Here’s the back story:  I woke up early this morning – much earlier than I realized, but decided to stay up.  I put on the tea, and only then found out the real time, 5:30 am!  So while the water was boiling up, I laid down on the couch and before I knew it, I was asleep and in the middle of this crazy dream!  When I finally did wake up, it was over 2 hours later, and I’m more fuzzy-headed than I was at the earlier hour!  Nevertheless, I’m grateful for the extra sleep.  Here it is:

I’m moving into a new townhouse.  It feels as though this is the rent controlled place I’ve been recently talking about.  The townhouse is a single story, very nicely laid out, and I immediately get busy arranging the furniture and other unpacking.  With me is Charles, and he’s helping me with the heavy stuff.  I feel very tired all of a sudden, and decide to get to bed.  My new bedroom is all set out with my furniture, and I gratefully fall into a deep sleep…

I wake up with a start to find Charles sitting by my bed, drinking a pop.  I’m a bit startled and disturbed that I could have forgotten his presence the night before.  “Did you stay here the entire night?”  I ask him.  He nods, indicating that he slept on the couch in the living room.  I get up and go into the kitchen, but notice that the space between the kitchen and dining room has been damaged.  The wall has been kicked in and is laying there in a heap of rubble.  On the alert, I carefully go into the dining room and find that the rug there is totally saturated with water, and the contents of the boxes strewn all around.

I’m furious and scared!  “I need to go talk to the superintendent”, I cry out.  Going back into the living room to get Charles, “How could this have happened?  You were right here – did you not hear anything?”  He shakes his head, totally mystified by the turn of events.  I am suddenly aware that there are other people in the house, friendly, all trying to be helpful, but all total strangers to me.

“Ok!”, I say loudly, “You are probably all very friendly and helpful folks, but who the heck are you?”  A buzz of replies drown out each other, but I get a feeling that these are my neighbours whom I haven’t yet met, and who form a very close-knit community here.  Each tries to introduce, respond, explain in a hubbub of voices that make no sense.  “Someone has broken into my home and did damage, and none of you saw anything?” A chorus of voices affirm this, some of them wander off into the dining room to confirm the soggy ruin of the floor.

“I need to see the superintendent about this immediate”, I say again, “And in the meanwhile, all of you go home, get out of here and we’ll all get together later, okay?”  To another chorus of assent, disappointment, and promise, they all leave.  “This is very disturbing that no one saw or heard anything.  That wall was kicked in – it must have been loud.  This bothers me very much.  You, Charles, stay here and guard the place.  I’ll be right back,” I say as everyone finally leaves us alone.

I go outside and head to the townhouse where the superintendent lives and find that the entire landscape somehow changed.  Instead of the neat row of townhouses, I now find an entrance to a large structure, much like a mall.  Inside, I instinctively seem to know where to locate the manager’s office and head off to the left, all the while vaguely aware of the changes morphing from one shape into another. 

The superintendent’s office is not where I think it is.  I ask one of the numerous people around me where to find it, and am told that it’s been relocated to the other side, and point the way there.  The morphing has turned the place into a carnival with all kinds of midway rides around us, so I make my way carefully through all this chaos to the other side of the structure.  Here things are more normal, with rows of mail boxes, and hallways that lead to offices.  I see all this, but before I can get there, I suddenly find myself on an upper level, much like on a Ferris wheel – yes, I’m seated in a small seat and am on a downward plunge; at the bottom of which the seat goes flat and dumps me onto a slide that sprays water over my feet.  I’m burning with new fury, and scream to be let off this crazy ride.  The attendant hears me and hauls me, totally soaked now, off the conveyor belt (now when did *that* happen!). 

Again I ask about the superintendent’s office and am directed toward the mailbox and office area, but when I reach that place finally, things change again, and I find myself walking through what has become a children’s hospital.  It is very crowded and not very clean, with different liquids dripping onto the floor.  The children, some of whom are in wheelchairs, others in beds, still others walking around, all look well-cared for, but I can see the nurses struggling to keep up with everything.  I leave, carefully stepping around the dubious puddles, and finally find myself near the mailboxes…

… only to find that they are now fading out of existence.  My last thought is a wail of frustration that my new place is in ruins and unsafe.  I get an image flash across my sight of Charles still waiting for me in that townhouse, and…

… I slowly swim towards wakefulness…