Such an involved dream, I want to try to get it down before it all disappears... I've already forgotten the beginning.
I was visiting my sister in America. In real life she's 27 and a mother and a teacher but in the dream she was in high school. I visited her at school and everything was so different. America had become a total police state, the schools most of all. Propaganda was everywhere. Homosexuals were being rounded up and the kids were being enlisted as secret police. In my sister's English classroom, the teacher was reading an article to the class about a court case that was wrapped up recently using a grammatical text as evidence. The text had asserted that, when writing properly, one should never use words like "to." (The case was about a gay student who had failed his English class because he used the word "to" frequently in his writing, and had later tried to sue the school. As a result, he was arrested.) I immediately got angry because grammar is my territory, damn it, and I spoke up to argue with the teacher, but my sister pulled me back and warned me against it. I turned around to look at the back wall of the class, where photographs of every single student in the school were hanging along with copies of their schedules, so everyone could track their location at any time.
(missing some interactions at the school here... something about kids and teachers and school police...)
Next I remember we're "home" - my sister's dorm, I think, but I had a pile of my own stuff there. I was arranging the books and drawings to proudly display the intelligent and enlightened themes in them. My sister saw me and warned me that I'd better not have that stuff visible in case of an inspection. They'd arrest me and I'd never get to go back to Prague. Frightened, I quickly rearranged everything so that only boring old books and harmless doodles are visible. Then my sister tells me it's time to go. She had always told me she was too busy to talk because she was taking some sort of classes in the countryside. Now I finally get to see what they are.
We hike up into the mountains and there's a big sort of fort there, built into this system of caves. When we first come in there's a big room on the left with desks and a whiteboard at the front. We sit down and once the doors are sealed, the lecture begins. It's all anti-propaganda stuff revealing the truth behind the government, and teaching them the secret symbols of the rebellion. Most of the class is filled with young kids. They play some videos at the front and explain what's really going on, then it's time to move into private groups. The kids all get up and move down the hallway. My sister has disappeared and I'm not sure where I'm supposed to go. I follow the crowd and see the kids going into different rooms that look like classrooms, with little room numbers next to the doors. I keep moving down the hall and see some of the kids are going into some kind of fun room. In fact it turns out to be more like an amusement park funhouse, with moving floors and fun stuff like that. Something about it tells me it's used for a kind of training.
(Something is missing here.)
We're back at the school and the principal has heard about some kind of secret club in the caves. It's being passed off as an activity center, and he wants to see it and check it out, so he goes up there with us and a group of military officers escort him.
This time I don't know where my sister is, but I realize we're being inspected by the military and I'm terrified what's going to happen. Everyone goes into the big room again and this time they say we're going to watch some films. I sit at a table next to a kid, maybe 14 years old, who introduces himself as David Smith and seems excited about being here. Everyone is careful not to mention anything that normally goes on. The older attendees seem nervous that the younger ones will let something slip. They start playing a film but after a few minutes they have to turn it off because they realize it includes banned music. Apologies are made - "we need to stop the film, sorry. We don't like the Doors." There is an obvious emphasis on WE, like it's some kind of slogan. They try several more films but with the same result. Finally they say sorry, we must have gotten the wrong batch of films. One of the little kids raises his hand and asks if we can do the activity room today. The leader says no, that's only for Tuesdays. Today we're going directly to AHS. The little kids groan but everyone heads to their classrooms.
I look around and I don't see the military people, but I'm sure they're still there, walking around inspecting things. I move down the hallways looking for a room to join, reading the signs outside the doors. They list military-type activities like drilling, makeshift weapons, etc. However, none of them specifically says anything about the government. I realize the inspectors are going to see this and know exactly what's going on. I decide I'd better get out of there, but I'm afraid for everyone left behind. And where is my sister?
Walking out the front door, I see another group of military officials walking up the path pushing small boxes on wheels between them. As they get closer the boxes open and tiny tanks come rolling out of them that look like they're made of legos. I smile like a simpleton and ask the men where they're going. They say they've discovered a rebel training camp here and they're going to wipe it out. Astonished, I tell them they must be mistaken. This place isn't a rebel training camp. It's where the kids are forming a militia to help the government in case we ever get attacked. They ask me what AHS stands for - I know it stands for "anti-homeland-security" but I smile and tell them it means "assisting homeland security." Then I ask them if maybe it's possible that the person who gave them the information was really a rebel, trying to get them to attack their loyal supporters. The officials pause for a moment and seem to consider this while I wave goodbye and continue down the hill, still smiling like an idiot.
Switch to the third person now, I see a few people in one of the rooms in the fort. He's an older man with a few younger adults with him. Out the window they can see the approach of the military officials. He tells the younger people to get him a couple of pieces of heavy cloth and a board. He wants to keep something safe. They give him the materials and he opens a cupboard and pulls out a few photographs. He slides them between the cloths and ties them to the board. Then he starts trying to pry up one of the floorboards to stash the package underneath it. But will he make it in time?
And then the cat jumps on my face and wakes me up.
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Topic: The Dream Thread (Read 568052 times)