October 2006
october 1
Something bad has happened - like the end of the world. A lot of people have either left the country or just disappeared (I don't think they died). I'm alone in this old apartment building, except for the landlord. I'm packing my things to leave. He's going around to each room and turning off the electricity in rooms that are already empty. I'm changing my shirt, and he barges in on me, and I ask him to wait until I'm gone to do stuff in my room. He says okay and goes off to his own quarters. I go into the bathroom to turn the light on, but the fan comes on at the same time, and I think the noise will bring him back so I turn it off. I realize that I only have a few pairs of clean underwear, and need to wash some before leaving. I'm packing very sloppily, just folding my shirts in half (vertically) and then rolling them up. I'm agonizing over whether to take any perfumes or lipsticks, and which ones if I do. I meet up at my grandmother's old house with my parents, Rose, her sister, and a few other people. We're waiting for it to be time to leave. This woman in a red car pulls up in front. I think that her name is Laura, but Rose says the woman's name is Latoya and that she's always causing trouble. Indeed, Latoya gets into a fight with someone else who drives up, and my dad has to tell both of them to leave. I'm with Rose, another lady, and some guy. The four of us are going to be driving away together. I'm impatient to leave, but they say we're not going anywhere until the evening. Each time they get in the car to go somewhere, I bring along my backpack, but we're not really leaving so I have to put it away. We drive past a high school that looks as if it's still functioning, and Rose and I see Mr. Spelling there. He's wearing sunglasses, and has a mustache and goatee. I think about stopping there and saying hi, but decide I don't want to bother him. Walking along the same street is Henrietta, and I ask her if she needs to get a ride with us. She says she's walking home and doesn't need any help. It's later and it's finally time to leave, to wherever we're going. Rose leaves a box of her stuff on top of the car as we drive away, and pull over to the side of the road to get it inside.
october 22
It's my birthday. We're at the old house in Pittsburg, which has an added-on second story. George arrives, and as he does, I see Abby coming up the street. She is wearing a black dress, has short hair, and her arms are crossed over her chest. She's looking down at the ground as she walks. I let them in the second story entrance so the dogs won't bark. I introduce them both to my mom, who is not very polite. I tell George and Abby that once everyone else arrives, we'll go have dinner. I put in a video tape that they say they want to watch, and George tells me to fast forward it 22 minutes into the tape. It's a Care Bears movie. He says that he and Abby want to see "Mary Beth," which I understand to mean "Weeds." I tell them that the show is On Demand, not on video, and I take the tape out. Dana arrives, and when I go to open the door, I see her presents to me. One is this long plexi-glass lawn decoration; it is shaped like a straw with a star at the end. It crosses the entire line, and you have to step over it to walk up the path. The other gift is the same type of thing, but it's made out of metal and extends all the way across the street. It's a ball-and-chain. Dana tells me I'll need to attach it to the back of my car to move it into the yard, so I run inside to get my keys. I have a hard time, and keep grabbing the one thing. Once, I grab a dark red rabbit's foot from a whole pile I have of rabbit's feet. Finally I do get my keys, and move the ball-and-chain into the front yard. It's getting dark outside, and I'm telling Dana about how Maria hasn't called me yet. Dana says that Maria will probably be late because she "had" to take a test drive of a certain car before the offer expired. We're in the living room (looks like the Brentwood living room) and there are some Halloween type snacks in little bowls, like pumpkin seeds and candy corn. Gina is watching TV, and when Dana sees the remote control she says, "That's another reason people move out here, to watch TV like assholes." I check my e-mail and I have one from Maria that was sent at 7:49 PM. IT says that she and Michelle were on their way, but they had put regular gas in the car instead of premium, and had to turn back to fill up again. My dad says now that Michelle has a big car, that's what they're going to have to do. I'm trying to choose what to wear when we go to dinner. I have all my tops hung up on my wall like in a department store. I'm trying to choose between two shirts: One that is pink and purple striped, and another that is yellow and lacy. The yellow one has spaghetti straps and I decide to wear that, and a jacket over it. Each shirt has matching underwear, and a lot of them are way too big for me. I find a pink and yellow striped pair that's good. I change with my back against the door so no one can walk in, as I hear Dana talking in the hallway. I'm at the grocery store with her and my mom, and I'm eating a grapefruit. It's falling apart, with