Another Day, Another Theater / Strike Up the Band

Tuesday night

Dream 1: Another Day, Another Theater

I was going to a movie theater to see a film; I think it was some sort of a children's classic, and I got there before it started. As I entered I noticed my friend Preston sitting in the front row, in what looked like a church pew. His friend Jeff sat to his left, leaning against the far left side, and stretching his legs out, as if he was on a couch at home. I didn't see Jeff's face, but recognized the back of his balding head.

I walked up the right aisle; the theater was more crowded than I'd expected. Finally, I found an empty seat on the far right and sat there, but not for long. Soon my brother Andrew walked in, and he came up the same right aisle. I flagged him down and looked around for a place where we could sit together. A Mexican man and his family seated near me pointed out some empty seats half way back in the center section, so I got up and Drew and I sat together over there.

Dream 2: Strike Up the Band

My wife and I were at the home of the neighbor who lives to the left of our house in Nashville, when suddenly we heard some loud music; it was coming from our own backyard. We rushed outside and peered over the chain link fence to see our neighbors from the other side, Jack and Hilda, and a bunch of their friends and neighbors, serenading us with "The Star Spangled Banner," played on brass instruments. They weren't professionals by any stretch of the imagination, and some members of the group hit a few bum notes, but it was a wonderful surprise, and we were thrilled. Once the song was over we clapped and cheered, and then Hilda said, "O.K., on to the next house!" They were taking their merry band to select homes around the neighborhood, playing one song per family.

*****

Last night's dreams were pretty unusual on two counts: I very rarely dream of similar situations in the same week (movie theaters), and I very rarely dream of our home in Nashville, while I dream of my former home in Arlington all the time.

Dream 1: Another Day, Another Theater

My older brother Jimmie and his wife, Dawn, are expecting their first child, and yesterday Jimmie said that I'd be in charge of instructing the kid about old black and white movies. Just before going to bed last night I sent him a list of 20 black and white classic films that would be near the top of my "curriculum." I suppose that's why I was going to a theater to see a children's classic.

I was also e-mailing with Preston yesterday, and I spoke with Andrew on the phone. The three of us will be together in less than a month to play the second round in our yearly poker tournament, and Andrew and I will be staying at Preston's. We always look forward to the reunion. Preston mentioned in one of his messages that he and Jeff are taking part in a fantasy football league. Preston and Jeff knew each other in college, and they were roommates when Jeff moved to Virginia in the 1990s. I visited their apartment regularly, and we had a lot of fun times. Two years ago Jeff played in our poker tournament, had a round of bad luck, got steamed, and decided that he wanted to leave and drive back home to New Jersey that night. (He'd moved there after getting married.) My friend Ed, who runs the tournament, walked in from the table in the other room, with Jeff in tow. Ed turned to me and said, "He wants to leave, so I'm cashing him out." (I'm the keeper of the rules and the stats.) It was against the rules to leave early if you still had money, and nobody had ever done it in the history of the tournament. Without thinking, I said, "That's a violation!" Jeff spat out, "Try to get people to start on time -- see if that's a violation. LATER..." and he walked out. He never spoke to me again.

It's so wierd that it came to that, because Preston, Jeff and I had had a great time at dinner before the tournament that night. I've written to Jeff a couple times since, but he hasn't responded. I don't know if he ever thinks about it, but I really regret that that friendship ended; I never meant to embarrass him. I was just surprised that he was quitting early that night, and was telling the head of the tourney that that's not allowed. Anybody else would calm down later and understand the situation, but apparently not Jeff. Oh, well. Life has it's regrets, and that's one of mine.

I must be trying to tell myself something with these theater dreams, but heck if I know what it is.

Dream 2: Strike Up the Band

This dream must have taken place in the early 2000s, because there were still chain link fences between our backyard and the neighbors; we've since taken them out and repaced them with a nice wood fence.

Jack and Hilda are wonderful neighbors who have been very kind to us; I wouldn't put it past them to learn how to play brass instruments just to surprise their friends with a song.

I think I know the origin of this dream. Back on July 4th I was having a down day, feeling stressed about my new job, isolated from most people in town, and missing my friends back in Virginia. Hilda was out working in her garden, and she happened to mention that there was a July 4th block party that day only four blocks or so away. I walked over there, and was thrilled with the sights and sounds, to say nothing of all of the free food and drinks. There was a parade of kids on all sorts of vehicles decked out in red white and blue; the mayor read the Pledge of Allegiance; somebody else read from the Declaration of Independence, and, to top it off, they had a wonderful brass band in somebody's front yard, playing a mixture of patriotic songs and popular tunes from the 1940s. I felt something like the Grinch did when he realized that maybe Christmas didn't come from a store. The swelling feeling in my heart of buried patriotism just about knocked me out. It had nothing to do with politics; it was love of country.

And is there anything in this world better than a brass band?