Metamorphosis and Grand Poisonings

Two parts - a dream and a nightmare

I was outside the old library building in my home town. There was a stop sign coming out of a wooden bucket. Inside the bucket was a snake submerged in water, but the snake had a row these fine strands coming from its side - like the legs of a house centipede, or the sides of a feather. It looked stuck.
"Now aren't you interesting?" I said, coming closer. I did not know if the snake was poisonous, so I was hesitant to touch it. The snakes feathery strands floated in the water, and shimmered dark opalescent. I reached out to pluck it from the water, but it started to twist away gently. The feathery strands grew larger and the snake rolled into a ball. It changed into a black rooster with the same black/green shiny feathers. It looked at me quizzically. I asked it if I should remove it from the bucket, when my cat Axle showed up and pounced. I knocked her away and picked up the rooster. It was not very big. I carried it inside the library, which now was a two story white house that was falling apart. Inside, I set the rooster down, and tried to find food. I only had meat, and a few breadcrumbs in my pocket. Another of my cats, Bait, arrived - much fatter than I've ever seen him. He sort of waddled to the rooster and tried to bite it. I smacked him gently on the nose - then there was another cat. I felt like I had to work really hard to keep this rooster from getting attacked.

---

I was in Chicago - sort of. There was a park with trees and a large, old, brick building. There was a man there - but the man was deformed or on stilts - both. He was grafted onto these mechanical spring stilts, and he was on a drug that made him strong but crazy. He was hunting for the scientist who did this to him, and I offered to help. I climbed on his back and he leapt high and far into the trees. He shimmered in and out of focus as he did so, but I knew they could see us because he was hitting the branches too hard. He was too hard to control - he was so full of rage. He leapt again, to another tree. I was talking to him, trying to calm him down. He leapt to the outside stairs and ripped the metal off the wall. I fell to the ground, and called to him.

We tried again - this time I made it to the door and called him. Inside there was a great commotion. A squat man wearing outside ribs of metal was bathed in blue electric light. He was electrocuting the man with the mechanical stilt legs. He was also trying to break down a door. I knew he should not do this. As I ran to confront him, his power suit broke down and I started pounding on the metal "heart" of his suit - a button. I felt very weak, like I wasn't doing anything at all. The squat little man looked at me from behind his dark glasses, surprised. His lackeys just stared at me as well. I think I must have succeeded, or the mechanical stilt man showed up and helped, because his skeleton suit fell to pieces.

There was a chaotic bit.

The building was now a hospital of sorts. The mad scientist who made the mechanical man - who may also have been the squat little man - was putting all sorts of drugs into the food and drink to control all the people. I knew this, and was trying to expose him. There was a crowd of people - restless. There was a sort of protest going on against the food - there was an underground system. I was walking (I wore saddle shoes and an old style dress). When I saw a man coming - black, and somber. His family was there. I started to cry and shook his hand. I thanked him for what he was doing and he invited me to walk with him to the building. This surprised a great many people.

 I found children in an old-timey candy shop. There were basins of glittering candy around the shop - hypercolored biscuits and donuts and pastries filled with glittering, shimmering filling. But something was wrong - this was more dangerous food. I got out my smartphone and started recording the donuts. The sprinkles were turning into bugs and eating the donut - all the candy and food was eating itself. The crumbs swirled around me like a kaliedescope and I was trying to catch it all on my phone. The mad doctor had erased his evidence, I realized, so no one could catch him. I had the video, and tried to leave. There were men there and they tried to stop me. I think I knocked something over - I turned the power off? - and ran.

I found the mad scientist's servant on the second floor, and she tried to hide me. She gave me a pair of red flats and took me into his apartment. The maids were all part of the underground, and they hid me in the bathroom. The scientist came in, and knew exactly where I was. He was cold and crisp and oily all at once - I hated him. I shoved past him and took off running, again trying to shut down the power as I went.

I got through the hallway of the building, then to my car. I went driving down the Indiana toll road, except there were people in the way. Children were laying down in the streets with their parents - the parents encouraged it. I stopped and asked a group of men what was going on. They did not answer me, but spoke in street talk I did not understand. Some asked for money.  I rolled around them carefully, but did not make it out. Somehow I was brought back to the old hospital building. There I was hooked up to a wagon, which was covered in wire. I looked around and saw people dear to me. I asked them why they were letting this happen. A nun I knew was looking on - I begged her to help me. "This will help you," she said in a cold, neutral voice. The machine turned on and I started feeling electricity work its way over my skin. I struggled to free myself.

The dream rewound.

I was on the steps of the building again, and again the black man was making his way slowly with this family. This time, however, another woman stopped in front of me with her friend - they were talking about how each of them hoped to be the man's girlfriend. I stood there, politely waiting with tears in my eyes. This time the man stopped at them instead, and they cooed over him. He only looked at me before walking on. I sort of followed, but not really.

I confronted the mad scientist about the food. He had me tied up to a wagon and the electricity started up. I asked my friends to help - but they were all drugged and thought it was better if I were fixed. I saw the cable ahead of me was forked, and I grabbed the end of it. I was starting to fizzle with what I knew was pain. I grabbed the cable and pulled myself to the wagon. I fed the cable back in on itself by plugging it in to the wagon's outlet, and the power short-circuited.

I ran. This time I had no phone, no shoes, and I was wildly running. I ran through all my friends - they were so interconnected I knew I couldn't go to one without one of the mind-controlled ones figured out where I was. As I ran, I realized that I had to go north - to HW. He would keep me safe - but I had no phone. I determined I need to get a burner phone, and a pair of shoes. The ground beneath me started to incline and decline - a series of small hills. I wondered if I would ever get home again. I knew they'd never stop chasing me.

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Ok, there was a lot going on in this dream. The details were so vivid - the red shoes, the glittering candy. Also, I don't know if this is important and I feel strange writing it, but everyone in the second half - the crowd, the people on the highway, the maids - they were all African American. Perhaps that was my subconscious making assumptions about Chicago.  Ethnicity has never been a strong aspect in my dreams, but upon waking I think it's an important point because it was so clear.

And there was so much more nuance than I can remember now. There were so many more words spoken, so many more reasons. The man on the legs did much more I know. And the mad scientist guy did more - he hunted me a lot more, but I can't remember how.

I will say that the short fat man looked like Gru's assistant from Despicable Me. The man on stilts sort of resembled Steve Valentine, and the mad scientist at times reminded me of Bob Balaban.