Once again, I found myself younger and off at some gathering. Not huge, about one hundred people, I guess. It was some kind of bonding/teamwork thing. Don’t know who was hosting it.
I was part of management. I knew everyone there, at least casually, and some were direct co-workers or friends. Nobody was part of my real-life world.
We’d just finished eating and socializing. Clean up was underway. The undertaking was moving to a new location. Teams were going to be set up and tasks assigned.
As I was familiar with what was happening, I urge everyone to go on while I cleaned up and supervised that aspect. Finishing up, I found a bottle of plastic water. Drinking from it, I headed down to join the rest.
Everyone was scattered in a sort of ornate, fancy hotel lobby. I wandered through, eyeing the groups, listening to the chatter, drinking water from the bottle.
A woman at a podium accosted me from a podium that was up on a platform. She was young and dressed formally in a skirt but with a buttoned up blouse and jacket. I took her to be a concierge or some sort of hostess. Not knowing what she was saying, I went closer to her.
She said, “Wouldn’t you be better off drinking that water somewhere else?”
I didn’t respond. I realized that she thought that I didn’t belong there.
Feeling feisty and amused, I asked, “What did you say?”
Smirking, she leaned forward and looked down at me. First she repeated what she said before. Then she elaborated, “Maybe you have a home you can go to to drink your water.”
Grinning, I drank water and replied, “I like it here. Why shouldn’t I drink it here.”
Lowering her volume, she explained, “You don’t seem to appear like you belong here.”
“Really? Where do I belong?”
Our conversation had captured my friends and co-workers’ attention. Some came over and asked, “Michael, what’s going on here?”
I smiled, almost laughing, as I saw the concierge realize that I was part of that group.
Dream end.
Michael Seidel, writer 
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