ZUDEMA

12007 April 02

I said something to the other person as i turned to the south and looked out the sliding glass door, onto the patio. I was at my grandfather’s house at $P12. The patio outside was covered with large flat paving stones, and it was enclosed by a short chain-link fence. There were some bushes along the western edge of the patio that seemed to be leafless. It seemed to be early spring here, and the area was damp with rain. I then noticed that there was a small car pulling onto the front lawn of the house. It drove off of the main road, which now seemed to be on the north side of the house, and entered the lawn through a gap in the ashen-tan line of bushes. I felt suddenly annoyed that someone would be driving on the lawn of this house i just moved into. The car followed a worn trail in the grass, turning to the west. The woman in the front seat of the small blue car glanced at me as she drove close to the northwestern corner of the patio. She lived in one of the adjacent houses, and i thought that the neighbours were using the lawn to enter their houses. I was upset that they were doing so, and walked across the patio, to the west, to tell them not to do so. There was a wide gap in the wooded area between the houses, and the car drove down the center of it. I did not want the neighbours driving over my lawn, so i followed the dirt road into the woods. The wooded seemed to be damp, and all of the trees had thick green spring leaves. The undergrowth also seemed to be fresh and green. As i came to the center of the wooded lot, i suddenly felt as though i was in danger. I stopped and looked to the south. There seemed to be something in the woods that was dangerous. I decided that i should not follow the woman any further. I turned back to the east, stopping on the muddy track to listen for a moment. I thought that i could hear the howl of an animal, but i could not be sure. I started to feel scared, and looked back to the others, who were still standing on the patio of my house. I thought that i could fly to them to cover the distance between us quicker, but something seemed wrong. I felt that i could not do such a thing. I had to move back to the house, but i felt confused, unable to figure out what i was doing.

12007 April 04

I had just entered the classroom from the doorway in the northern end of the eastern wall. The wooden armchairs were arranged in rows and columns, facing south. There seemed to be a teacher standing at the front of the room, along the southern wall. I started to feel that something was wrong here, and i realized that many of the people in the class were sitting silently in their chairs, as if meditating. They were Christians, and they were trying to take over the classroom. I felt defensive against them, and was annoyed with them for their intrusion. The female teacher sat quiet at the front of the room, but i could tell that she was uncomfortable about the meditating students. I walked to the western side of the room, where i was going to sit down in my chair. Several other people had entered the classroom with me. As i reached the western side of the room, a man, who had entered behind me, spoke out in protest, asking why he had to put up with all of the Christians in the room. I felt a little relieved that someone had spoken out about the intrusion. I comforted me a little to know that i was not the only one who felt uncomfortable about being subjugated by the Christians. The class continued, but i knew that this was a dangerous situation. The Christians were being taught to judge others negatively and to publicly disgrace them. I walked to the west, along the northern side of the classroom. The teacher was sitting on the eastern side of the southern wall. She seemed calm and pleased, and i knew that she was now one of the Christians. I felt very uncomfortable here, realizing that the Christians had slowly taken over the school, so that no one was now allowed to think any thoughts that were not Christian. I continued to the west, leaving the grassy area that was the classroom. I walked between the two structures, which seemed to be the western wall of a stadium. The green manicured grass was behind me. I felt uncomfortable about the Christians, and i knew that they would be plotting against me simply because i was not a Christian. I turned my car to the south, heading down the narrow crudely paved road along the western side of the fairgrounds. I felt as though i was heading into the center of the small town. Before i got to far, though, my car started to sputter. I pulled it off into a gravel turnaround on the western side of the road. I felt suddenly upset, thinking that the Christians had done something to my car. I quickly turned off the car before the engine was damaged. I stepped out and walked along the driver’s side. I thought that they had put sugar in my gas tank. I opened the black gas cap near the rear of the car and saw white foam bubbling out of the tank. Someone had put sugar into the gas. I felt suddenly upset, realizing that there was no one i could report the incident to. Everyone was under the control of the Christians now. They had beaten me, and i felt distressed and hopeless.

I drove to the south, heading toward $P7. I was coming back here for something. There was a man in the passenger’s seat of my car. I did not know him very well, but i was giving him a ride somewhere, and i felt very interested in him. As i approached $P7, i remembered that my mother had called me on my cell phone and had left a message. I had forgotten to call her back. I thought that she was checking in on me to see if i my flight had made it here safely. I called her as i turned the car around the southern side of $P7. I spoke to my mother over the cell phone against my left ear, telling her that i was here. She seemed disappointed to find that i was waiting at $P7 for $F4. I knew that she would be upset that i was not doing exactly what she wanted me to do, but i had already made other plans. She was distraught, and asked me when i was going to meet $F4. I told her that my flight got in early, and that i was going to meet $F4 around five. I then looked at my watch and realized that it was only a little after one. I was unaware that it was so early. I did not realize that it was such a long time, and i thought that i could have stopped by my mother’s to see her. I did not know what to do, and looked out the window of the car, to the south. I was parked in a large grassy yard to the southwest of $P7. A series of tan stone arches ran along the southern side of the yard. Several young children were playing around us as i spoke on the cell phone. I decided that i should come back here later, and i started to drive to the southeast. There was a round pavilion just to the northeast of me, which had arches matching the design on the outside of the yard. These arches, however, seemed to be open so that people could walk in to the roofless pavilion. I tried to move my car between the arches of the pavilion and the small trash barrel in the yard, which was decorated to reflect the style of the arches. There seemed to be enough room to pass the car through, but, as i got between them, i heard a scratching noise on the passenger’s side of the car and realized that i was scraping the side of the car against the barrel. I was annoyed that i was scratching my car, but i continued. In a moment i was driving to the northwest, through the city streets. I spoke to the man in the passenger’s seat. I did not know him well, but i felt very interested in him, feeling that he was a very nice person. I was driving him home, but i suddenly started to wonder if i was traveling in the correct direction. I asked him where he lived, and he told me a street address. I felt slightly relieved, knowing that i had been going in the correct direction. I felt comfortable with the man, and wanted to talk to him some more.

