A Profound Dream

Had a very telling dream last night. 

I was in the passenger's seat of my step-sister Sarah's car. We were driving around at night when suddenly a bunch of cop cars flew by with their sirens blazing. We pulled over and stopped to see what was going on. Behind us was a cop who had pulled over and was talking to and getting ready to arrest a group of 3 young guys. 

One of the guys actually started running away and I recognized him as he ran past. The cop let him go, and proceeded on arresting the other two guys. The boy who ran past was 16 years old and went to a high school I mentored at. I remember wondering what the protocol was for a mentor who supported at-risk-youth when the mentor met another at-risk-youth in the program doing something they weren't supposed to be outside of the school/mentor setting.

I told Sarah I recognized the boy and that it was a shame for someone so young to be in so much trouble. She basically responded that he was one of those kids who was always going to be in trouble and was better in jail then running around on the streets.

At some point during the night we parked in a driveway and saw the boy playing basketball with his friends. Sarah glared at him, backed up, and proceeded to drive away. The boy launched the basketball at Sarah's car -hitting her hood. I rolled down the window and actually grabbed the basketball. I was going to throw it down the street, but decided to keep it in the car instead. Kind of a mocking act of revenge. "Now they have no basketball to throw around". Sarah thought it was funny. 

Then a little while later Sarah pulled into the high school P.E. department parking lot. I wondered what we were doing at the school at night, but followed her unquestioningly. We went in and stopped in front of some stacked tables: 12x6x6. Sarah said they were the size she needed for an event she had coming up and wanted to know how many she needed. she decided to use bright orange tape to name the sections of the events that needed tables so she could figure out how many tables she would need. She wasn't planning to take these tables -just mark them to map out how many she needed. 

I hesitated and asked her is this was "ok" to do. She said it was fine and we started marking the tables by writing out the names of the sections on them with the orange sticky tape. We then heard some people come in and Sarah said to hide. We hid under the stacked tables, but were then caught and drug out. 

We were then put in "detention" by the PE teacher and were told we had to stay under the tables. After about 30 minutes I looked around under the tables trying to figure out how long we needed to stay under there. Then I found some receipts that had been placed next to us. I found out they were written up for the police to read and basically listed all the things we were being charged with and that we had to stay on the ground under the tables overnight.

I was upset when I looked at the charges: Vandalizing property, "Tagging" or graffiti, attempted robbery, and a whole bunch of other exaggerations. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do the next day since I had to be at work at 7am and the receipts said I had to submit papers to the court by 3pm. I also needed to locate where the court was... 

Sarah on the other hand lost it after about an hour and got up to leave. No one was really "watching us" though we assumed someone was around nearby. Sarah said she was taking off and heading back to the house. She was kind of overwhelmed by everything. I decided it was safer to just stay there instead of risking getting charged with more things by leaving.

I went back under the table and fell asleep until about an hour later when I was woken up by a large, kind-faced woman in a plain dress. She had a clipboard in front of her and was assigned with asking to see how the "prisoners" were doing. The first thing she asked me was what my reaction was to being there. Initially I felt overcome with an array of feelings ranging from a sense of injustice to guilt. But then I thought about it and said: "I guess my reaction to this whole thing has kind of been logical." 

She asked me what I meant and I said: "Well I was driven here by my step-sister. I was told to put the orange tape on the tables. I asked her if it was a ok and she said it was so I did. Then we got caught and I was told I had to stay here overnight. Then I tried figuring out how I was going to plan my day to take care of this stuff... I've just kind of been going with the flow one moment at a time and trying to assess everything and figuring everything out logically."

She then asked me what I thought of being in the "jail" from more of an external point of view. I said: "I can look at the bigger picture and say what I think of actually being here or coming to this point. I think God is punishing me in some way." I then explained about the boy we had come across earlier with the basketball. "I think I didn't handle it the way I was supposed to and God wants me to see how quickly things can change. One minute your judging someone who's in trouble with the law the next you're the one behind bars." 

The woman then asked me where Sarah went and why I didn't go with her. I said: "Sarah didn't leave because of logical reasons -she left because she was overwhelmed emotionally or psychologically. It's wiser to stay here and accept the punishment then risk greater punishment by leaving. I've always obeyed authority and have been in similar situations like this. You do as you're told and follow orders."

I guess the woman then reported what I had said to the main guards. I went back to sleep and in the morning I was released and was told the charges had been dropped. I called Sarah and told her to pick me up. I also let her know about the charges.

I woke up after this dream and felt very attached to it emotionally as if I had just lived it. I was surprised and amazed by the honesty of it and how humbling it was to experience.