04/24/03
Darkness Falls On Mackinaw
This dream is from my nap of 4/23/03.
Although I didn't know it at the time, this dream has a strong sense of "darkness falling" to it.
I believe I was in what was supposed to be Mackinaw City. There was a big beach, though it didn't seem to be rocky like Lake Huron is; and there were numerous quaint streetlights, which is what led me to believe it was Mackinaw. (Mackinaw's streets are actually lined with small trees decorated with lights which are kept on all year long. In my dream, these were replaced by small quaint streetlights, like those old-fashioned lanterns.) The sun was setting and there was some kind of party going on on the beach. There was a slope of sorts above the beach, grassy, and this was where the bulk of the action was centered. It wasn't a noisy rowdy party, just a big gathering of friends, talking and maybe listening to music. I felt very relaxed in the dream, so I was comfortable and not self-conscious like I normally would be.
The dream is fuzzy now so I can't recall most of what was going on; mainly it involved me walking down the beach (the lake was to my left), looking around. I may have had a camera to take pictures of the sunset, though I don't actually remember seeing the sun itself. I only knew it was getting darker. The people around me seemed to be people I knew as students in school; perhaps Russell E., an old friend, was there, and maybe Mya, too. I didn't really interact with them but I was glad we were all here.
At some point I ended up walking along the street above the slope, rather than along the beach or on the slope itself; this is where I saw the streetlamps. They were all dark, and it was getting VERY dark outside so I was wondering when they'd turn on. It was getting very hard to see, and thus hard to enjoy what was going on. People had to be careful not to run into each other and such, so we were walking around very carefully, squinting and not moving quickly, which put a bit of a damper on the fun. I couldn't figure out why the lights hadn't been turned on yet, though there was something to the growing darkness--it was a dark, dark red color all around because of the sunset--that I liked. (Hence a possible "darkness falling" theme.)
I think I passed a group of people chattering and laughing and suddenly decided to go down to the water itself. I wanted to get my feet wet! I was wearing my blue cloth sandals; they're very sturdy, with thick rubber heels and Velcro straps, much sturdier than rubber sandals, but they always make my ankles blister. I don't care about that though. I think I went running down to the water and went in, getting my feet all wet. I don't remember the sensation of cold so perhaps the water was warm. Truthfully, this part is fuzzy and I don't actually remember doing this, but I do remember turning and walking back up the slope toward the people again, because this was when I noticed something wrong with my sandal.
I'm not sure how I noticed; maybe my step felt funny, or maybe I had taken my sandals off to hold them in my hands. In any case, I noticed that the thick rubber heel was missing from one of them. In real life the entire sole of the sandals is one piece, and probably cannot break off in this manner, but in my dream the heel section was separate, like that on a shoe, and it was made much like shoes are also, with nails or tacks or glue or something. The heel had detached because the sandals are old and have received much usage (I've had them since at least 2000, when I remember walking across a long footbridge in them--I still have the scars), and it was now missing. This surprised and upset me, though I tried to keep my head. I had to retrace my steps if I wanted to find the missing heel.
I turned around and went back the way I had come. At first it was just the heel section, but then I noticed that other bits and pieces of the sandal's sole had gone missing also. I picked these up as I went along and was fortunate enough to find them all; at one point it was as if I climbed up over a mattress or a stack of mattresses and had to reach down behind one (maybe it was standing on its side?) to retrieve one part (the heel itself?), and there were people around me--this seemed to be in a well-lit carpeted bedroom, maybe a teenager's room--but then I was at the beach again. I had to be careful of what I was doing lest I run into or upset anybody, for some reason. I finally got all the pieces and stood and tried to see if I could fix my own sandal, or if it was beyond all hope. I was very upset with the idea of having to possibly toss them, as they ARE very good sandals, even if they make me blister.
