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Dreamed I drove to the airport, parked in free parking, and started the extraordinarily long walk to the terminal. It was so far away I really didn't know where I was going but just followed the crowd of other people dragging their wheeled suitcases behind them. We had to traverse an active, muddy construction zone with no walk spaces for most of the walk. Once I arrived at the terminal there was a dizzying array of elevators and escalators that made no logical sense as they were all on different levels depending on whether you wanted to go up or down and often you'd have to go down to go up and vice-versa. This was made even more difficult by the lack of signage.
I did eventually make it to the terminal, but for reasons I can't remember the flight was cancelled and we all had to return to our cars. With a heavy sigh I began the long trudge back, sightly panicked because I didn't know where I was going. I tried to visualize where I'd parked the car, but had zero recollection as to where to even start. Once again, I just followed the crowd. The elevator/escalator maze was even worse on the trip back. I remember peering over the edge of the top level and just observing all the different levels of escalators. I finally spied the "up" elevator at the very bottom of the path of escalators I needed to get down in order to take it up.
Those of us with rolling suitcases (and men and women pushing strollers) had to find the elevator down to the up elevator as the escalators were't suitable for those traveling with luggage. A group of us started wandering around to see if such a thing existed and when we finally found it, it was HUGE! An enormous, almost penthouse-suite sized elevator with refreshments, couches, overstuffed chairs and tasteful accents plants located throughout the carriage. It descended slowly while everyone settled in for the trip to the bottom level.
Once we arrived at the bottom level, we had to take more elevators to various levels to get to another bottom level elsewhere in the terminal. When I exited the last one and started following the crowd, I saw a dark corridor separated with plastic sheeting and a wooden door and felt that was the way to the construction zone adjacent the terminal so started heading that direction. Several other groups of people followed me...as did a suspicious person wearing an airport uniform who seemed keenly interested in me while trying to appear as if he wasn't. I put him on my radar, but felt safe enough within the group of people as we headed for what I hoped was the correct exit to find my car, as I was getting awfully tired.
Sure enough the wooden door at the end of the dark corridor opened directly onto the construction zone, and I was relieved. That said, it looked to be about a half-mile hike through the mud and criss-crossing the active construction to get to the free parking area, which I wasn't looking forward to. That and the suspicious person was still keeping tabs on me. It seems that the slow trudge took far longer than it should have, and at one point a group of us got caught atop the tracks of one of the heavy machinery - a bulldozer or crane maybe and there was a bit of panic as it started moving - i knew we were all going to be crushed to death, but we got free just in time and I looked up and noticed the driver didn't seem to care because we were the ones traipsing through the active construction zone so we would be at fault, not him.
As I finally neared the free parking, I noticed a group of hooligans eyeing me. I will admit this made me nervous because I was already aware of the suspicious person following me. I wondered if they were together, and also why they were targeting me? I don't carry cash, and I needed my phone because I was in Albuquerque and didn't know where I was supposed to meet up with Cass. She'd sent me a photo of her and a guy named, "Steve" who was supposedly just a friend - a client who had urinary tract cancer but was on the mend. I was supposed to meet them at some pizza parlor downtown and figured I couldn't get there without the GPS on my phone.
I kept trying to text her for the address or at least the name of the place, but kept getting either interrupted or there was inexplicably no signal at the moment I tried to hit, "send." We finally got to asphalt and I needed to weave my way through a couple of corridors when someone said, "Hey, Eric!" I didn't turn, but noticed out of the corner of my eye two guys dressed in black graduation robes with the standard mortarboard academic caps. I ignored them and noticed they started walking more quickly toward me. I ducked around the next corner, noticing the light was casting a shadow of my movement in their field of view, so lifted my travel case in an exaggerated movement so it would look like I was prepared to attack them once the turned the corner. I then slowly backed up until my entire shadow was hidden by the corner. My ruse worked! I heard them slow and talk about approaching cautiously. I used that opportunity to run! By the time they turned the corner, I was already halfway down the walk path and heard them yell after me and start running also. That's when my case grew heavier and I knew they'd soon catch up. Unfortunately that's also when one of the wheels of my case broke off (of course it did), so I picked it up and started carrying it with me while I was running.
I finally reached my car, opened the trunk, and threw my case in. But the trunk wouldn't latch. I opened the trunk, rearranged everything and closed it again. Still wouldn't latch. I repeated the process several times but now the group of hooligans were slowly approaching, the suspicious person now with them. My instincts were correct - they were together, and targeting me. I decided to not worry about the trunk, but now couldn't get into my car! I noticed the car had been purposely damaged to the point I could not open the door, That's when I also noticed all four tires had been partially removed from the rims as if with a sledgehammer. My mind racing as to what do to next, I contemplated the time it would take me to reach the other side of the car, open the passenger door (if it hadn't also been damaged) and if I could even back out of the parking space on the rims, but it was too late, as the group of hooligans were upon me. I was sad that Cass would think I'd stood her up.