12007 April 06

I was on the second floor of my parents’ house, near the small bedroom where i used to sleep. I was collecting my things to get ready for school, but i felt as though i had already missed the bus. Someone said something to me from the central bedroom, which was to the west of me. I replied and i tried to pack my black backpack. I felt confused, wondering if i had really missed the bus. I started to pack the small paperback book into the front pocket of the bag, but then i realized that it was a book for my english class. I realized that i had not been reading anything for the english class in a very long time, and i started to wonder if i had been attending the classes. I tried to convince myself that i had not been taking english this semester, but i felt as though i had simply forgotten about it. I knew that i had dreams where i was forgetting to attend classes, but i thought that this must be different. I looked at the brown book as i put it into the bag, thinking that i should have been reading. I felt unprepared for school. I turned around as the others continued talking to me from the west. I felt distracted and uncertain, feeling that i should have been doing work, but i could not focus on what that work should have been.

12007 April 09

I followed $G4 into the small room of the old building. This place seemed to be an abandoned factory, with cinderblock or stone walls. I entered the room from the southwest. The others were gathered around, looking for marks that would tell us where to go next. I looked down to the cement floor to see the large blue circle, which had been drawn in chalk. I passed over the circle and headed to the west, where there was a gap in the western wall. Beyond the gap was an outdoor room with on ceiling. I could see several people wandering around looking for the trail. I then noticed that a horizontal blue chalk line on the western wall. I stopped in front of it, wondering why no one else had spotted it. I then thought that the others were probably looking on the ground for the marks. I moved along the wall to the south until i spotted another mark. I called out the others to let them know that i had seen the trail marks. I followed the marks into another room to the southwest. The marks started ascending a set of old metal steps, so i followed them. There were others around me now as we started following the marks up the old stairs. I wondered whether the stairs were actually safe, given that they seemed so old and unmaintained. I felt nervous about being here, but i walked across the small open area, heading to the west. There was a man leading us as we walked toward the small black metal entrance of the large building. I felt out of place here, thinking that we really did not belong here. As i entered the glass doors of the building, i felt that this place had something to do with my work. I was weary of the security here, thinking that they would try to prevent us from trespassing here, since we did not have security clearance to enter this place. We turned to the north and headed up the corridor a short ways to a small elevator. I felt somewhat uncertain about this place as i stepped into the small booth. Suddenly, the entire booth started moving to the side, tipping a little as it rolled down the slope of the building. I focused on the man to the east of me, who was standing in the entryway of the elevator. The entrance to the booth on the east seemed to be open, but i realized that a large glass door had closed over it before we started moving. I looked for light reflections on the glass to confirm that it was there. All four walls of the small room seemed to be made of thick glass that was held together by the cubical brass frame. The room tipped again and rolled to the north, down the curved ramp at the western end of the parking garage. I could see the wide cement floor to the east with some thick pillars on either side of an aisle. The booth rolled to the south now, descending another ramp. This was not technically an elevator because it was taking us sideways. I thought that it must run on small rubber tires and must be powered by electricity from the tracks. The booth came to a stop on one of the levels of the parking garage. I looked out the front door, to the east and noticed a large blue circle on the ground with the number 6 in the center of it. The digit was in a very wide modern-looking typeface. The others started out of the elevator to the east, and i followed them. The corridor to the east led into a protected part of the building, and there were security gates with black metal detectors running along the western end of the corridor. We headed toward the gates, and i wondered how we were going to get in. I thought that one of the guards would ask to see my identification card, and i was not sure that my badge from work would let me in. I stopped suddenly as i noticed a flat brass-coloured object to the east of me rotate suddenly. It was mounted on the top of a short pole, at about my waist level. The top of the brass surface was marked with black lines and some writing. The thick flat disc was mostly round, but had two short wide flat prongs facing north, making it look like a magnet. It rotated so that the wide prongs were facing me, and i realized that it was some type of metal detector. I backed away from it and walked to the south a little. I passed several entrances to the corridor to the east, all of which led through security scanners. I then looked up, realizing that i could not see the others who had been with me. I looked to the south to see a corridor running from the entry hall that we were in. It curved to the east just past the doorways, so i could not really see anyone in the corridor, except for the few men in dark business suits that had just entered. I looked back to the east, noticing that i was in one of the lines for the security scanners. The line seemed long and backed up. I then spotted $F45 ahead of me in the line. He had already made it through the gate, and seemed happy that he had beaten me into the building. I felt annoyed that i had left the other gate. It was frustrating to wait in line at this gate because it had been moving so slowly. I remembered the two women at the other gates who had been chatting with each other because no one was lined up at those gates. I felt that i should have stayed in those lines. I thought about going back there, but i felt that it was now too late. The guard ahead of me then held up a plastic bag of what appeared to be chocolate-coated pretzels. He said that everyone should note that the staples used to seal the bags would show up on the metal scan, so we should all be ready. I felt nervous here, thinking that i was out of place. I did not want to go through the security lines. I headed to the east now, across the grassy lawn between the two buildings. I started running with long strides, aware that one of the others with me was watching me from behind. I was heading toward the small run-down white wooden building in the middle of eth open field to the east of me. I had just left the lobby where the elevators were in the building related to my work. I felt a sudden prick in the pad of my right foot, so i lifted it up to look at it. I could not see anything on my bare foot, so i decided that i must have simply stepped on a sharp pebble. I took another stride, but realized that i was floating with one foot off of the ground. I knew that i could float with my legs up in my dreams, but i knew that i could not do so in real life. I took another long hopping stride, pulling both of my feet up into a cross-legged position. To my surprise, i realized that i was floating over the cement ground toward the small building. I noticed the dry wisps of grass that were growing through the cracks of the pavement. I was excited to realize that i could fly in real life, and started to believe that it might not be true. I spread out my arms and lifted into the air, surprised and happy that i lifted vertically into the air as i floated over the top of the small building. I turned to the south and started floating over the ground. I wondered if i was using any energy to do this and worried that