Last Night

I dreamt that we were going to see a movie, and I had to go get the tickets, 'cause Jake and Will were off doing something. So I was waiting in a long, themepark-like line to buy tickets. And the manager of the theater was there, saying something about how they really needed to restructure the line for maximum efficiency. Which seemed silly to me -- why take everyone out of line and move the little railings around now, when you could do it after the theater closed? I persuaded him to hold off, and continued waiting.

People slowly shuffled forward, and after maybe a half hour, I'd wound around to what I thought was the door to the box office. I went in, and following the heels of the person in front of me, found that we were climbing slowly up a pyramid (or really more like a monolithic tower) of circus elephants, who were balancing almost as precariously as the moviegoing patrons atop them.

For reasons that only make sense in dreams, this was not strange so much as merely inconvenient. We climbed slowly up the circus elephants, taking care not to tread on their trunks or use their tails as handholds. By now, it had been at least an hour, and I realized I'd completely forgotten to bring my cell phone. What if Jake got worried? He'd have no way of finding me that didn't involve climbing a tower of elephants, and given the situation, no one was bound to look kindly on anyone cutting in line.

The line inched forward some more, and now I and the people around me had reached the top of the tower. Which just so happened to be on the edge of a precipice, looking out over a pleasant valley as the sun was going down. During hawk migration season, which confused me. How was it suddenly mid-October? But sure enough, six wheeling red-shouldered hawks, a peregrine falcon and a bald eagle spiraled slowly by, playing lazily in the updrafts. I thought that it'd almost be worth this whole elephant business, if it weren't for the fact that I still had to make my way back down.

The line was moving faster now, and so I had to leave the hawks and the view and clamber down two and a half stories of elephant. My legs were shaking. Disturbingly, so were those of the elephants. I helped a little one get his foot back into a more stable position, and he gave me a grateful look. What felt like hours later, I hopped down to the floor, bought our tickets, and ran out into the arms of a very concerned Jake, who followed my babbling about as well as he did when I related this dream to him a few minutes ago.