I find myself the only adult sitting at a desk in a classroom full of children. It feels a bit back in time; earlier in the 20th century. BUT -- we are being shown DVDs. The teacher passes around red Netflix envelopes as she puts the DVD in the player. It is midday but the blinds are drawn. Shafts of sunlight sneak into the dimmed room. Everyone gets a red envelope but I get the DVD's actual sleeve with mine, so I know the title of the movie playing (and, I suppose, I have to return it!). The sleeve says something like "The Dark School" or "The Dark Classroom." The movie plays in black and white. The opening scene is of unifomed children in a classroom. I remember a little girl with fat blonde braids in ribbons. Strikes me as late 1950s to mid '60s.
The children, all about 9 or 10 years old, steal glances at me and seem bemused that I'm there. I feel welcome, if a little bit on display. They look at me like I'm some kind of curiosity, which I suppose I am. I rest my chin on my fists on the desks and relax completely, thinking how great it is to just sit quietly in a classroom and passively learn.
Then we are about to be dismissed. We all stand up in a crowd around the door. Something (I can't remember) is going on with the children. Nothing bad, but something needing adult intervention. I bend down and help out. The teacher appears from the hallway. I try to hide behind the door but she points out that the door is frosted glass, so she can see me. It's all very gentle and relaxed, good-natured teasing.
I am going down the stairs out of the school and someone hands me a small sleeping child -- a baby even. Maybe no more than 2 or 3 years old. He is wrapped in a blanket. He is exotic-looking, dark olive-skinned, beautiful, also strange. His bald (or shaved) head is a sparkly green-blue color. He sleeps against my scarf, which happens to be the same color. His head against the scarf against my chest reinforces the memory of this color.
Someone -- and older child? -- behind me is following, either related to him or...?
I get outside and don't know what to do with him or where I am or where I am going. Like the school and the children, I don't recognize the town either.
I set him down. He has transformed into a tiny, adorable dog! I look at this little black dog -- with white accents -- with complete wonder. He is still wrapped in the blanket. He's awake and smiling that dog-smile, looking at me with bright, eager eyes.
Then I am all of a sudden asking directions -- to a place I heard someone speaking of, though I don't know what is there. Home maybe. But I don't know this place and I don't know where 'home' is. I don't know where my family is. It's like I've literally materialized in another world.
"Which way is ________?" I ask a stranger. They point in a general direction.
I see some buses going by and figure if I just get on one it'll take me where I need to go. I search for a place to catch one. The layout is confusing. I have to go under a concrete bridge. I look at the digital signs on the buses to see if I might recognize a place name.
Finally I catch one and sit near the front. The bus is full of seated people. After riding for a while I get nervous; I really have NO idea where I'm supposed to get off or if I'm even on the right bus! So I turn around to see a middle-aged woman with grey short curls and a somewhat loud floral shift sitting there with her purse primly balanced on her lap. She looks like she's stepped out of a Beatles "Penny Lane" video. I'm surprised to see her and her friend already looking at me with expectant smiles. "Excuse me, do you know if this bus goes to ________?" I ask her. She nods and says yes, and keeps staring at me. "I'm a little lost," I say, apologetically.
And she says:
"Oh no, you're not. We all knew you were coming. I could feel your presence for a long time before you even got here."
Now THIS dream has really got me stumped.