I turned to face my assailants. The largest one pulled a knife. A KA-BAR USMC fighting knife. Ugh. Fortunately, it looked rather dull, so I thought I might be safe from any slicing - I would need to be stabbed. Joy. They wanted me to accompany them, so I did so reluctantly. We walked a short distance to an abandoned building which had been fashioned into some semblance of a living space. The guy with the knife took me inside while the rest remained outside. I took that opportunity to surprise my assailant and managed to wrestle the knife from him, making several slicing motions with it (and catching his clothes a few times) as I knew that would be non-lethal given the state of the knife I'd noticed earlier. I asked him why they'd targeted me, and he told me a sob story. I lowered the knife and approached him to give him a hug. He accepted the hug and while we were standing there, hugging, Cass appears from the other room.
To say I was shocked would be an understatement. It was...incomprehensible. Nothing made sense and I didn't know what was going on. The guy I was hugging let go, and smiled. Cass nodded at him, and as I stood there with what was surely the stupidest expression on my face trying to piece all these events together, Cass said, "You'd better say hi to your friends before they leave." I turned around and the two guys in the graduation robes were there. I only now just recognized one of them - a young Bill Gates. He'd just graduated with honors and saw I was among the group of travelers. Bill and I had been in undergratuate school together. We chatted briefly and he and his companion left, when I turned again to Cass with incomprehension. She was just smiling at me coyly. The other hooligans had come in the room and one of them pressed an old school Sony Walkman into my hand. I was surprised to see one in such good condition. I tried to hand it back but he insisted I hold onto it while he pressed, "play" and some big band waltz played. I looked at him, the Walkman, and Cass quizzically. Cass raised her hands as if to accept an invitation for a dance, so I put one hand in hers, the other (still holding the Walkman) at the small of her back, and we waltzed.
I realized she'd orchestrated the entire mock-mugging as a jest to get me here, with her, in exactly the state I was in - confused af. It was her way of surprising me. Gone from her face or mannerism was the fear, the doubt, the uncertainty. She was smiling and open and receptive as we danced and talked. The, "hooligans" were watching and smiling and talking amongst themselves. No wonder the one guy looked familiar, they had all worked together and I'd seen photos of them before. They were on Cass' crew. I couldn't remember right off the bat if she was a crime lord, or they were all carnies, but at that moment none of it mattered. As the events from the airport terminal to now started to synthesize, I marveled at how well she'd planned the entire thing, thinking this comprehensive, "joke" was certainly the best one anyone had ever pulled on me.
As we danced I asked about, "Steve" and she said he was waiting at the pizza place, and we may or may not join him later, depending on how things went. When we stopped dancing I remembered my destroyed car - the guys started laughing and brought it around - it was completely fine! They'd used special effects to make it look as if it were damaged, but it was not. Cass and I drove to the beach and watched the sun go down together. I don't remember if we made love or not, but I was just completely blown away by her complete transformation in action, attitude, and behavior. I remember thinking, "I could get used to this."
I did eventually make it to the terminal, but for reasons I can't remember the flight was cancelled and we all had to return to our cars. With a heavy sigh I began the long trudge back, sightly panicked because I didn't know where I was going. I tried to visualize where I'd parked the car, but had zero recollection as to where to even start. Once again, I just followed the crowd. The elevator/escalator maze was even worse on the trip back. I remember peering over the edge of the top level and just observing all the different levels of escalators. I finally spied the "up" elevator at the very bottom of the path of escalators I needed to get down in order to take it up.
Those of us with rolling suitcases (and men and women pushing strollers) had to find the elevator down to the up elevator as the escalators were't suitable for those traveling with luggage. A group of us started wandering around to see if such a thing existed and when we finally found it, it was HUGE! An enormous, almost penthouse-suite sized elevator with refreshments, couches, overstuffed chairs and tasteful accents plants located throughout the carriage. It descended slowly while everyone settled in for the trip to the bottom level.
Once we arrived at the bottom level, we had to take more elevators to various levels to get to another bottom level elsewhere in the terminal. When I exited the last one and started following the crowd, I saw a dark corridor separated with plastic sheeting and a wooden door and felt that was the way to the construction zone adjacent the terminal so started heading that direction. Several other groups of people followed me...as did a suspicious person wearing an airport uniform who seemed keenly interested in me while trying to appear as if he wasn't. I put him on my radar, but felt safe enough within the group of people as we headed for what I hoped was the correct exit to find my car, as I was getting awfully tired.
Sure enough the wooden door at the end of the dark corridor opened directly onto the construction zone, and I was relieved. That said, it looked to be about a half-mile hike through the mud and criss-crossing the active construction to get to the free parking area, which I wasn't looking forward to. That and the suspicious person was still keeping tabs on me. It seems that the slow trudge took far longer than it should have, and at one point a group of us got caught atop the tracks of one of the heavy machinery - a bulldozer or crane maybe and there was a bit of panic as it started moving - i knew we were all going to be crushed to death, but we got free just in time and I looked up and noticed the driver didn't seem to care because we were the ones traipsing through the active construction zone so we would be at fault, not him.
