September 2007
september 4
I'm walking with Peter in my old neighborhood, and down the street, there is a giant snake trying to attack a certain house. There's a big glass wall in front of the yard, and the snake throws itself through, making the broken glass fly everywhere. As we get closer, I can see two dogs (one large, one small) inside the yard, and hope the snake won't hurt them. Peter is getting freaked out and wants to walk on the other side of the street, but I don't really care. He says something about how snakes are mentioned frequently in the Bible, but I don't pay attention to this remark either. I've rented a hotel room, but really only needed it for one night for a big party I was throwing. It's the morning after the party and I'm getting ready to leave. Only Peter and this couple are still there with me. We're just standing around talking when we hear a couple in the next room start to have sex very loudly. The man is talking, and we figure out that he's a priest in training who's in town for some big conference called the PDCC. The couple that Peter and I are hanging out with want to stay in the room longer to use the computer, and I worry about them wrecking the room and the charge being put on my credit card.
september 7
It's Valentine's Day, but also the day of some family reunion. I'm at Longs trying to find cute stuff to put in cards for friends and especially something for Karen. I'm looking on a shelf that has lots of small, red, flat glass hearts (they look almost like guitar picks). There are some fancy red Valentine cards covered with pretty black lace, and the cards are all part of a brand name called "Porn." I think about getting one for Dana, because I think she'd find it hilarious. There are also tons of tiny stuffed animals on the shelves - black and white cats, and ones shaped like rubber ducks with devil horns. I'm back home telling my parents about how my shopping went, and my dad said that the holiday stuff in Long's is hard to find unless you know that it's in the business section. On a wooden shelf, I find this pair of argyle underwear that matches some socks I have. I pick up the underwear, and realize that they're made of wool. The tag on them (in tiny orange text) says they're a size 16/18. I ask my mom about them, and she says she's going to return them.
september 8
I've been gone all day at a casino, and get back to the house around midnight. Everyone is asleep even though it's still somewhat light outside - kind of the way it looks on an overcast day. Dana and Maria come over, and we're talking when I hear someone at the door. I go look through the blinds, and I can see my (deceased) grandmother which is obviously upsetting. I find another room for us to talk in, and close all of the blinds tightly so it's dark. The next day my dad is asking me about what time I came home, and he thinks I'm lying when I tell him. He and my mom talk about going bowling later in the day, and my brother also wants to go, but I'm definitely not into it. I'm at church, but it's very different. It's a huge room with mostly wood paneling instead of windows, and with real pews instead of chairs. I'm sitting on the aisle with someone (a woman) and when I look further down the row I see a girl I used to be friends with (?). when the services end, I let the woman I'm sitting with walk on ahead while I wait for my former friend. When she gets to where I am, she says that she's ready to join the church. I hug her and say I'm happy for her, and she thanks me for introducing her to the church. She goes off to sign the membership book, and I walk out into this huge room where they're having a sandwich-making contest. All participants (adults and children) are given the same ingredients: bread, salami, ketchup, mustard, and pickles. Everyone is talking enthusiastically at first, but someone tells them to be quiet so it gets eerily silent in the room as they work. There's one little boy with curly blond hair crying for his mother, who is busy in the contest. I run into my "friend" again outside, but she's changed into a guy and is also severely cross-eyed. He's very angry because they're making him wait five days to sign the book. He says that he has to sign the book to make changes in his life, but I try to convince him that he has to change whether his name is in a book or not. He's sitting on the edge of a Doughboy pool and he splashes water at me. One of his friends comes up and starts screaming and cussing at me, and saying terrible things that he's going to do to me. I'm screaming right back, and wonder why nobody else there - especially the women - is coming to my defense. A couple of them (including the minister) smile as if they've heard my thought, and I hear them think that I'm doing fine on my own. The guy and I keep arguing, and then my parents show up. My dad is trying to make me leave, but I won't. I sit down on the grass and won't move, so my dad takes me by the arm and starts dragging me along.