First I tried to attach the heel, but that didn't work; there were some other layers or parts beneath the heel that had to be reattached first. I seem to remember a tack or something sticking out of the middle of where the heel would be; that area was white. There was also a layer of rubbery glue or some kind of adhesive. I think I tried putting the glue part back on, maybe another small part, and then attaching the heel, but it wouldn't stay no matter what order I tried all of this in. I had to face the fact that I just wasn't a cobbler. :( I was very sad now. These sandals and I had been through so much together; I would never find another pair that would last so well. I stood here in the dark with other people partying around me and wondered if I could find somebody who would fix them for a fee. And then I DID have a slight, brief thought of how ridiculous that thought had been; who the hell would fix SANDALS for a living? But then I entertained the thought yet again, pushing logic aside. There HAD to be a way to get them fixed. Sure, it would be easier to just buy another pair, but I wouldn't know where to find another pair like these ones. They still have bloodstains from my blisters on them in real life; I feel rather close to them, y'know. :/
The dream gets very vague here. There was more, involving a woman accused of murdering somebody, possibly her children; and I do think it was meant to be the same dream. It was interesting and important, in the dream. But I can't remember the details. I believe this part was influenced by the current Biography of Aileen Wuornos, a female serial killer. She didn't kill her children (if she even had any), granted, but I seem to remember her name in my dream, and she DID kill SOMEBODY.
At least until I found my sandal(s) breaking apart, being on this beach, even though it was so damned dark, filled me with a sense of peace and contentment. It was hard to see, granted, but it was warm and welcoming and I liked it there.
Gotta Love Them Apes
This dream was from my regular sleep. I only remember two snippets of the whole of the dreams I had so I'll post those.
In this one, I had some Planet Of The Apes action figures and for some reason I was very thrilled to have them! I think it was nighttime and my parents were in the living room talking about something. I'm not sure if first the topic of Planet Of The Apes came up (for whatever reason) and I then went to my room, or if it was the other way around, but in my room, at the foot of my bed in a chest or something, I located some action figures I had, representing some characters from the story. They were all ape characters, not any humans. I remember Roddy McDowall's character (Cornelius), the female chimp (Zira, I think), and somebody else, another chimp, possibly. These were small figurines, unposeable, I believe. I had a whole bunch of them and was proud of them. o_O I dug around looking for a particular character I liked. I was having trouble finding them, but I think I did. I'm not sure if I had the whole set or not.
I left my room and went out to the living room, and this may have been when the topic of the movie came up. I went back to my room and dug around in a slightly different area, I think, and this time found LARGER action figures, poseable, I believe. I don't think I had as many of them. These were about the size of the old-fashioned action figures--maybe about Barbie's or GI Joe's size. I had at least three, possibly more. Cornelius, Zira, and the other character I really wanted to find. I think I also had an orangutan character (Dr. Zaius?), and perhaps a child chimp. I don't remember seeing any of the gorilla characters. I remember running my fingers over their shiny plastic forms and then pulling out a few and taking them to the living room with me. I found it fortuitous that my parents had been talking about the movie right when I'd remembered having these toys, and I showed them the ones I was holding in a sort of "Ta-da!" gesture. Why was I so proud of them and so pleased with myself? Well, I now I liked the fact that I could illustrate what we'd been talking about, right at that moment--it gave me a smug feeling--but I have no clue why I liked the toys so much. I don't play with action figures, never have, and I've never much cared for Planet Of The Apes, either. o_o;
I don't think my parents were as impressed as I'd wanted them to be. They just kind of looked at me and that was it. Ho-hum.
This dream may have continued in or may have then shifted into "Grumpy Squirrel."
Grumpy Squirrel
This dream may have continued from or shifted out of "Gotta Love Them Apes."
This one is from my regular sleep. It concerned the flying squirrel that continues to pester us. In real life we have a flying squirrel who keeps stopping by for food, no matter how often the cat tackles him. In fact we have the theory that the two of them are in cahoots, as I witnessed the cat standing behind the VCR--just STANDING, not pawing or biting or anything--while the squirrel crouched in the corner and SCREAMED. It's almost as if the cat was whispering, "Squeak louder! Squeak louder! They're onto us!" We make jokes about the two of them pretending to be enemies, when in fact, when nobody's looking, the cat plays with the squirrel, and lets him in to get food as part of the bargain. And whenever humans are watching, he pretends to hunt the squirrel and the squirrel pretends to scream in pain.
Anyway, the squirrel MAY or may not have taken up residence in our couch. We keep catching it and letting it go outside, but it keeps coming back for more! Stubborn little thing.