As I finally neared the free parking, I noticed a group of hooligans eyeing me. I will admit this made me nervous because I was already aware of the suspicious person following me. I wondered if they were together, and also why they were targeting me? I don't carry cash, and I needed my phone because I was in Albuquerque and didn't know where I was supposed to meet up with Cass. She'd sent me a photo of her and a guy named, "Steve" who was supposedly just a friend - a client who had urinary tract cancer but was on the mend. I was supposed to meet them at some pizza parlor downtown and figured I couldn't get there without the GPS on my phone.
I kept trying to text her for the address or at least the name of the place, but kept getting either interrupted or there was inexplicably no signal at the moment I tried to hit, "send." We finally got to asphalt and I needed to weave my way through a couple of corridors when someone said, "Hey, Eric!" I didn't turn, but noticed out of the corner of my eye two guys dressed in black graduation robes with the standard mortarboard academic caps. I ignored them and noticed they started walking more quickly toward me. I ducked around the next corner, noticing the light was casting a shadow of my movement in their field of view, so lifted my travel case in an exaggerated movement so it would look like I was prepared to attack them once the turned the corner. I then slowly backed up until my entire shadow was hidden by the corner. My ruse worked! I heard them slow and talk about approaching cautiously. I used that opportunity to run! By the time they turned the corner, I was already halfway down the walk path and heard them yell after me and start running also. That's when my case grew heavier and I knew they'd soon catch up. Unfortunately that's also when one of the wheels of my case broke off (of course it did), so I picked it up and started carrying it with me while I was running.
I finally reached my car, opened the trunk, and threw my case in. But the trunk wouldn't latch. I opened the trunk, rearranged everything and closed it again. Still wouldn't latch. I repeated the process several times but now the group of hooligans were slowly approaching, the suspicious person now with them. My instincts were correct - they were together, and targeting me. I decided to not worry about the trunk, but now couldn't get into my car! I noticed the car had been purposely damaged to the point I could not open the door, That's when I also noticed all four tires had been partially removed from the rims as if with a sledgehammer. My mind racing as to what do to next, I contemplated the time it would take me to reach the other side of the car, open the passenger door (if it hadn't also been damaged) and if I could even back out of the parking space on the rims, but it was too late, as the group of hooligans were upon me. I was sad that Cass would think I'd stood her up.
I turned to face my assailants. The largest one pulled a knife. A KA-BAR USMC fighting knife. Ugh. Fortunately, it looked rather dull, so I thought I might be safe from any slicing - I would need to be stabbed. Joy. They wanted me to accompany them, so I did so reluctantly. We walked a short distance to an abandoned building which had been fashioned into some semblance of a living space. The guy with the knife took me inside while the rest remained outside. I took that opportunity to surprise my assailant and managed to wrestle the knife from him, making several slicing motions with it (and catching his clothes a few times) as I knew that would be non-lethal given the state of the knife I'd noticed earlier. I asked him why they'd targeted me, and he told me a sob story. I lowered the knife and approached him to give him a hug. He accepted the hug and while we were standing there, hugging, Cass appears from the other room.
To say I was shocked would be an understatement. It was...incomprehensible. Nothing made sense and I didn't know what was going on. The guy I was hugging let go, and smiled. Cass nodded at him, and as I stood there with what was surely the stupidest expression on my face trying to piece all these events together, Cass said, "You'd better say hi to your friends before they leave." I turned around and the two guys in the graduation robes were there. I only now just recognized one of them - a young Bill Gates. He'd just graduated with honors and saw I was among the group of travelers. Bill and I had been in undergratuate school together. We chatted briefly and he and his companion left, when I turned again to Cass with incomprehension. She was just smiling at me coyly. The other hooligans had come in the room and one of them pressed an old school Sony Walkman into my hand. I was surprised to see one in such good condition. I tried to hand it back but he insisted I hold onto it while he pressed, "play" and some big band waltz played. I looked at him, the Walkman, and Cass quizzically. Cass raised her hands as if to accept an invitation for a dance, so I put one hand in hers, the other (still holding the Walkman) at the small of her back, and we waltzed.
I realized she'd orchestrated the entire mock-mugging as a jest to get me here, with her, in exactly the state I was in - confused af. It was her way of surprising me. Gone from her face or mannerism was the fear, the doubt, the uncertainty. She was smiling and open and receptive as we danced and talked. The, "hooligans" were watching and smiling and talking amongst themselves. No wonder the one guy looked familiar, they had all worked together and I'd seen photos of them before. They were on Cass' crew. I couldn't remember right off the bat if she was a crime lord, or they were all carnies, but at that moment none of it mattered. As the events from the airport terminal to now started to synthesize, I marveled at how well she'd planned the entire thing, thinking this comprehensive, "joke" was certainly the best one anyone had ever pulled on me.
As we danced I asked about, "Steve" and she said he was waiting at the pizza place, and we may or may not join him later, depending on how things went. When we stopped dancing I remembered my destroyed car - the guys started laughing and brought it around - it was completely fine! They'd used special effects to make it look as if it were damaged, but it was not. Cass and I drove to the beach and watched the sun go down together. I don't remember if we made love or not, but I was just completely blown away by her complete transformation in action, attitude, and behavior. I remember thinking, "I could get used to this."
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