Revenge / 6 / Bike Tour

Wednesday night

Dream 1: Revenge

Gordon, Andrew and I were sitting together in the front left row of a projection room, where we were eagerly awaiting the screening of a film made by Quentin Tarantino, with help from Tim Burton. Gordon and I had seen the movie before, but Drew had not. Apparently the rest of the audience contained several fans of the film, too; we could tell that they were excited.

The first scene opened in a wooded area. Jimi Hendrix was lying on the ground in a sleeping bag, or maybe he was covered in a blanket. He was the leader of a band of peaceful, free-spirited young people who were asleep all around him. He wore some elements of Native American dress to denote his high position in the group, but, contrary to appearances, he was not a warrior. Not yet, anyway. That was about to change. Some young people who were sitting behind us in the theater began to whisper about what was coming next. I leaned over to my right and said to my brother, "I'm sorry [for what you're about to see]."

Although it wasn't seen in the dream, I knew that a band of marauders was about to enter the wood and massacre the peaceful group, leaving only one person alive -- Jimi Hendrix -- who would transform himself into a mighty warrior, bent on avenging the deaths of his friends.

Tim Burton's contributions to the film were appropriately strange, and featured stop-motion animation in the vein of his films "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Corpse Bride." We saw a scene in which a detective, who had been assigned to investigate the massacre, was at the beach, buried up to his chest in sand, while wearing a suit, tie and hat. The sky, the sand and the water were orange, and pumpkins raced around the beach on bent, pointed, spindly legs. He was approached by a pretty loose collection of dismembered body parts (including entrails) which were cruising down the beach in a heap. Seeing the detective, a cheerful voice coming from the grouping said, "Hey! Can you put us back together?"

Dream 2: 6

I had recently bought a dark-colored 1960s Mustang, and was pulling out of the Chesterbrook Shopping Center parking lot in McLean, when I discovered that it had appalingly bad brakes. In fact, I had to stand on the clutch and the brake in order to get the car to stop. Unfortunately, I had to make a left turn and head down a very steep hill, which was utterly terrifying. Once I made it to the bottom (without crashing) I found that I had to pass through some sort of automobile safety station, complete with a little white wooden booth and long wooden barriers that had to be raised for entry and exit. A young woman in the booth had somehow been monitoring my progress. She said, "We suggest that you drive 6 miles per hour."

Dream 3: Bike Tour

I was riding a bike in Washington, D.C. on a beautiful spring day, but I was lost. I'd stopped by a bike shop (presumably for some repairs, or maybe for directions) but still didn't have a clue where I was going. The store's parking lot was filled with lots of interesting bikes, though. I got to a corner and took a deep breath, enjoying the warm weather, and the the sight of trees which only recently had come into full bloom. If I could only find the Washington Monument, I'd get my bearings, and everything would be fine, but in the meantime, I was getting exercise, and was doing what I wanted to do. I looked around, trying to figure out the direction in which I should be headed. Up ahead, the street in front of me featured two huge landmarks on either side. At first I thought that the one on the left was the Washington Monument, but it wasn't; it was some other huge obelisk. The stones had an attractive light brown hue. The one on the right corner was a gigantic Victorian house. It had fallen into disrepair, but I could tell that at one time it had been a majestic dwelling. I said out loud, "What a pile!"

*****

Dream 1: Revenge

Jimi Hendrix had a fondness for exotic clothing, including old military coats and cowboy gear, but I don't recall ever seeing him wearing a Native American bone shirt, as he did in this dream. My mother's old boss, Congressman Usher Burdick of North Dakota, was a friend and chronicler of the Sioux nation, and he gave Mom a very cool old book about that tribe. I don't know what ever happened to it. I used to pore over the illustrations of warriors such as Chief Red Cloud, who was shown wearing the bone necklace, or front-piece, over his shirt. Very impressive.

I suspect that the creepy pumpkins on the beach mix my search for vintage Halloween postcards on e-bay, and a documentary we watched on PBS the other night about wildlife in Cuba. It featured a crab migration.

Dream 2: 6

I owned a 1966 Mustang over 20 years ago, till it was rear-ended by a hit and run driver. It was white, though, not dark blue or black, as was the one in the dream.

Dream 3: Bike Tour

During Easter brunch with some neighbors, somebody suggested that the group might want to embark on regular bike rides. I said that my bike has been in the basement for a few years now, so I need to get it reconditioned, but after that, I'd be all for it.

My wife and I recently bought a box set of the BBC series "Jeeves and Wooster," which starred Hugh Laurie (of "House" fame) and ran for four seasons in the early 1990s. The series is set in the 1930s, and features some enormous old British country houses. Seeing the exterior of one of those houses, my wife exclaimed, "What a pile!" Her expression found its way into this dream when I stared at the Victorian mansion.