In my dream, the squirrel had returned one night, and I got the little rat carrier and tried to catch it. I did catch it once, but when I tried to lift the carrier a bit so I would not hurt its tail (this happened in real life), it escaped. Drat! So I chased it again and finally caught it once more. (I'm not sure if the cat was helping or not.) Its tail again got in the way, but this time I was very careful and managed to entrap it. Yippee! I put the lid on the container, I think, and held it up to look inside. When this happened in real life I commenced taking lots of pictures as it was so cute. In my dream, I merely looked in at it as I had before.
And it made this FACE at me!
In real life a squirrel or rodent of any kind would not be capable of making such a face as this. It got this really GRUMPY look, not a scowl, but just this really annoyed, grumpy look; severely downturned mouth, dark eyes, brows drawn together, everything. And it was SO FUNNY! It just made this ANNOYED face at me, this exaggerated expression (its head even seemed to get bigger), and I knew it was showing me its irritation with the situation. I had to keep myself from laughing, it was so amusing. This was one smart squirrel to be able to evoke such emotions in a mere facial expression.
"I wish I had the camera!" I exclaimed. And I really did; this look was classic. Unfortunately, it lost that expression and returned to normal, or at least semi-normal, though I did still go to get the camera and I think I took a few pictures of it, as it was still cute. I had loved that look, like little stormclouds had just drifted over its head. Like it had been thinking, "Great, I'm caught, AGAIN!" You really would have had to seen it to understand how funny it was to see such a look on such a cute little face. Almost like watching a little fluffy woodland creature turn into Oscar the Grouch or something. I think it was the fact that the squirrel was human enough to show such an exaggerated emotional reaction, rather than the expression itself, that made me want to laugh. I knew this was no normal squirrel when it did that.
Columbo's Lazy Eye--Explained!
I remember only a vague little snippet from my nap, and it was influenced by the current Biography. I can't remember who it was--an actress--but when I awoke and asked Ma about it, she said in one part the woman had been in an accident and had gotten a scar on her face. Robert Stack was in the show, and he popped up in my dream.
In it I was either looking at pictures or watching it on TV and they mentioned Robert Stack just as they showed a nearly unrecognizable picture on the screen. It was a black-and-white shot, old, and I had no clue who it was, but as soon as they said his name I knew it must be Robert Stack. I even said, "Hey, that IS Robert Stack!" For some reason it was his eyebrows that tipped me off. o_O He might have looked more like a young Dean Stockwell. I think it was a picture of him from an old war movie. I think in my dream he was the boyfriend or the husband of this woman they were talking about.
Then they said something about somebody being shot in the eye, and I was surprised. It changed now and the person who had been shot was not Robert Stack, but Columbo. Not Peter Falk--but Lt. Columbo, himself. As if he were a real person and not just a character. I saw a shot of him sitting in a car (taxi?); I can't remember if it was the back seat or not, but his head was tilted back a bit (he faced the right side of the screen) and his eyes were closed. There may have been a woman (the actress?) beside him (to his left, sort of behind him), and she looked concerned and upset and was tending to him or leaning over him. The voiceover went on. I was shocked that Columbo had been shot in the eye, but judging by the way he looked (I saw no wounds--he was nearly in profile) and the way they were talking, he had lived. I was surprised; I assumed this must be the reason why he has a lazy eye to this day.
Ma came into the room from the dining room now as they were talking about this and I said, kind of snarkily, "He's still alive, Ma." She had expected him to be dead and wanted to see what he looked like as such, but somehow Columbo had beaten the odds and survived. I don't think he even lost his eye. I was confused about this, I admit. I couldn't believe he'd been "shot in the eye" as the voiceover said, yet hadn't suffered even a moderate injury. (I seem to remember them saying something about the eye being torn out or something, but I saw no such thing on the screen.)
I'm not sure if Columbo was supposed to have taken Robert Stack's place, or if he was a completely different person altogether; if he was in a relationship with this woman also, or not. Very confusing. Everything about him in this dream surprised me. I asked Ma, on awakening, if somebody on TV had been "shot in the eye," but all she could tell me was the actress or whoever had been in an accident and had gotten a scar.
2003 Dreams
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