Border War

Friday night

I was one of three Confederates (or Confederate sympathizers) in a border state, such as Missouri or Kansas, and we were preparing for a battle. All three of us were wearing civilian shirts and pants; most likely, we were farmers. We had the higher ground, but the enemy was approaching from below, and we were hopelessly outnumbered. The leader of our group climbed a hill behind us to have a look around, and we scrambled after him. He walked to the edge of a town, looked around a bit, and came back with his instructions. Basically, we were to disperse in three different directions.

I was given an additional job, too. The commander asked me to go and buy him a fancy dress uniform. I said, "But how will I pay for it?" The other citizen-soldier said, "Here." That's when I noticed that he had a solid gold fingernail. He proceeded to trim the edge of it, and handed the clipping to me. He said that would be more than enough to cover the cost.

Even though I had escaped imminent danger, I still had to be wary in town. I'd have to be extra sure of the tailor's sympathies before asking him to do the job.

*****

I've recently decided to opt out of my employer's 401(K) plan, for various reasons, and will probably choose to go with a Roth IRA to "grow my money." In lieu of a golden fingernail, that is. I think that might be what this dream is about. I mentioned this theory to my wife a few minutes ago. She thought a moment and said, "That freaks me out, man. I don't like it."