a lot of the sections hanging down. A piece falls off, and when it hits the floor it turns into a piece of chocolate candy wrapped in gold foil. There's a worker nearby and I don't want him to see, so I'm shielding the candy with my shoe and staring at the ice cream for a long time before he moves, and I can kick the candy across the aisle. I find my mom, who says she heard that Abby - who has been resting in a bedroom in the second story addition - might be dead. I say that I've heard the same, that she has some kind of heart or breathing problem, and that I'm afraid to check on her but know that I should. My mom leaves to go check, and I follow, but she gets mad and yells at me that I can't. I keep following her, and she turns into this weird four-legged creature and calls herself a crone. I kick and fight the creature until I get control, and then sit on its back. I hold it tightly by the ears so it can't bite me. Someone comes and tells me that I now have the power of a witch, and that I need to fly away for awhile - to Europe for a day, and that at sunset, I can fly back home. I fly away (without the 'crone') but go to New Orleans, instead. I'm sitting at a table under an awning, near the water with a group of guys who work at different McDonald's in the area. One of them, a blond guy, is talking about the hats they have to wear. There are some of the hats on the table, and they are flat and white, almost like paper plates. He said that his female manager always warned him to not wear them in the restroom. He was in the restroom one day, all the lights out, and was searching for a place to hang the hat up because the manager was coming in; that the female employees thought nothing of coming into the men's room. I'm back at home, and it's still my birthday. Abby comes out of the room she was resting in, and says that she has to go home. I'm relieved she's alive, and try to convince her to stay, that Maria will be there any minute and we can go to dinner. She gets angry and says no, so I say I'll drive her home. As she goes out to the front yard, George comes out of the other bedroom, wearing white pajamas with blue stripes. I tell him we'll be going to dinner soon and that I'm taking Abby home. He says it's okay, as he's going into work at 2 AM and is used to being up late. Dana comes with me to drive Abby home. Everything is going okay until we get to Buchanan, when it starts sprinkling. I turn on the windshield wipers but it won't clear the glass, and I can't see anything. All I can see are lights from other cars. I hear a horn honking, and roll down the windows so I can see just enough to pull over to the side of the road.
october 24
My parents go away on a trip, so I'm housesitting. Our backyard is really big, and this cat-like creature comes into the yard. I hope that Pepe won't see it, but he does and they start to fight. I have to spray the cat with water until it runs away. It quickly runs back, through the open patio door into the house, and back out. When it leaves our yard, it kind of flys or leaps into the next yard, and does that throughout the whole neighborhood. I have a job interview at a local high school, but there's some other girl I have to give a ride to. I'm having a hard time with the van I have to drive. It's big, black, and I'm having hard time reaching the pedals and remembering which is which. I finally park it in the school parking lot and go inside. The woman give me the interview just has me make a bunch of copies of stuff, and bring the originals back to her. On the last assignment, I tear up and throw away the originals, and wonder if that will get me in trouble. I have more problems with the van trying to leave the parking lot, especially because several other cars are trying to leave. When I'm out of the lot, I am trying to find the easiest way home, but end up on some back road I don't know. Trying to get my bearings, I park next to a church and go into the building so I can see what streets all the exits go out onto. There's a wedding going on at the time, so I'm trying to stay out of everyone's way. I'm dressed fancy, and wearing these tall heels that make it hard to walk. I almost slip when I have to go down these stairs that are covered in plastic wrap. This older woman helps me down, and mistakenly thinking that I'm a guest, sends me into a big room where a game is going on. From what I understand, all of the women guests are there hoping to get picked by a guy, and they have a mass wedding at the end of the process. The ex-wives of all the guys are there, throwing their laundry around the room, which the hopeful brides have to pick up. I think it's all incredibly stupid, and try to leave the building, but people running it are watching me and trying to keep me inside. Three youngish guys in suits, who are not part of the wedding, are there to save another girl and get the both of us out at the same time. The girl is telling us about all the embarrassing things they had to do to qualify as one of the brides. One of these things included wearing a skirt but with no underwear below, and then bending over to be "inspected" by the head groom.
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