I went into a square space, modern but sparse, where small desks lined the walls. Windows were there but closed, the lighting was good.
It was very busy. I set down my laptop bag and set up to work. In many ways, this was just like going into the coffee shop to work, sans coffee and food. I found an open space. To my left, a young girl was set up with her laptop and focused on it.
I set up my laptop and went to work on my novel. After a short period, two very young girls came in. One looked Japanese.
Walking over they stopped behind me and stared at me. I glanced back several times, wondering who they were and what was going on.
Then they moved over to the young woman to my left. They seemed to know each other. I continued working.
One little girl tapped me on the shoulder. I turned with a questioning look. She said, “We like to play without making noise.”
I was like, “What?”
The young woman on her computer said, “She said, we like to play without making noise.”
Which didn’t explain anything.
The first little girl said, “You’re making noise.”
I asked, “What noise am I making?”
Then I awoke.
Thinking over the dream, I realized that my breathing was noisy and wondered if that’s what the little girl meant. But then I thought, no, this is real life. I wasn’t making a noise in the dream.
After being awake a bit and thinking about it, I returned to the dream.
Now the room was empty except for the one girl working on her laptop. I went to pack my gear but couldn’t find my laptop bag. I recalled where I’d put it when I came in, that it was sort of chaotic at that point and I had to find a place for it.
It’d apparently been moved. I located it beneath some clutter but when I went to get it, several young boys threw themselves on top of the junk on top of my bag, thwarting me. I eventually explained what was going on and get the bag. I found the whole thing funny.
I then went out to another part. They were being set up for a fair or a show. It was messed up in one corner where a young woman was trying to do one thing and a middle-aged man with a ladder was trying to do something else. Seeing what needed to be done, I stepped in and helped.
The young woman was immediately grateful. The man appreciated what I did but his temper was on edge from something else happening. He snapped out at other people who were in the way of him maneuvering his large ladder. I patted his shoulder in empathy, and he gave me a short smile.
He finally left with the ladder. I helped the woman return a small table to where it needed to be and reset a few things that were on display. A green awning was sagging down. She was trying to adjust it so I helped. When she did, I saw dirt fall out of it onto the display, so I shook out the awning out further away from the display but hadn’t thought about where the dirt would fall instead.
Leaning over a railing, I tried to see if it hit anything.
Dream end.
PS – I had another short dream where I had my eyes closed. Suddenly, I could see through my eyelids, startling me awake.
Michael Seidel, writer 