12/22/01
Catch That Plane!

A strange one!

I was outside, and this had elements of "Darkness Falling" with how I felt. I was a bit anxious but also excited at being out. It was very early in the morning, close to dawn, and I wandered over near where the sandbox used to be. I have the feeling I was pretending to be Damien or one of my related characters, having some kind of adventure. It seemed to be summer and warm out, as I remember grass beneath my feet.

My view of the sky was a lot clearer and unobscured by trees and power lines than it is in real life, and the sky in the east--it was crystal clear out--was growing brighter. Just a thin line of yellow and red, the rest of the sky midnight blue. I don't remember stars. But the sky was perfectly clear.

I glanced over my shoulder--I was near the garage, facing the house--and saw a shape in the northeast. I stopped to look at it and saw that it was a plane, a big jet airliner of some sort. It was small from where I was, but I knew it was very close and very low. I watched it with some curiosity as it flew in a westerly direction, only to see it turn in midair. It didn't really defy the laws of physics, but the turn was still too abrupt and small for a plane of that size. It started on a different course now, closer to my direction.

My eyes widened. "That thing's changing its course!" I thought of the planes that had changed course before slamming into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and wondered if this might not be related. I DID know that it shouldn't be doing this, according to new post-attack flight laws, so something must be wrong.

As I examined the direction I knew it was taking I realized what was going to happen. "It's going to use the HIGHWAY to land!!"

The plane descended out of my sight, which is impossible considering the layout of the land...but you know how dreams work. There's a highway running by the front of our house and I knew it had touched down there, using the road as its runway. Unbelievable! The plane was obviously in some distress if it was doing something THIS drastic.

I resolved to run after it and hopefully catch up, see what was going on, help out if I could. I wasn't terrified, but I was hoping against the worst.

I jogged toward the highway, got out onto it, and started running. It was dark over here, not pitch black, but not optimum running conditions. The plane was out of my sight; I knew it had taxied down the highway, heading southward. My arms pumped and I ran as fast as I could. I remember taking leaping bounds, trying to gain some time on the plane. I seem to recall a car or two coming up behind me--perhaps I was on the wrong side of the road, or in the lane--and I may have had to move. I wondered if anyone would see me and think I was nuts. I seemed to be going slowly and yet much more quickly than I really could, both at the same time...can't explain it. It was almost like running through water, leaping, flying, sprinting all at once. I just recall the feel of the wind pressing against me, my arms with fists clenched moving through the air, every so often taking a bound and running again.

I would NEVER have such stamina in real life. I used to be able to JOG for ten minutes straight, but that was years ago, and that was just jogging in a gym, not sprinting down a highway after a runaway plane!

Well...I never did reach the plane, before the dream shifted. It was the same dream, but I don't know what happened; even my dream persona was confused. I seemed to be in some sort of gift shop with my parents, perhaps my brother and/or someone else. Ma and Dad, I realized, were looking for the plane too (I think). It was kind of a big gift shop, perhaps for an airport? Lots of stuff, rather interesting; it may have still been dark outside as the lights were on, lighting the place up warmly. Cramped though, with little space to move around in without knocking into something.

We all seemed to be a bit confused, not sure what was going on; perhaps we were waiting for someone to show up, or waiting to find out what had become of the plane, or...something. I don't know, but I never did find out what happened to it. I didn't get any great feelings of foreboding, so perhaps the landing went well and the passengers escaped unscathed. I feel it was more a problem with the plane than with any terrorists. Still, the thought of that big thing careening down the highway had made me nervous enough!

I know I had at least one other dream where I was telling this dream to Ma and/or Dad, possibly more than once because I never got to finish it before waking up. ;P



2001 Dreams
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