I am with a small group of people, young men and women, and we are all in an apartment. Before us on the coffee table is a bunch of photographs and we are passing them individually to one couple, who has a very large group photograph in front of them. They are obviously trying to match the faces of individual photos to those in the group. There is also a picture of a house. I know that I was in that house before, and am relating to the group what it looks like inside, especially the beautiful centre staircase going to the upper levels.
The entire feeling is one of intrigue. We must both capture someone while eluding others, and discuss the best way of doing this. It is inevitable that we must go to this house, but before we do, the phone rings and when I answer it, I am told that we are to pick up someone's mother at the station and bring her to this house. It's perfect! This is our way in.
We divide into groups, each with our own work to do. Another couple goes to pick up the mother, and I get assigned to a group of three, two men and a woman. It is our task to go to yet another house and look for certain items there - more photographs and some documents. When we get to that house, I am surprised to see that it's actually an old ship that was converted into a home, but even now is wrecked and old, and no one really lives there any more. We go in and in our search discover a cache of beautiful jewellery, like a pirate's treasure. Most of it is carefully wrapped up in pieces of cloth, but the cloth is old and crumbles to dust at the slightest touch, while the jewellery itself is in perfect condition.
I see a strange look on one of my companion's faces all of a sudden. He looks at me intently and then smiles gently. He looks through the cache and finds a pair of small diamond studs and tells me that these would look lovely on me. I shake my head and say that I cannot wear earnings, that they bring on a very quick infection to the ear lobe. He says that will not be a problem in this case, since the stems are of white gold. I relent, and let him insert the earrings, joking that the piercing may have grown over now. He is gentle and before I know it the earrings are in, and I marvel that I did not feel anything. I feel shy all of a sudden, and unable to adequately say my thanks for what felt like an incredible intimate gesture. He turns around and straps a small device to his belt, like a cell-phone holster, but instead of a cell-phone or a pager, what he is carrying in there is a Mars bar. We all laugh at this and go on with our search.
Eventually we walk out and find a car waiting for us. It is one of our companions, and she says that we must now hurry. We pile into the car and drive down the road until we see the large estate loom before us. We somehow know that the others who brought the mother are already there and as one, we take a deep breath, knowing our real work has just begun.
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