Only a Dream Away

An Unrealistic Drill

Another classroom scene. This time it's high school, and again I am a student.

My friend Chris (a high school teacher in real life) is teaching the class. She is in front of one of the entrances to what we used to call, in grade school, the 'cloak room.'

As if in a scene from a horror film, a slat appears in the wall of the cloak room behind her and an ugly white man appears. I scream as he reaches out and grabs her by the waist, pulling her into the wall. Everyone else is just sitting there.

"Grab her hands!" I yell, rushing up to the front of the room where Chris is disappearing into the wall. An old classmate from grade school, just in front of me, catches Chris's hands. I pull on my classmate's waist and we get Chris back into the room.

Then Chris informs us that this was just a drill to see what we would do in a '9-1-1 situation,' and that now we must fill out evaluation forms on how the drill was conducted.

This makes me furious and I start shouting and cursing that our goodwill (and not to mention adrenaline) have been exploited! I resent the fact that I have been so frightened for no good reason; in what realistic situation will some demonic man emerge from a hidden opening in a wall and snatch one of us away? Stupid.

At the end of the dream it is after dark and we are still at school. Other students are handing in their evaluation forms, which for some reason are all wrapped in plastic. I had earlier decided not to fill one out because I thought it was ridiculous, but at this point in the dream I begin to tear open the plastic of a fresh form so that I can voice my complaints to the higher-ups, whoever they might be.

Back in high school, not seeing my teacher's face, fire, a baby

I am putting on a high-school uniform in my home (one I do not recognize). It's getting late, I have to leave, and it's cold out; I wish for tights and magically they appear on my legs.

In the next instant, I am walking into my high school cafeteria (not any place I've seen before, but it resembles the student center at my university). Friends of mine, including my girlfriend Christina (whom I met at herb school just two years ago), are at a table, eating something before class begins. The energy is easy, we're all girls, laughing, gossiping.

The bell rings for class. I hang around until the last minute. I begin to run for homeroom/class. I have to cross the gymnasium to get to the main school building. As I jog through, I spy my present-day herb teacher, Michael, off to the side, with his back to me. He is walking slowly in the same direction but is beginning to turn to the left, behind some kind of temporary curtained structure, like one where you might hide the sound equipment for a show. I do not call out to him but pick up speed and run through the exit.

In the next scene, I am not in any kind of class -- or at least, it doesn't seem like a 'class,' but it is still in high school. Some kind of student gathering? We are in a small, crowded room -- maybe 15 of us or so. It has elements of ritual. We are seated on the floor, singing. Cushions under some of us. Muted light, candles maybe. Reclining, propped on my elbows, I crane my neck and discover that  behind my head is some kind of vase that holds many feathers and incense sticks. All the incense sticks are lit. The feathers are large, brown-and-white-striped. Some of them poke out through holes in the bottom of the vase and their quills are lit, giving off incense as well.

I have the feeling I am supposed to be minding this strange vase with its smoking contents. One of the incense sticks set some object nearby aflame already, and I had to put it out (I do not remember what the object was, only that it was draped with fabric or ribbon -- and I think I just used my hands to extinguish the flames).

I face forward and see Michael again -- he has just come into the room, into the center. He is wearing his mustard-colored shirt. Again, his back is to me -- he is turned at the waist while seated on a chair, reaching behind him for something -- I sense that it is a musical instrument. Others are playing musical instruments in the room now.

I turn back to my incense/feathers and prevent another small fire from breaking out. All of a sudden this time there is a baby sitting next to the vase, dressed in a pale green onesie. He is surrounded by a circle of tealights. I'm mildly surprised that he's there, but I am not alarmed, in fact to see him there is pleasant. He's chubby, less than a year old, giggling, and adorable. I stand up and pick him up to cuddle him. I don't know whose he is.