Masks, Crowds, Cats, Propoganda, and More!

MORNING OF OCTOBER 9, 2010

I was going with my parents to pay a visit to each of my respective remaining grandparents. It was a holiday visit--for Halloween, as though Halloween were a holiday traditionally celebrated with family get-togethers like Thanksgiving and Christmas more normally are.

At my grandmother's I remember going through some cereal boxes she had kept aside because they had templates for cut-out Halloween masks on the back panels. For some reason I cut out the masks, most of which looked like Jack-O-Lanterns.

At some point I walked out of her house which led into what looked like a huge public park filled with people. There was obviously some type of specific event going on.

One area of the park looked like one of the walking trails I often go on in real life. I went down the path for some length and was pleased to find that not many of the crowds were here. A small, dark cat--not fully adult but more than a tiny kitten--approached me and I petted it for a while.

Then I went into this one central building on the premises. It seemed to be filled with mostly elevators and escalators. I was reading a "You Are Here" type map on a wall when an elevator opened behind me. Out stepped a pastor and a small crowd of eager followers. The pastor (who looked rather "televangelist") was spouting a lot of political and end-times rhetoric, which his small flock here eating up eagerly.

The flamboyant pastor seemed to think Jesus was specifically coming back this very night. I wish I could remember all of the things he was shouting about--it was so very over-the-top and anti-everything.

I tried to get away from this little group. Even though the place was fairly crowded, I for some reason was afraid the pastor would single me out if he saw me. I didn't want to be mistakenly associated with his group.

I went back to the large outdoor area and was looking for my cat from before, but I could not find it. I saw an ex-girlfriend and told her about the cat, which very much interested her, but it was still nowhere to be found. While we searched, though, she told me that all of her cats had died and it made me sad.

I saw my parents among the crowd and asked if they had the masks I'd cut out at my grandmother's house earlier. My mom said she'd thrown them away with the "rest of the trash". It wasn't a big deal, but for some reason it made me feel a little bit sad as well. Almost like the loss of innocence or something.

My last memory is of walking into another building where some people were watching a supposedly recent episode of "The Simpsons" on a large TV. I recognized the fictional episode and asked the guy in control to find a certain scene that I had found particularly funny the first time I saw it.

As he began skipping through the episode, he suddenly came upon a very pornographic scene! It didn't feature any of the major Simpsons characters, but just characters in that style engaged in very explicit acts. I was surprised that it was almost a little exciting...but mostly I was just shocked and disturbed that this was in a real episode of the show!