Monday, September 26, 2011

Missing a New York Sunrise, Stealing a Rental Car, and Charlie Brown

MORNING OF SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

I was staying in New York City (I've never actually been). Eric was there with me, and I think some other friends were, too, but he's the only one in the part of the dream I remember. We left the hotel room very early and went on the roof of the building to see the sunrise. On the roof we had a gorgeous view of the city skyline as the sun came up.

About this time I realized I'd left my camera in the hotel room. And I'd left my cell phone as well, so I didn't even have that as an option! I knew I didn't have time to go get the camera and bring it back before the sunrise ended. Even as I stood in awe of the view, I was upset about missing the photography opportunity.

About this time, I saw a Frenchman and his family arrive on the roof (I don't know how I knew he was French before I spoke to him). He was a heavyset man with a handlebar mustache and mutton chop sideburns. He also wore a bowler hat and an old-timey suit. I don't remember much about the appearance of his wife and kids.

The Frenchman began taking pictures of the sunrise. Though he spoke only broken English, I managed to successfully explain to my predicament to him and ask if he might be able to e-mail me any of those pictures after he returned home. He agreed and we exchanged business cards for the contact information. I was trying to remember the word "merci" but I couldn't think of it.

In another dream I needed to rent a car for some reason. I arrived at the car rental place very early one morning, before I was supposed to be at work. The place was closed. I got tired of waiting and decided it would be okay to just take one of the cars without filling out the paperwork. I could always, I reasoned, call them after they got to the office and let them know which car I'd taken!

I vaguely remember driving the car around and realizing I forgot to take note of the mileage before I started. It was very important that I know the original mileage reading when I reported back to the rental place. And then, the more I thought about it, I decided that it might have been illegal to take the car before I told them about it, and I began to worry I'd be in trouble.

I was looking at old pictures taken in the guest bedroom at my grandmother's house. In the pictures, there was a large Charlie Brown figure in the room, probably close to two feet tall. It appeared to be mostly constructed of the sort of soft plastic a doll's head might be made of, and the clothes were actual fabric. In the pictures, was posed in a chair beside a desk holding the receiver of a phone. As I looked at the pictures, I tried to remember ever having seen that Charlie Brown doll in that room before, and I couldn't (because it really never was)!

In some of the other pictures, I noticed there were also several smurf figures in that room, all of a similar size as the Charlie Brown.

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