Only in Dreams

Hello. I thought I'd share a dream I had.
It was fairly bizarre, so this is as much an exercise
in catharsis as it is mere exposition.
To put it simply, I just had to tell somebody.

I can imagine the information I'm about to convey
being presented as exhibit in some sort of tribunal
concerning my societal deviancy and over indulgence
in comic books video games and horror movies.

At any rate here goes:

I don't remember exactly how this dream starts
but I remember a market. This market seemed to take place
in an environment which can best be described as a cross between
a massive many tiered shopping mall, and some sort of open air
(if that's possible indoors) fair or festival midway.
It was sort of like a flea market, with very unsafe looking
piles of various goods everywhere you looked, stacked
mountainously high,like yardsale skyscrapers.
There were also little food stands, not the sort of kiosks
you see in the food court, but the sort of makeshift portable
ones often set up at small amusement parks or concert events.
Of note, (to my subconscious mind anyway) was a pile
of old comic books that might've been encyclopedic in it's scope.
Although the word pile does not quite do it justice.
It was to comic piles, what Mount Everest is to rock formations.

I had been (for some reason or another, that had seemed
quite clear and perfectly rational as far as dream logic goes,
but as is often the case with dreams upon waking, since evades me)
following around a young girl and her mother, who seemed to be
enjoying the opportunity for a shopping expedition,
and were making a day of it. I say I was following them,
but a more accurate statement may be that I was walking
in the same general direction as they were, whilst
attempting to avoid detection by the mall(or festival?) security.

I'm not certain as to why the rent-a-cops in question where
after me in the first place, but if I had to hazard a guess,
I'd imagine it had something to do with similar behaviour to
that which I was exhibiting in trying to elude them.
Said behaviour involved ducking behind store displays,
running at high speeds, and clambering over counter tops
and escalators. At one point, I remembering scaling the
copious mounds of comic books, like some sort of mountaineer,
bounding from pile to pile, and then jumping onto other
hard to reach places using the 4 colour cliffs as a launch pad.
Not entirely sure what those hard to reach places where exactly,
although at some point I recall impossibly tall filing cabinets.

At any rate, if my actions in pursuing my escape route are any
indication as to my disposition in general, it's no surprise
I was brought to the attention of store personnel. I tend to
think they frown on that sort of thing, even in dreams
(where I imagine the rules tend to be more leniently enforced)

That being said, at some point during my running around the
mall/fair grounds like an incontinent chimpanzee,
(I believe I also stopped briefly to read some of the comic mounds
in question. Which might also have been why I was being chased.
The mall is not a lending library)the scene shifted to a sort
of lobby in some unknown hotel. Don't ask me how or why,
just go with it, I did. Anyway, this is where it starts to get
weird. First off I was standing around the lobby, and there
were these officious looking people talking amongst themselves.
They seemed to be some sort of social workers or something, as
there were a number of other people my age and younger in the lobby,
apparently staying at the hotel for some sort of retreat or conference.
At any rate, whilst they were chatting, I reached into my bag and pulled
out what was essential a toy water pistol (kind of looked like a super
soaker, with the water tank on top) only filled with candy.
Yeah that's right. The candy in question seemed to be remarkably
aerodynamic and pellet like (yet still edible apparently), because
the gun itself was fully functioning. That is to say, capable of
sending small pellet like candy hurtling through the air at great
speed and surprising accuracy. I was demonstrating said accuracy,
by shooting candy at people approaching the lobby entrance from
the street outside. I suppose I figured that anyone would be
delighted at being bombarded with candy flavoured ammo.
As one of my hapless victims approached the hotel entrance,
(apperently undaunted by long range confectionary weapon fire)
he seemed somewhat familiar. As he came into view, I realized why:
it was Jerry Seinfeld, sporting long raggedy hair and looking
for all the world like he had been living out of dumpsters
for quite some time. As to why he was at said hotel, I'm not certain
but I believe he was speaking to the youth or something. When he
walked in, he didn't even seem to notice me brandishing a weapon
that had most recently been used to propel unidentified flying candy
in his general direction. Or if he did he didn't mention it, which
was rather big of him.

At this point, I'm not certain of exactly what happened,
in what exact sequence, but I had left the lobby, (perhaps
fleeing the scene of the crime) and was exploring the
various floors of the hotel. I remember encountering other
people who were staying there, mainly girls around my age
who were with the conference/retreat. For some reason,
the hotel seemed to be ancient, less like a hotel and
more like an old forgotten castle or mansion. The girls
seemed somewhat bewildered and frightened, and I remember
that in this point in the dream the atmosphere became much
more tense and suspenseful. The halls of the hotel were
dimly lit, and carpeted with that sort of intricate
deep red carpet you only see in really old buildings or
in movies. For some reason, I was still running, trying
to evade some pursuing force, but as to what I am uncertain
now, I was acting on dream instinct, going with the flow,
reacting to events as they occured with whatever course of
action seemed most appropriate. In my dream I knew i needed
to escape something, and so I was, runnning up and down
staircases, and ducking into elevators.

Cue cuttaway scene. Don't ask me why, but for some reason,
a la comic book, cartoon, and campy 1960's tv show, my dreams
often have a "Meanwhile, in the shadows.." type interlude to
them, when the perspective suddenly shifts in order to fill
the "viewer" in on some other aspect of the "plot". Yes I'm
serious. At any rate, during this particular dream, the plot
point in question being revealed, was that the hotel was in
fact built on an acient pyramid/crypt type dealie
(apparently zoning laws are different in dreams.
One would imagine that an attempt to build a Howard Johnson
over say, the Giza pyramids, would be met with a fair amount
of resistance. Not so in this case evidently. Dream society
has no sense of history and culture.) which had once apparently
been the resting place of some sort of ancient being worshiped
as a deity. Said being was a gigantic creature made of living
sand, sort of like the Sandman from the Spider-Man comics,
only about the size of an apartment complex. As it turns out,
said ancient evil behemoth/living sandcastle had been awakened
by the appearance of the youth retreat group. Apparently, one of
said group, a young girl, was the decendant of somebody or other,
and therefore, was of paramount importance to the aformentioned
ancient evil sandman-meets-Godzilla type. I think maybe because
by using her in some dark ritual could me return to his full
power or some such thing. Not too clear, don't really recall.
At any rate, he was after her, and as any self respecting dream
protagonist will tell you, it was all up to me to save her.
(What do you want it's a dream, not Tolstoy)

So I spent a large portion of the rest of the dream running
from floor to floor of the hotel. I told the girl she was in
danger, and I think she got away somehow, not really sure,
dream didn't specify, but for whatever reason it was evident
to the dream me that she was no longer in danger.

I however, had yet to escape safely out of harms way.
Presumably as a direct result of my actions, I was now
being pursued by the nigh unstopable force of the
reawakened ancient evil....


Bom bom bom!!!

Cliffhanger ending!!

To be continued eventually!!