i might forget how to fly suddenly and fall to the ground. I then remembered that i had been in the building to the west with the others doing something about work. That was part of a dream. To my disappointment, i realized that this was not real life, but all part of a dream. I felt upset and landed in the cut corn field to the south of the building. I then turned to the east and headed into the corridor that was part of the secure area. This was a hospital. I immediately felt worried that the security people would find me here. I thought that i would have to change my clothes so that i would be disguised in this place. I remembered that there were white robes hanging in the hall to the north of this corridor, and i thought that i should find them. I passed several open doors along the narrow corridor, many of which seemed to lead into rooms crowded with medical equipment. I came to the end of the corridor. There was a room to the south with the door open and a rack of electric monitoring equipment just inside. I turned to the north, looking at the coat racks along the wall to the east, but they were all empty. The white robes were not there, so i would have to find something else to wear. I hurried to the north and then turned to the east again at the end of the short corridor. I had to find something to wear so that i could blend in with the rest of the hospital staff. I headed down the corridor to the east when i noticed a doorway on the southern side of the hall. The doorway was facing west, in the center of a short wall that protruded from the southern wall of the corridor. Inside the doorway, i could see blue scrubs handing on silver clothing racks. There was a rack just inside the door on the northern side of the room, but there was a white tag handing on the top of the rack with the black number 6 in it. I realized that all of these shirts were very small. I would have to find a large size of scrubs. I headed farther into the room, but noticed that there was someone to the east, in an adjoining room. There as a closet to the east, no the southern side of the room. I quickly hurried into it, hoping that the woman in the eastern room would leave soon. I stood against the northern wall, hoping that i was out of sight from the woman. I could hear her coming and pushed against the wall. The door of the closet swinged closed, and i could hear the women walking around in the room outside. She was not leaving, and i felt annoyed. I tried to peak through the small cracks in the door to see where she was, hoping that she did not hear me. The door creaked a little, and i paused, listening to see if the nurse had heard. When i was sure that she was not approaching the door, i peeked through a narrow slit between the wood of the door to see where she was. She was sitting on the small yellow bed against the western wall. I could not get out while she was there, but i decided that i had to. As she was turning to look at something to the south, i walked out of the closet and into the hall, trying to act casually, as though it was natural for me to have been there. I quickly turned the corner and headed down the hall to the east, hoping to get out of sight before the woman came out in to the corridor behind me. I made several quick turns in the hall, but headed mostly to the east. I looked at some of the rooms around me as i moved to the east. They seemed larger now, with wide doorways opening to the corridor. The room to the north seemed orange, and i realized that it was a fancy store. I paused in the corridor, looking at several of the stores around me. The mall in this area seemed quite nice, but everything here looked very expensive. This was the secure area, and i knew that the stores here were reserved for the special wealthy people. I looked into the store to the south to see the expensive clothing handing on the metal racks. It all seemed to be pink or red in hue. I turned to the north and started to wander down the corridor. I was now outside, and i was aware that there was someone watching me from the southeast. I was on rollerblades as i moved down the driveway to the north. I seemed to be near the bottom of the hill of the campus, to the east of most of the buildings. There was a white building up a driveway to the northwest of me. I thought about skating to the north on the winding country road that ran along the back side of the college campus. I remembered the road from long ago, but had not been on it in a while. I pictured the flat grassy floor of the narrow creek valley as i remembered being on the old paved road that ran through it. I felt somewhat nostalgic thinking about it as i turned back to the south and started down the driveway. I knew that the country road was nice and flat, but i had to get back. I did not want to head down too much hill because i knew that i would have to come back up. I started to pick up speed as i rolled down the steep driveway to the south. The drive ran across the slope of the hill, which seemed to be covered with tall grass and weeds. It was not part of a lawn. I turned sideways, trying to stop on the blades. I was aware that i had never learned to side stop with roller blades, and i was surprised that it worked so well. As i skidded to a stop, though, i looked down at the wheels of the skates and realized that the rubber of the tires was eroding from the friction of stopping. I was destroying the wheels. I felt concerned, and thought that i would have to stop on the left side the rest of the way down so that the wear was on the other side of the gray rubber tires. I started to turn around, but just decided to sit down and slide down the black plastic ramp, which was the driveway. I used the rubber brakes at the heel of the skate to slow me as i slid down the narrow black slide, which had raised edges, forming a flume. I reached the bottom and turned back to the north to skate away. I moved only a short distance until i was at the bottom of the steep hill, directly under the white building. I was aware that people were watching me from the southeast, and i wondered what they would think if i skated up the cement steps under the building. I wanted to do this because i did not want to skate up the steep hill of the campus. I came to the steps, which had water flowing down over them. These steps were really part of a waterfall. I thought that i could climb up them as i had done in the past. I would end up near the door at the top, and would then have to climb over the railing to get to the sidewalk at the top. There was a steady flow of water pouring down the stairs, which were really a decorative fountain. I stepped up the stairs, which turned to the south. After climbing only about half way up, i found that there was a section of stairs that became a ladder. This seemed out of place here, and i tried to figure out what had happened to the stairs. I realized that there was a large chunk of ice running down the wooden support beams on the northern side of the stairs. I thought that the gutter system of the building must have created a lot of ice over the winter, which must have pushed a section of the stairs apart. I looked over the wooden boards that formed the stairs. The stairs ran up only a little way to the south before they turned back on themselves and headed north. I looked up, but could only see the ice hanging from the gutter. The stairs had been broken, and i was not sure that i could climb past the ice. I then looked to the south at the next section of stairs, noticing that it was farther away than it should be. I wanted to climb over the ice and get to a better part of the stairs, but i started to feel unsure of the stability of the stairs. I looked at the boards, noticing the chipping red paint on all parts of the stairway structure. The wood here was rotting from the ice damage. I turned around and started to descend, but the stairs started to shift under me. I realized that they might collapse under my weight. I hoped that i could make it to the bottom. I then felt the stairs start to lean, and i could see the water of the small lake below me. I was afraid that the stairs would collapse into the lake. I tried to get off as carefully as i could.

