I’ve been having a ton of weird dreams lately. Part of it is due to my general mental state (not great). Part of it is due to all of the (legal, prescribed, perhaps over-presecribed) medications I take. In last night’s dream, I was catching a train to go to the Netherlands with my cousin Tootsie, who I haven’t seen in almost 25 years (also–probably a “play cousin” as opposed to a blood relative.)
We were both still living at my grandmother’s house (I haven’t lived there since 1994, Tootsie hasn’t lived there since 1988, my grandmother has been deceased for a year and she moved out of that house in 2001). Or maybe we weren’t living there, we were just visiting. My grandmother was either going through some sort of dementia or she was very ill. At any rate, we made specific plans to meet at Penn Station at 8:15 to catch this train to the airport that was going to take us to the Netherlands where I was really excited to go buy records (well, that part checks out).
I end up leaving for the airport in the morning without Tootsie, but we plan to meet up in Penn Station and catch the bus at the same time. I realize I’m running late, so for some reason I’m sprinting through the streets of Manhattan (up 8th Avenue, to be specific), trying to get to Penn Station. Time is ticking. All of a sudden, I realize “holy shit, I’m not wearing a mask”. I stop at this kiosk to buy a mask but it’s too crowded and people keep pushing in front of me, so I decide to go somewhere else. Along the way, my legs get caught in this construction contraption, and people twist the contraption back and forth to try and free my legs. This-clearly-is taking some time, and by the time I get freed from the device, I’m almost positive I’m going to miss this train. I text Tootsie telling her that I’m held up and I’m probably not going to get to Penn Station on time.
I get to Penn Station and I’m (for some reason) still looking for masks instead of hauling ass to the train (presumably, I can’t get on the train–or was it a bus? I think it was a bus.) I find a mask and meet Tootsie in the bus alley JUST as our bus is pulling away. We decide to just cut our losses, go back to my Grandma’s house and think of a plan when I hear this person behind me laughing and making fun of us. I grab them by the collar and sort of mush (not exactly punch them) and now we truly have to haul ass because I’ve just assaulted someone.
We end up getting outside of Penn Station, which now looks way more like Jersey City’s Journal Square, and have to run clear to the other side of the parking lot to get a cab back to Brooklyn (and where is cab money from JC to Brooklyn coming from?) Apparently, there is a cop in hot pursuit. We find a cab, and the doors have to be unfolded, zipped and buttoned in place like the top of a jeep. I’m fumbling, not able to get the doors fastened properly, and just as I click everything in and we’re ready to drive off, the cop appears at the passenger side door.
I wake up.
What the fuck is in my subconscious?