Beware---only a dream

   I had driven for some reason to a rather run-down area in Troy, near an even more run-down and decrepit drug store, Rite Aid or CVS. I went inside, picked up a pack of Orbit chewing gum and called out for a clerk.  Someone answered from a room adjoined to the store.  The manager was in  one bed and the clerk in another. Both had been sleeping but woke in response to my call.  I decided to leave and because I had entered the store so suddenly, feeling kind of dizzy and in search of aid of some kind, I'd not only left my car unlocked but recalled that I'd left the driver's door opened. So it was not much of a surprise to find my car was gone. Stolen.
    To be certain it was gone, I walked all around the block to see if it was parked on the other side.  It was not.  Darkness was falling and I tried to think of how to get some help.  The only person I saw was a man sitting in his car who opened the door as I walked by and asked how I liked the weather.  I said it was fine and kept walking, not wanting to engage in conversation with the dubious character he appeared to be.  I had no phone, no money, no help, so I thought of walking to St. Mary's Hospital, but seemed unable to move, just stood on the sidewalk, empty-handed except for a pack of Orbit gum, an unpaid for pack at that.