Stealing Annie

MORNING OF NOVEMBER 27, 2011

This dream will be nearly impossible to explain, as it only works in the world of dream logic. But I will try my best.

I either lived or was staying in a very old house in the older, "downtown" part of some city. There was a similar house next door, and the two were connected by some sort of screened-in porch that served as a sort of vestibule between the two.

One night I was all alone in the house, and it felt rather creepy. I recall stepping out onto the screened in porch and watching the dark city streets around me, only the occasional car driving past.

I looked through the windowed door into the house next door. The house was being used by the city as some sort of art museum, but I don't think it was currently open to the public. It very much had an "under construction" appearance. The room I could see into was some sort of lobby, which looked entirely empty and dark. Over by a window, I could see what looked like a doll.

Now, in real life, the TV show Community, of which I am a huge fan, aired a Christmas episode last year which was done entirely in stop-motion animation. I realized that the "doll" I could see was the puppet of the character, Annie, which was used in that episode.

For some reason I decided it would be no big deal for me to break into that room and take that prop for my own, so I pried open the door between my house and the museum and walked in. I realized there was a security camera, but I somehow was able to get past it. I felt very nervous when I got close the doll, because I thought a passing motorist could potentially see me from the street.

I don't remember what happened next, as my next memory is of being in a bedroom where two parents were putting their toddler-aged daughter to bed for the night. I noticed the same Community prop doll was lying beside the daughter's bed and I once again began devising a way I might could take it.

(I don't know what my obsession with this doll was in the dream. In real life the show has recently been placed on hiatus, which means there's a good chance it will be canceled. I am very passionate about this show, and want it to be saved. I think my obsession with stealing this prop in the dream may possibly be born of my desperate desire to save the show, in spite of the apparent wishes of those who control it.)

In a different dream, I was watching a movie. It was a western, and I think dream-me knew it to be directed by the Coen brothers. The opening scene featured a poetic monologue by a gritty cowboy. Then there was a scene in which Indians attacked the cowboys. The Indians were, however, dated, offensive caricatures. The battle, too, was over-the-top. It felt like watching a live-action Looney Tunes cartoon, except for there was blood and gore.

In a final dream, someone had told me I should design postcards to promote my art. For some reason I designed the card with a cartoon girl on one side and a cartoon horse on the other. My dad saw it and said, "This will make people who see it think of women in the mall." I replied, "Well, it will make of them think of horses in the mall, too."

Huh?