september 9
I go to the movies with Dana, Maria and a few other people. Inside the theater, all of the screens and seats are in one huge, open room, and the place is crowded mostly with teenagers. We move to the seats closest to "Halloween" but I'm not really paying attention to the movie. It's 10:30 on a weekday morning and I'm at home, still in my pajamas. My sister is supposed to be in a graduation ceremony at Liberty that day, and I ask my mom what time it's at. She says that it started at 9:00 but it's okay to go late, and that I don't even have to change if I don't want to. I'm annoyed by the idea and say "Forget it!" I'm at a football game with Dana and some other people. We're sitting in the front row and paying more attention to the huge, crazy crowd than to the football game. I see a girl we knew in elementary school and say, "Oh my god!" She's pushing one baby in a stroller and carrying two more babies somehow. We all hug, and it changes to where I'm (at home?) with the girl, her mom and my mom. We're talking about how her first two babies both had the flu when they were very young, and to keep that from happening to the third baby, we're going to give it the flu vaccine. I get the shot prepared - the syringe doesn't have a real needle, but a sharp, curved plastic hook - and try to give it to the baby, but some of their blood gets sucked back into the syringe. I set the syringe on top of this specimen jar because I don't want to contaminate the inside, but I get a drop of blood on my finger. I worry about it for a moment, but decide it's unlikely the baby has any diseases. The tea room is open and I'm talking with the boss and a guy who looks a lot like the actor Peter Krause about our schedules. I incorrectly think that mine doesn't have all the information, so I start to copy stuff from his. I look at my schedule for Sunday, and I see that I'm only going to be there from 2:45 to 4:30. It looks longer because each duty is written down, and the time I'll be doing it. I'm at this diner managed by my parents (?) and we're closing for the day. I put the "Closed" sign on the door and try to figure out how to set up the coffeemaker for the next day. I also want some water to drink, so I take it out of the coffeemaker's reservoir, but it's hot and gross.
september 10
There's been a war with actual combat in the United States, and everyone gets separated from their families. Instead, we have to live in groups with other people who are in the same age group. I'm living with several other young adults in this apartment, and we come back from getting groceries. The elevator (controlled by a computer that can "think" like a human) has gone crazy, but it's the only way to get upstairs. We take the elevator three or four at a time, and as we exit, it tries to crush us in the doorway. When we get to our apartment, we see that most of the hardwood floor is gone and we have to jump between tiny platforms to get from one room to another. The only really safe places away from the elevator (it can move sideways as well as up and down) are in the door frames, so that's where we take turns standing. We're whispering back and forth about what we're going to do. It's a bit later on, and I get recruited along with a bunch of other people to work in the mansion of this rich Cuban guy. We're all walking into the house, and I see my brother way ahead of me in line but don't get the chance to talk to him. When I get into the house, I'm sent into the kitchen to be part of that staff. One of the other women and I get into an almost-argument about what to make - I want to definitely do something with beef and she's not sure - but we come to an agreement on stir-fry steak and red bell peppers. I'm out walking one day and see Michael on the street. We run up to each other and hug and talk for a minute. We decide we want to have sex but neither of us have a place we can go, so we run into this supposedly abandoned public bathroom in the side of this huge building. It is filthy in there, and covered in graffiti. We go into one of the stalls and start to get undressed but realize there's a guy into the stall next to us. We wait for him to leave, but he starts making fun of us. When he does leave, another person comes in, and so on. It's months later and things have improved somewhat; now the police are working as liasions between the different age groups until we can get back together. I'm with a large group that is going into an old gym to meet with the police, and we have to stand in line and introduce ourselves before we go inside. Some of the others are saluting the officers, and I do this also. I tell the officer that I wish I could see my mom again, and he tells me (not unkindly) that I can't do that. I get tears in my eyes but I say "I know," and go inside. I'm glad to see that Amanda and Zach are there too.
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