12007 April 14

I looked out the window of the bus, to the north, as we traveled down the road to the west. There was a lot of water on the ground, and it seemed as though there had been a heavy rain in the area. My attention was drawn to the muddy water collecting in the field just off the road. The water was pouring over a small embankment, draining into a nearby pond. I realized that the water in the field was higher than the surrounding creeks. There must have been a lot of water flooding the area. We then passed some trees several old houses on the northern side of the road. I looked at an old yellow farmhouse in the middle of a small lawn. There was a huge trench carved across the front of the lawn, just by the side of the road, where the water had eroded the soil. I could see the brown puddles in the front of the lawn draining into the trench, and i thought that a nearby creek must have been flooding. I then noticed that the brown murky water was flowing around the western side of the house, creating a second trench along the western side of the lawn. The water on the lawn was flowing down into both trenches. I wondered if there was a river to the north that had flooded. I then realized that the trenches around the house were very deep, and there were cracks in the front lawn where water had started to erode the lawn toward the house. I watched the old house as we passed, thinking that the water would eventually erode the foundation out from under the house. I felt bad, because i knew that it was a nice old house and it would be sad to see it destroyed. I turned my attention ahead, where i could see several creeks passing under the bus. Most of them seemed to have rushing water, and i wondered if they would erode the roadway around us. I then seemed to be over the top of the bus. I was looking down through the crossing beams of the old trellis bridge as the bus passed over it. I felt a little weary that the bridge would support the bus if the flood waters were eroding soil. I then noticed that there was not that much water under the bridge, and i wondered how the water had collected on the high ground to the east of the bridge. Below us was a thin young forest. The ground was ashen brown and the trees had no leaves, as though it was early spring. We then passed over a creek. The water was running swiftly, but did not seem to be too high for the banks of the creek. I mentioned how strong the current was to $Z as we passed over, saying that it was probably due to the strong rains. I then noticed a circular pattern just on the western side of the water, still under the bridge. There were several concentric rings in the light-grey soil, with several rounded stones protruding along some of the rings at regular intervals. The shape caught my attention, and i thought that it was a fire circle. I imagined that younger people would hang out there around a bonfire. I felt interested in the place and wanted to see more of it, but we were traveling on to the west. I looked down at the forest below to see the shadow of the bus on the ground to the southwest of us as it passed through the leafless trees and damp forest floor. We passed over another wide river and i could see that the water was flowing swiftly there as well. I then looked up to the west. We had come into an area that looked familiar to me. There was a green grassy hill to the north of the road now, and several small building to the south. A short paved pull-off parking lot was along the southern side of the road, to the east of a large plain brown wood shed. This place seemed like a ski resort near where i had lived. I told the other person that i thought i recognized this place. It seemed like $P154. The road made a sharp turn just to the west of the building. I told the others that i thought that i remembered this place from before. I said that i had been to $P154 in the past. $A121, who was standing on the back of the black truck, just to the left and in front of me, turned around and smiled at me as i said this. I knew that she was familiar with this place as well. The road traveled to the south for about ten metres before ending on the main road. I expected to see a large valley to the south, because that is how i remembered this resort area form the last time that i was here. As the vehicle pulled up to the stop sign at the road, i looked to the south. There was a short rise on the southern side of the road covered with short green grass. The hill then sloped away to the south, allowing us to see a wide valley with a rounded ridge to the south. There was a set of trees just to the southwest of the intersection, which blocked our view in that direction. As we turned onto the main road and headed west, however, i started to see that the land sloped down to the west into the valley as well, and there seemed to be a city to the west-southwest of us. I told the others that this was the correct place. We were entering Tennessee, and i felt as though i had known this city from someplace before.

I lay on the northern side of the large bed. It was early in the morning, and i did not feel like getting out of bed just yet. $F45 was lying to the south of me. I was happy to be here, and joked with $F45 about something. There only seemed to be sheets on top of us, as though it was warm. I was then aware that we were in the house where others were sleeping. I was aware of a family down the hall to the east. The hall ran past the doorway to the room, which was in the center of the northern wall. The doorway seemed to be very wide at times, without a door, so i worried that the mother of the family might hear us talking. I knew that she would be upset about two men sleeping in the same bed. I then heard someone coming from the family’s bedroom and sat up in bed. I said something to $F45, who was getting out of bed. I felt that the woman was annoyed with us. I then saw the young boy walk down the hall and into the bathroom, which was directly to the north of the room. I could see the boy as he stopped in front of the sink to brush his teeth. His mother said something to him, and he responded in annoyance. I knew that she was asking him meaningless questions to get him away from us. $F45 walked past me on the east to a dresser against the northern wall. The dresser was to the west of the doorway. I looked back at the young boy, noticing that he was wearing only a racing swimsuit. It seemed strange that the boy would have been in such a small swimsuit, and i wondered if it was actually his underwear. Something about the suit seemed gaudy, and i realized that there were reflective silver crescents just below the waist on the back of the suit. The crescents made the boys buttocks look larger than it was, and i thought that it was a strange suit for a boy to wear. I made a hushed comment to $F45 about the ugly suit, and he agreed that it looked like something from the 11970s. He then walked close past me on the east and headed to the dresser. A young girl came down the hall from the family’s bedroom and walk up to the east of me. She had something in her hand that she was sucking on. She made a statement about the object in her hand, and i looked at her and realized that it was an obvious statement. I nodded in agreement with her and tried to turn my attention back to what i had been doing on the bed. I was not sitting on the floor to the north of the bed. The girl stood near me, though, and stated again what she had just said. She was obviously trying to make a point to me, but i did not understand what she was saying. I agreed with her again and asked her what she wanted. I felt annoyed with her persistence.

