Dreamland

Vacations

I'm visiting my Mom back east. We're talking about the war in Afghanistan, the terrorists, anthrax in the mail, etc. She tells me it is all leading up to the "End of Days", as mentioned in the Bible. She hands me a piece of paper with some dates on it, says that someone in her church group has calculated the date for the end of the world, when Christ will come down in judgement. I remind her that I am an agnostic, and even though there are people doing evil things right now, I don't think it's the end of the world. "Even if someone unleashes a plague upon the earth, there are just too many people for it to kill all of them. Mankind will survive."

I'm at Disneyland with my wife and son. They've just opened up a new area in the park promoting a recently released movie, so they're charging more for admission. I don't think the new ride and movie display are very impressive, though. I ask my son what he thinks. "It's pretty cheesy, but what do you expect, it's Disneyland." Nick replies cynically.

We head for the exit. Near the gate there is a small group of angry people demanding refunds of their admission. Their leader approaches me: "The new ride is a scam, it's not worth the extra money. Join up with us, we're gonna start a riot if they don't give us our money back!"
I tell the guy I'm not interested in being in a riot. We continue on our way back to the car.

I'm on a vacation, sharing a cottage with my sister Carol, her husband, my brother, and his wife. The cottage is right on a lake, in fact the water level is even with the first floor, and waves splash into the living room when you open the door. We have a speedboat tied to the railing of the front porch. We decide to go water skiing, Carol goes first. She is amazing, cutting back and forth, jumping the wake, doing 360's. Then it's my turn. I can barely get up on the ski, and have a horrible time just trying to maintain my balance. It's pathetic. Everyone is laughing, they think I'm trying to be funny. I don't tell them I'm not.

I'm back at the cottage, in my room, talking with my sister. She lights up a Marlboro, offers me one. I decline, instead pull out a pack of Camel Lights from a carton in the drawer next to my bed. "I haven't had a cigarette in a couple weeks, since the last time I saw you down in Florida," I tell her. The cigarette tastes good.

I'm on another vacation, this time in Italy with my wife and son, walking through the ruins of Rome. There is a sign pointing to the entrance of a maze. I decide to check it out, Viv & Nick say they will wait outside for me. The maze is made of cut stones and bricks, and winds it's way up a steep hill. I end up at the top of an old crumbling tower made of terra cotta. I can see that the ancient tower has recently been reinforced with steel cables, but it looks as if the eye-bolts anchoring the cable in place could easily pull out of the tiles. I can't find my way back through the maze though, so I decide to try to climb down the tower.

I call out to my wife and son, asking if they can tell which way I should go. They can't see me, but by listening to their voices, I am able to start finding a way down. It starts getting dark, but then the tower is suddenly lit by floodlights, probably on a timer. As I'm nearing the bottom of the tower, Nick turns off the lights as a joke. I yell at him, and he turns them back on, laughing. Pieces of the tower are crumbling and falling as I finally reach the bottom. We hurry to get away, not wanting to be near if the tower collapses.