Squash-Flower Tree Dream

Hello All,

Here's a picture of my cat playing with my feet under the sheets as I wake up, and a picture of me waking up. My cat Angie was very good this morning. When I woke up she had only knocked the camera and mouse (computer mouse) off the desk. I had a dream about an age old fear of mine, being left behind, or stranded.

I was grocery shopping with my parents. The grocery store was in a filthy looking strip mall in a side-street curtained from the main road by a thin strip of woods, with garbage dumped around the trees. As my family and I were shopping my parents began insisting I was bored even though I insisted I wasn't bored. Eventually, they told me that if I was so bored I should leave the store and wait by their car.

I left the grocery store, but couldn't find their car. I looked every where I could imagine they might park. I ended up standing in the parking lot in view of the store entrance, to be sure I'd see them when they came out. I waited a long time, until it was clear they must of left and I didn't see them, nor they me. I became very nervous, but luckily my Dad's office was nearby on the same side-street.

I went into my Dad's office, which was more like a small apartment. I tried to use the phone there, but it was somehow connected to just the computers in his office and couldn't make out-going calls. I went outside and took a walk back and forth the side-street. I hoped my parents might be looking for me, and would see me outside on the street. While I was taking this walk I noticed huge trees, trees that looked like squash plants in tree form.

The trees had yellow crook-neck squash hanging in their boughs, and each squash was in a cluster of huge yellow flowers. It was very pretty. The sun shone through the petals because the day was growing late, so the light struck parallel to the ground, and right through the trees. It made the flowers look like rippled tissue paper. I noticed a large black-furred animal jumping from branch to branch, it looked like a large raccoon, but I couldn't tell for sure. Since it was getting near dusk I walked back to my Dad's office, still looking at the trees.

I was still trying to tell what the animals were. As I was just about to get to the building, I realized they were black bears, climbing the trees to eat the squash. Really, dozens of black bears, just as if they were squirrels. I became a bit afraid and ran into my Dad's office. I turned on all the lights, hoping it would discourage the bears from trying to come in. I then saw a woman walking outside, going to the offices upstairs from my Dad's.

I ran out to her and asked her if she had a phone I could use to call my parents. She said yes, but it was in her office. As I was in her office, she introduced me to another woman she worked with and they explained to me they worked for a division of the highway patrol, and already knew my Dad's number because he had run a red light recently. I called my parents and told them where I was, and the woman walked me down the street to where they would meet me

The part of the street by my Dad's office was surprisingly pretty, not at all like the strip mall part by the grocery store. The sunlight was still shining horizontally through the trees and buildings, making everything glow yellow and green. I noticed concrete sculptures in the wooded areas between the office buildings. The sculptures reminded me of Hindu temples abandoned and overgrown by the forest. I could still see all the black bears jumping from huge yellow-flowered tree to tree.

The woman confirmed my suspicion that the black-furred animals were bears, but she said if I looked carefully some of them were a smaller type of animal that also fed on the squash (it was the animal I first thought was a raccoon). I mentioned to her how surprised I was at how pretty this part of the street was, when the rest of it was so ugly. That's when my parents big burgundy car pulled up and my dream ended.

Now I better get ready for some appointments. I didn't sleep well last night, so I'm going to have to take a nap at some point in time today. I hate the feeling of leaving the house when I know I'm sleep-deprived. Oh well, it could be worse (blah, or better).

Thank you for reading,

Marc