I walked to the east, from the entrance of the old building. The driveway formed a circle right in front of the entrance, and i started to walk around the northern side as i listened to the old woman talking. She was thin and was wearing a white sweater over a floral dress. She was talking about this place, which seemed to be a nursing home. She described how the people here were treating her, and i knew that it was part of a commercial against retirement homes. She said “They gave us umbrellas. Can you imagine that? What a way to greet a sunny day: to give out umbrellas.” Her voice sounded exasperated. I thought about her statement about the umbrellas as i reached the hedgerow on the far end of the circular drive. It seemed an amusing statement to complain about getting umbrellas on a sunny day. I wondered if that statement had been used before.

12007 April 15

The two men walked into the apartment building. I was watching them as if following them through the halls. They were here to steal something from one of the apartments. We walked to the north, down the narrow dark hall and ended up in the main room of an apartment. There were now four people here, and they were moving around the apartment. The two men had been checking out a cabinet, which seemed to be under a bed. The wooden doors of the cabinet were wider than they were tall. One of the men had crawled into the cabinet to look for something. I was then aware that the other two men would be leaving shortly. I suddenly thought that these men would be arrested. I looked to the north, toward the entrance to the apartment, which i could not see because the entrance was in another room. I felt that the police had arrested the two men for burglarizing the house. I turned back to the west to see the two men that i had followed into the building standing by the cabinets. One had his lower body in one of the cabinets because he had crawled in to look for something earlier. I looked at a white comforter on the bed and thought that the apartment must have had security alarms, which notified the police that the burglars had entered the house. I felt that the men should hide in the cabinet until the police left. I mentioned something about it as the men stared to the north, as though not quite sure what to do. I thought that they could stay in the cabinets as the police searched the apartment and then leave once everyone had cleared out of the house. I then looked at the slightly open window in the south wall. The thin white curtains drifted in the breeze at the sides of the old wood multipane window. It was left open by the other people as they tried to escape from the apartment. I knew that the two men, who now seemed to be friends of mine, could sneak out the window and get free. I turned around to the east to look down the street. The apartment seemed to be to the northeast of me, down the road a little ways and then up one of the side streets. I was waiting for the other two to come out of the apartment. They came around the corner to the east of me, on the north side of the street, but something seemed to be wrong. They were hurrying, and the thin one in the dark-red T-shirt was holding his hands behind his back. I saw glimpses of metal rings around his wrists and realized that he had been handcuffed. Something must have gone wrong with their escape, but i could not think what. As they approached, i asked what had happened. The man walking on the northern side said that they had done something else after escaping from the apartment. As they reached me, i realized that both of them had their hands cuffed behind their backs, and i wondered how they were going to escape from this. We had to get to a safe place. They hurried past me, heading down the street to the south. I looked to the east and saw a police officer in a blue uniform jogging after the men. I realized that the male police officer might have seen me with the two men and think that i was associated with them. I turned to the south and started walking slowly around the corner of the brick building. I had to act as though i did not know what was going on. There was also a dog running along with the men, and i wondered if it would make the men and me recognizable to the police. As soon as i was out of site of the officer, i started jogging to the east, down the narrow street in the city. The dog seemed to be following me, but i pretended not to notice it. The streets here seemed very clean, with no cars. They also seemed short, with many turns. I moved to the east, where there was a modern building on the northern side of the street. It was set an odd angle with the rest of the buildings, facing mostly southwest, and had a large glass entrance that was framed by round metal poles. I ran into the mall and headed down the wide dark hall to the northeast. I slowed down as i came to the center of the large mall. The stone floor of the mall was dark grey, and the corridor seemed to be lighted only with natural lighting. The men were still jogging ahead of me, into the center of the crowd in the main atrium in the center of the mall. The dog ran past me as i paused at the entrance to the atrium. I then saw the police officers move into the large crowd at the center of the atrium as i walked to the northern side of the room. It seemed that the police could still recognize them and were after them. I walked into the large crowd at the northern side of the room. To the northwest of me, there seemed to be a crowded counter where food was being served. I moved toward the north, where there seemed to be a large open store. I looked around at the crowd, wondering if the police were following me as well. I had to look natural so that they would not know that i was with the other men in the apartment. I walked through the large department store to the north, which seemed like a sporting-goods store. I hopped over several of the display shelves and racks, hoping that the police would be slowed down by having to go around them. I was floating in the air over the store. I moved to the north, noticing that there was a railing along the northern edge of the store, about five metres from the large glass window, which was the northern wall of the store. The dark-green carpeting of the store ended just before the brass railing at the edge of the upper floor. I floated over the railing, looking down at the lower level, where a stocker was doing something between the round metal racks of jackets and clothing. He was wearing a dark-blue short-sleeved polo shirt over a white long-sleeve T-shirt. I flew to the north, heading out the door at the back of the building. I found myself in a small parking lot at the back of the store. The blacktop lot seemed mostly empty, and there seemed to be a large dumpster on the southern end of the western side. Trees ran along the western side, and there seemed to be a short steep forested slope rising to the next store. The parking lot seemed square, and, as i flew around, i did not know where to go from here, so i flew back into the pale-yellow cinder-block building, which was the sports store, and headed back across the mall. I looked around the atrium as i passed through. I could not see either the men or the police. I thought that i might have escaped. I headed to the southeast and came out the large glass doors on the eastern side of the mall. Just as i exited the door, i realized that there was a police officer standing just to the north of the doors. He was wearing a tan trench coat, but i knew that he was a police officer. He was looking to the east, so i tried to act naturally and headed to the south, down the street. As i reached the curb, i was aware that the police officer had seen me. I looked around, as though i did not quite know which way i was going. I then crossed the street to the east and continued down the city street, heading to the east along the northern side of the street. I tried to walk fast, hoping that the officer would not follow me. As i reached the center of the block, i tried to fly. I floated down the center of the street to avoid someone on the sidewalk. I pretended not to notice the police officer that was following me. I thought that i could fly up the street and try to get some height, but it felt hard to do so. I then noticed the broken tree ahead of me. It was growing from the northern side of the street, and the broken branches hung out into the street. I then realized that this was not a tree at all, but a piece of art. The brass sculpture was shaped like a tree overall, but it had intricate designs all over it, and it was made of pieces of metal and bulbous objects. I moved around the base of the sculpture, now, noticing that there were small scenes within the larger artwork. The eastern side of the sculpture had a small image of a baby and some other people embedded in it. As i moved around the tree, i was aware of the police officer approaching. I thought that he might leave me alone if he thought that i was just here to look at the art. I rounded the statue and started to fly to the east again. There were several more pieces of art along the street. I looked at them as i flew.

