Locke's dad on LOST.)

He invites me and my friends (not the other actors standing at the fence) to walk across the field to his house. I agree to do so, but have to put down my sleeping cat in the weeds beside the fence, which is also bordering a drainage ditch and an asphalt road. I carefully put the cat down and walk towards the house. The Double Deuce guy also has two large, furry white dogs that follow along.

Once we are in his house, he allows us to choose three novelty items that are all laid out on a big table in his den (the sort of plasticky stuff that kids get at the dentist office or in a coin operated vending machine). I and all of my friends begin to examine the choices. I get the feeling that we can't leave the house without permission and that we are being carefully monitored.

Eventually I begin to worry about my sleeping cat back beside the road. I ask permission to check on the cat and the Double Deuce guy allows me to check on the cat, but only from the yard.

I go out the back door and then decide to leave the yard anyway. I leave his property and enter a small wooded area with small trees. It's not a forest, just a collection of small pines, sort of like you might find at the edge of a golf course hole. I have to jump over a small ditch to get to where the fence is. (I'm now wearing white ankle socks, but no shoes.)

As I crawl through the trees I can see that the cat is awake and is running back and forth in a scared, panicky manner. I can also see scratch marks on the cat's fur (an injury reminiscent of one our last cat, Pierre, sustained before he got sick and died).

I can also see a kind looking father and son has stopped their minivan beside the roadside ditch and is trying to calm the cat and coax it into the van to come with them. The father sees me slowly crawling through the trees. I tell him that the cat (which I am now calling Grace) is mine and that I am trying to keep her from running around and come to me. . . .

ALARM

****
So . . . WTF?
Is it a commentary on my parenting? What does it mean? It's been a LONG time since I've had such a vivid dream and I NEVER remember them.

2 comments:

David said...

You can see the merry-go-round video that I finally posted by going to Sunday's zoo entry and checking our the comments.

Sven Golly said...

Great dream! And very timely, as I've been prompted to spill my own dream-guts this week (http://istandcorrected.blogspot.com/). And despite our different - what - contexts, there are some common themes: kids, growing up, kids growing up, cyclical tests of dominance.