The Rare Recalled Dream

 I write this only for you, Dear Blog. the only time another's dream was recalled with any interest was Elaine Bennis's dream about George Washington's false teeth. Most of the dreams I have are vivid when I wake from them, and I would expect to remember them but they wisp away like clouds. This dream has been in my mind for a few days now, so maybe writing it here will help it to evaporate.

   We bought a different house, in what appears to be a village. The house has its entrance on the side. The front of the house opens into a store, which evidently has been there for some time. The entrance and windows appear to be well established. It occurs to me we must be landlords now, and I want to ask him about that but he is not there at the time. I am out in front of the property which fronts down to a sidewalk next to a fairly busy road. A convoy of army vehicles is passing by with the regular traffic, and one of the men in a tank leans out and asks me what is the name of the plant in my front yard.  I realize he must be referring to our other home in Valley Falls as there are no plants in this yard at all. Before I can say anything, the traffic has moved along, past the house. But I notice this tank has made a right turn at the end of the quite long block. I think maybe he's going to circle the block to get my answer to his question. I walk around the side of the house so I can see if he's going to emerge in the front of the house. The property slopes up quite a distance, and fairly steep. It is cold now and there is snow on the ground. For no reason at all it seems, I fall face forward into the snow and as I lay there I think maybe this is the end of my life. But after a while, when nothing happens, I get up and decide to go back home. That is when I realize I'd left my car far away on the other entrance to the property. I despair of ever finding it, but would try.*

  * The feeling of my car being in the distance on a dark cold snowy night is reminiscent of my true-life experience from years ago at the recently opened Colonie Center. I was Christmas shopping,  by myself, as was not unusual back then. There were the 2 anchor stores, Macy's which I think was at the lower level and Sears, at the upper level. I'd parked up there as the lots were very busy then, and that was available. I paid no attention to time; at 10 p.m. the stores closed. Probably an announcement, but when I went to the upper exit, the gate was down. So I had to hurry to the lower exit to leave the mall.  The considerate managers then turned off all the outside lights, and I had to navigate the distance of the entire mall to the upper level, in the dark and cold and past a construction site on the side going up the hill to where I hoped to find my car in the dark. If I felt then that death was impending, it may have had to do with Lemuel Smith's being on the loose at the time.