12007 April 16

I drove the large truck to the south, down the rural road. We were heading back to the place. $F4 seemed to be in the passenger’s seat, to my right. There were trees on both sides of the road as i approached the intersection. The ground on either side of the road was covered with a thin layer of snow, and the roads seemed to be a little slippery. Dry weeds poked up through the snow to the west of us. I tried to slow down as we approached the intersection, but the truck seemed hard to handle. It seemed to be a large dump truck, or tractor-trailer. I slowed the truck and started to make a turn to the left, onto the road that met the main road at the intersection. I turned the long truck slowly around the corner, but stopped suddenly when i realized that there was a truck coming from the other direction. I worried that i would hit the truck, and pulled on the large wheel to turn tighter around the corner. The other truck was a sturdy yellow construction truck, maybe a dump truck. I pulled slowly around the corner, aware that i was being an inconvenience to the other cars trying to pass through the intersection, but i was not experienced in driving such a large vehicle, and i was worried that i would drive the truck off of the road. I turned the truck to the east, trying to get it back into the correct lane, because i had turned the corner too wide and ended up in the wrong lane. As i was pulling back into the lane, a vehicle passed us on the left, pulling around us as we tried to pull back into the lane. The driver was obviously annoyed with us and passed very close, pushing us to the side. The large construction vehicle pulled into the lane in front of us, running us off the side of the road. I stopped on the gravel shoulder of the road, feeling angry. We were in a much smaller car now, and were in danger of being pushed off into the woods, down the slope of the land on the southern side of the road. The road made a corner to the northeast just ahead, and i stopped the car by grabbing on to the white pole on the southern shoulder of the road. The pole bent over, and i realized that the damage would mean something to the construction workers driving the truck. I yelled at the men in the construction vehicle, calling tem “ass holes” as we turned around and started heading back down the road to the west. I knew that my words had made the men angry, and i was worried that they would come after us. I looked back down the road to the east, noticing that there was a turn to the northeast, off of the main road. The turn off seemed to lead into a large gravel parking lot, which i thought was part of the construction site. I drove away, aware that the man was coming after us. I told $F45 that we would have to take the narrow path down the hill to the southwest. The trail ran through the woods. We would be able to take it because we were on bicycles, but the man would not be able to follow because he was driving a truck. I started down the snowy slope, thinking that we could get on our sleds and head down the hill and be out of site of the man before he realized where we had gone.

12007 April 18

I walked to the white counter that ran along the eastern wall of the small bathroom. The off-white sink was in the southern and of the counter, and the walls around the southeastern corner of the bathroom were covered with mirrors. I plugged the electric razor into the outlet to the south of me as i stood in front of the sink. I leaned forward toward the mirror to shave my face, but the razor did not seem to be working properly. I put the razor to my face, but felt it wobbling slowly. I wondered if it was running out of power. I then realized that i had plugged it in, so it should not be running out of battery. I turned it on and put it to my face, watching the small gray plastic blades spin in the mirror as they pressed against my skin. This was wrong. The small circular comb should be spinning much faster. I then saw my face in the mirror. It looked fairly well shaved, but i could tell that it was not smooth because there was some stubble. I felt annoyed with the razor and tried to use it again, but it would still not work.

