Dreams: August 4
losing my job & witnessing a spy ring
I'm in a little retail store with some others my age. I'm looking at
a round counter display in the middle of the room. There's a box of
"Sex Pics" that are actually refrigerator magnets made of red clear
plastic. When you hold them up to the light and look through them,
you can see the photos (like slides). I pick one up. It's two
cupids kissing. I look at another one that seems to be an old
Greek illustration of two elk fucking. The male is mounting the
female, and I can see its erect penis.
I walk around the display to look at the other stuff. There's a box
of realistic-looking plastic figurines of people. I pick one up.
It's a white young woman with reddish hair pulled back in a bun. I
realize that each figure represents an occupation. I try to guess
what this woman is. She looks like a scientist or a professor. I see
that the occupation is printed on her arm: "future teller". I'm
surprised.
Suddenly I'm at work. I walk into the usher closet, and some ushers
are in there. Chelsea is in the right back corner. Everyone's
gathered around because she has someone with her. I look and see
that it's a naked woman. At first she looks like a statue, a plastic
figurine. But then she talks. It's some foreign language. Chelsea
is hiding her in a huge brown box (the size of a fridge or sofa) in
the corner. It's some big secret deal, like she's an alien or
a foreign criminal needing protection or something.
I realize I might be working tonight, so I look for a schedule. There
isn't one in the closet, so I walk out through the stairs and lobby.
I see Cole running toward the theater with a box of playbills. He
must me late, I figure, scheduled to work as a door usher for the
Bowmer Theater. I go down to
the house manager's office and see a couple big schedules on the floor.
I look at this week's shedule, at the first day (today) and see that
I'm indeed supposed to work. The box says "#7", which is one
of the Bowmer doors. People are already flooding the place, and I
realize that I must be pretty late. I look at my watch, which
is upside-down on my wrist. I turn it around and see that it's a few
minutes after 2:00. Yikes! I'm really late because the matinee
has already begun. I grab some playbills and go up to the top door
of the theater. I go inside. A play that I've never seen before
is going on. I go down the aisle. I see Bow sitting in a seat, as
well as Charley
Hoye. I go down to the bottom. I have bare feet. I have a
wad of tape stuck to the bottom of one of my feet, and it's crunching
loudly on the uncarpeted floor. I stop and pull it off. I sit on
a ledge in the aisle near the bottom. My legs hang off and I'm
embarrassed to have no shoes on. I realize I can't go through the
bottom door because I shouldn't do that while the play is going on.
I somehow go out the top.
Lots of people are coming out of the theater looking for
playbills. Most of them are elderly. I see Aletha, who's putting
playbills in the outside box since I didn't do it. I run up to her
and tell her I'm late and sorry and feel bad, etc. She's
uncharacteristically cold, not saying anything. It makes me realize
how serious this is.
I go into an upstairs office (a big combo of the usher's
closet and house manager's office).
Noli is
on the phone. Her eyes widen when she sees me. She's with a top
boss guy, trying to cover for me. She tells him that I've shown up.
She says, "I don't know why she was late". I try to think of some
excuse, but I don't know why I was late either. I guess I just lost
track of time in that store.
I see a man enter the room behind Noli, through a back door.
He's along the back wall, sneaking towards a big brown refrigerator
box. I realize it's the one in which Chelsea hid the woman. Is
this some top-secret spy ring? I see the man has a black gun in
his hand. For a fleeting moment I picture myself stopping this guy --
rescuing the whole theater from the shooter and becoming a hero, saving
my reputation at OSF. But then the man walks out.
I focus back on Noli. She has a scared look on her face. She tries
to argue. I realize I'm getting fired, which is a blow to my stomach.
I love this job. I speak up. I want to talk to the boss bigwig
myself. Noli says, "What Maya?" really loudly, encouraging me to
speak up. She holds the phone receiver out towards me. I say
something, protesting, and I want to talk to him. But when Noli
puts the phone back to her ear she looks disappointed. It's a dial
tone, she tells me. The boss hung up.
The scene changes. I walk into a top executive OSF meeting.
People are gathered around a big table. Kimberly Patton is there.
Noli is reading a bulletin and everyone is listening to her. She's
subbing in for the main big boss. She has everyone laughing and
having a good time.
FIN