Tall 2-Pump Hazelnut Nonfat No-Foam Latte, Por Favor

For a few weeks I was having trouble remembering my dreams... or maybe I was just out of the habit of writing them down. They are, however, reemerging abundantly and vividly.

One of last night's dreams began with a babysitting job, and lots of setting/character shifting took place. I met one of my old neighbors, and she drove me to her ex-husband's house to watch their three boys. His house was in my mom's neighborhood, but in a different cul de sac. We walked in, I met the boys, then followed their mother into another room.

The first dream shift took place here; suddenly we were walking through the halls of Tuckahoe Elementary (which in my dream was supposed to be Freeman.) As we entered a classroom, the mother was no longer herself, but Miss McGlinchey... with a strong Asian accent... and she was teaching Spanish rather than a physics. She said, "Why don't you just join the class instead of babysitting?" I decided to give it a go.

It happened to be the day of a test, which I began while sitting on the floor in the front of the classroom. I struggled to recall my Spanish from high school, but still turned in my test before most everyon in the class. Then I turned and saw Charles sitting beside me, also done with his test. We conversed loudly about a guy that I knew... or liked... or was dating... all I remember of the conversation was Charles saying, "Wait... you haven't MET this guy yet??" and laughing.

I wondered what was taking everyone so long to finish (other than the two people speaking loudly in the front of the room.) I happened to turn around and look at the board, and I saw a few more questions that were supposed to be completed on the back of the test! Because the teacher had stepped out of the room, I dug through the pile of completed tests, found mine, and attempted to complete the final questions. One of the questions was a chart regarding various Starbucks products. The nicknames of the drinks were given (in Spanish) and we had to fill in a.the actual name b. the number of calories in the drink c. a description and d.whether people generally like it. I thought, "Yes! I've got this in the bag... I know the calorie count of EVERYTHING!"

The first drink on the list was, "della," which I interpreted as an abbreviated version of, "cafe de el dia," or "coffee of the day." Zero calories. This was going to be a breeze. Before I finished filling in the chart, though, the teacher walked back in and said our time was up. I tried to reason with her saying that it was my first day in the class, and a few extra minutes would allow me to finish. She didn't waver. She took my incomplete test, and I left the room, annoyed. Walking to the parking lot I thought, "I didn't even get paid for babysitting!"

In the parking lot, which was mostly empty, I realized I had no idea where I'd parked my car. After walking all around and not seeing it, it occurred to me that my car may have been towed because I didn't have a parking pass. Shoot. I found someone I knew and asked what was done with unauthorized cars. She said, "Oh, they take them to the prison." "The prison?? What prison?" I replied with much skepticism in my voice. She corrected herself saying, "Not the prison... the old factory." Again, I questioned her and finally said, "Do you mean the watch tower in the driver's ed parking lot?" Yes. That is what she meant.

We crossed the student parking lot, jumped over a wall, walked into the driver's ed lot, and approached an old, run-down building. We slowly pushed open a door and looked into the dimly lit, cob-webby ("dusty" just doesn't cut it,) warehouse-like room. We saw lots of old factory equipment, but no cars.

Just as I was beginning to feel disheartened, Grandma Tudor called and woke me up. While I usually don't like to be woken from dreams, I was relieved to find that it had only been a dream, and my car had not vanished.