The man headed off to the south, and i followed closely behind him. I was leading him through the forest on the trail. We left the parking lot, where the other two were standing by their car. It seemed as though i had been in this place many times before, and i was familiar with the forest here. As we started through the thin trees, we turned to the east, following along the southern edge of a gorge. The gorge fell off very steeply only a metre to the north of us, and the land on which we walked sloped toward it slightly. The gray ground seemed to be dry dirt, and had many thin trees sticking up through it. The man ahead of me hurried through the trees, but was lower on the slope of the hill than i was. I thought that he might feel worried about falling into the gorge, so i told him to walk a little higher up on the side of the hill. It would be more stable. He moved up the slope and continued moving swiftly though the forest. I was not keeping up with him, so i started to speed up to stay with him. I wondered why he was moving so swiftly. As we started to turn back to the south, i thought of the long trail ahead of us. We would be circling around the forested region. I remembered how the trail ran to the south for quite a distance before rounding back to the west and returning. It seemed like a long journey, and i heard a rumble of thunder as i followed the man. It seemed to be approaching night, and i hoped that we could get back before the storm came. The man moved a little to the east of me, and i realized that he was running through some thick trees. I said something to him about it and he replied. I shifted a little to the west, where the tail was clearer. I looked south, seeing that there was a grassy path running along the western side of the short stone edifice. The ashen-orange stones seemed to be part of a sandstone outcropping, which ran north to south through the center of the large grassy field. I ran along the western side of the outcrop, noticing that the dense pine trees growing on the top of the rocks would make passing through them difficult. The man was running along the top of the stones, and i told him that the clear field would be an easier trail. I jogged on the dark-green grass of the field, thinking that i might be able to catch up with him if he continued to dodge through the trees on the ridge. It was getting dark now, and i visualized the wide valley to the south. There was a thick forest of green trees in the valley. I felt hesitant to make the long journey through it. I said something to the man, who turned to the west to come to where i was. I had stopped along the side of the ridge to admire the structure of the rocks. I then turned to the west. I was standing under the roof of the wide wooden structure. It had no walls and was supported by thin wooden beams around the outsides. It seemed to be dark outside now, and i moved to the western edge of the structure, talking to the man, who seemed to be $Z. The area felt special, but i was still weary of the storms that were coming.

12007 April 22

I moved to the east a little, looking out the window in the southern wall of the kitchen. This seemed to be the kitchen of my house, but it was long east to west and seemed to be coloured in pale blues and greens. I pulled aside the curtain and saw a large branch hanging just off the deck. I realized that it was the main trunk of the willow tree in my back yard. It had been rotting and i knew that it was going to fall down. I could not see the top of the thick trunk, but i could tell that it was still attached to another part of the tree because it was not resting on the ground. I looked out at the willow tree across the driveway to see it sway in the wind. I realized that there must have been a strong wind storm last night. I had to get the branch off of the porch before it fell and broke the wood of the deck. I walked to the east, toward the exit door of the house. As i passed a large window, i looked out onto the deck to see the disfigured trunk resting on the railing around the outside of the deck. The tree had been cut so that it could not fall on the deck, but i realized that the bottom part of the truck must have reached the deck only because the top part was still attached to the rest of the tree, allowing the trunk to swing rather than to just fall. I opened the door and stepped out onto the small porch that ran along the eastern side of the house. I was surprised to see that there were other people standing on the porch. They seemed to be gathering for a party, and i felt suddenly out of place with them here. I wondered why they were on my porch, and then i realized that the person who had built a second apartment onto this house must have allowed them to use the deck that was part of my house. I started to move to the north, but i realized that the porch was no longer attached to the deck because of constriction. Several people stood around with drinks in their hands as if waiting for the rest of the party to start. I looked down at the gap between the porch and deck, seeing the small swing set that had been put up in an area near the house. I commented on the difficulty of getting to the deck as i stepped over the swing set and walked down a set of stairs that were to the southeast of the porch. I realized that my joke did not make sense to the others and felt uncomfortable about the silence. I turned to the west at the bottom of the stairs and headed up the stairs to the deck. The deck was very narrow now, and i spotted the tree embedded in the southern wall of the house, to the north of me. It must have swinged up and breaked a hole in the kitchen wall. I could see part of the branch sticking out of the wall, and i realized that it had gotten stuck in the top part of the refrigerator on the other side of the wall. My mother said something to me, implying that i was not taking part in the party. I felt upset and told her that the tree had destroyed the refrigerator. She did not seem concerned.

12007 April 24

I walked to the west, down the center of the open train car. The floor of the car was wooden, and there seemed to be benches along the sides of the car, but no seats facing forward. At times, it seemed as though i was walking through the center of a narrow room of the train station. The windows on the car were wide, but it was dark outside, so i could not see anything but dark pine trees passing by. My father stood to the north of me, looking at something. We seemed to be traveling to the west, across the southern part of New York State. I knew that we were heading to a town in the center of the state, but there was something i did not know about where we were going. I looked at the map that i had in my lap. It showed the train route. The state was rendered in tan, and there was a thick black line running across the southern border of the state. The black line bowed north in the center, but it did not seem to head far enough north to make it back to where i lived. I was a little confused. It seemed that we were not going to travel back to my house. I knew that was where we should be going, but the map showed that the train did not travel there. I looked around at the scenery and could see only the rolling hills and dense forests around us. We did not seem to be passing anything that i could recognize. I looked at the map again, trying to understand how the train could be traveling north. It seemed to be curving into Pennsylvania. I asked my parents if they were sure this train headed where we thought it did. I then looked out the windows as we seemed to be heading north, into a small town. I tried to recognize the area. The town seemed very quaint, with familiar houses and welcoming architecture. This town seemed to be very familiar, even though i did not recognize anything here. It was dark out again, but the town was illuminated with street lights. I then noticed the large mansion on the hill to the southeast of us. It was very decorative, with fancy trim and many small lights over its surface. It was a relatively flat house, but it had a rounded roof on a square central tower, and it seemed very elegant. I remembered that this house was in Oneonta. We were heading west across the southern part of the state. I felt reminiscent of this place, and wondered why i had never been here to visit. I thought that i should come back sometime to check out the sights.

12007 April 25

I was swimming on the western edge of the large pool. It seemed as though there were other people in the center of the pool, but they were playing games, or just lounging. I was doing laps in the lane. I then noticed the man standing on the northern end of the pool, at the end of my lane. He was the doctor from Voyager. He was dressed in his blue and black uniform. I said something to him before i started heading back to the south in the lane. I felt that there were too many interruptions here, and i was not able to do laps like i wanted.

12007 April 28

I looked to the west briefly as the people got off of the school bus near me. I then started jogging down the sidewalk on the north side of $P86, heading east. I was out jogging as part of high school track. I felt somewhat good, though i did not feel as though i was able to go as fast as i could because i felt a little out of shape. As i jogged, i realized that $F6 was jogging in front of my. I passed him on the sidewalk and continued to job, but i realized that he was still keeping up with me. I realized that he was competitive, and did not want to let me get past him. I kept running, thinking that i was better at jogging than he was, so i should be able to keep ahead of him. I was slightly worried, however, as to whether i would be able to keep the pace up. I knew that i was not as in shape as i used to be. I concentrated on keeping ahead of him, thinking that it might be a challenging run. I rounded the corner at the eastern end of the street, turning up the slight hill to the south. I then turned the corner and headed back down $P1, to the west. I hoped that i could keep ahead of the others, but i was worried that i would get out of breath. I then found myself moving through the narrow corridor at the top of the old building. The building was on the eastern corner of $P1, and i remembered that it used to be a bicycle shop. It now seemed like a garage, with blue paint on the cement walls. The upper parts of the walls were covered with wood, which seemed old and dusty. There were many bicycles in the old garage. We had run through here as part of the tail, but i realized that we would not easily be able to get out the western side of the building because there did not seem to be any obvious exit. I tried to make my way through the bicycles, but realized that there was no easy way through. There seemed to be some other people in another room of the garage, to the northeast of us. I did not want them to find out that we were cutting through the garage, and i felt that we had to get out of here. $F4 was now running with me. I turned to the south and headed out the side door of the garage, thinking that we would have to go around. We turned to the east and headed back along the blue wooden balcony that ran around the second floor of the old building. I knew that there was a set of stairs down, but i could not seem to find the right one. I had not been in this place in a long time, and i had forgotten how to get around in it. I thought that we had to find the stairs that let out on the western side of the building because it was the only easy way to get around the building. This was an old short cut that i had used as a child, but i could not remember it. We ran to the north, along the eastern side of the building, until we came to a set of stairs down. The old wooden stairs did not let out on the street, though. They reentered the building, and we found ourselves in the back area of the garage. This area was a lot larger that the front bicycle shop, and seemed to be mostly empty. The walls were painted light blue, to match the rest of the building. There seemed to be a large garage door open to the east, and there was a man somewhere to the east of us. This was a mechanic shop, but it seemed very clean and did not seem to have any cars in it. I wondered where we should go from here. I felt lost.

12007 April 30

I walked up the short pathway to the lower entrance of the modern apartment house. The driveway ran to the west of me, into a large door in the basement of the building. The path let do the door of the apartment, which was to the east of the basement door, in the lower part of the house. I walked into the small room of the apartment. The room was L shaped, with a narrow part leading from the door into the main section of the room. The walls seemed to be covered with old wooden paneling, and the room was crowded with people from the party. Some of the furnishings seemed to be red or orange. I turned to the west and came into a small room to the south of the main room. There was a large flat-screen television hanging on the western wall of the room, and several people were watching the show. They seemed to be watching Saturday Night Live, and there was a skit on about racecar drivers. Several people seemed to be sitting on the long couch that was against the eastern wall. I watched what looked like a NASCAR race, but the view then focused on the driver, who was wearing an orange and white driving suit. He made come comment about shifting the car. I did not understand what he meant, but i knew that it was a sexual reference. The humour seemed somewhat flat and forced, but the person behind the wheel of the car made several more comments about the race, which i knew were sexual jokes as well. The man laughed on screen, but i felt that the joke was not that funny. The scene then seemed to change, and i could see a car moving toward the camera. It seemed to be crossing a bridge or some other narrow part of a road that was surrounded by metal structures. The car was on fire. At first, i considered this to be part of the joke, but i then realized that something was wrong. This no longer seemed like a skit. The car was on fire, and i felt that this was part of a real racing accident. I started to feel uneasy and tense over what i was watching. This was a real accident. The people on the side of the road backed away as the car rolled slowly toward the camera, which seemed to be to the west of the car. Flames came from the center of the car, and i thought that the people inside needed help. Men then appeared at the sides of the car and began shooting automatic weapons into the car. This was wrong and terrifying. The shooters should not have been here, and were purposely attacking the car. It was not an accident or misunderstanding. They had shot at the can with intent, and i knew that they had killed four people in the car. I was horrified at what was happening. I was standing in a room with the rest of the people from the party, and most of them were watching the large screen on the western wall. One of the men in front of me then turned around. He was smiling as he looked around the room. He wore a white turban, and i realized that he was Arab and seemed out of place here. I felt scared, realizing that this man might have had something to do with the shootings. I looked around the room, realizing that there were several people in white robes and turbans in the crowd. They had black beards and did not seem shocked about what was happening on television. A tall man just to the north of me turned my direction and smiled down at me. He was an Arab as well. They were not supposed to be here, and i felt that there was something very wrong. I backed out of the crowd, trying not to act as though i had noticed the men in the crowd. I felt that they were a danger to the others at the party. I made my way to the door of the apartment, thinking that i had to call the police. I had to let them know that there was something suspicious about the people in the party. I then realized that the others in the party would be in danger, so i though that i would have to get my friends out of the party before i called the police. As i headed to the north, i wondered how i could ask my friends to leave the party unnoticed. I had to get them out before the men in the party did something horrible. I was walking across the grassy yard between the apartment buildings. It was dark outside, and i turned around and headed back toward the apartment. It seemed as though it was much later in the evening. I reentered the room, thinking that i should try to get people out without drawing attention. The room was now empty. I could tell that the party had been going on here, but there was no one around. The room was still messy, and i started to feel that this situation was not right. I felt out of place here, as though i had missed something. I looked around, wondering what had happened, and wondering if i had actually missed the crowd. I felt that the police were still coming, and i could not figure out what to do.