Nights of Dread and Folding

The other night I dreamed that flags in the US would, on occasion, also flash your home address and vital information about your life.  My grandmother, who was still alive in this dream, freaked out about it and told me to start removing the flags.  And I, thinner and in high school (high school, always a bad sign in dreams) did as she asked.

In dreams, of course, you never do things in a logical way. Instead of just using the ropes to pull the flags down, I would knock down the flagpoles. I would get them to fall and then I would drag them down the street as they made loud grinding noises and shot off sparks.  They would leave gashes in the pavement and I knew the police would be able to trace them to me. I knew this, but I kept doing it, because Gran wanted the flags down.

As I continued to take more and more poles down, my fear of being caught began to consume me.  My hands would shake as I'd remove the flags from the broken poles.  I would take them to an abandoned warehouse and fold them.

Folding the flags became this whole obsessive sequence in the dream. I would fold them and refold them and refold them until everything was perfect, everything was smoothed.  I remembered considering ironing them, but instead opted to just smooth them with my hands, pressing and smoothing until they lay flat and free of wrinkles. Sometimes I knew it would take days for this to happen.

When I wasn't folding flags or stealing them, I spent my time in the dream dreading the moment when the authorities would realize it was me.  Dread is like the worst damned thing ever to feel in a dream.  Dread doesn't go away. Even after you wake up, the dread will stay with you. It's this horrible carryover from your dreamtime.  I always feel really betrayed when that happens. I go to sleep to rest, dammit, not to be tortured.

I'm sure part of the problem is that I woke up before I was caught.  The dread kept building and building and I never had that moment where it could melt away because everyone knew.   No, I had to keep this secret that I was the one stealing the flags.  No one ever knew.

Of course, there are so many things about this dream that would never happen in my waking life.  Okay, I could very well see the government being that invasive and I know my grandmother would freak out about it.  However, I don't think I would have this sense of duty to honor her crazy and take down the flags.  And even if I did, I think my laziness and common sense would override the sense of duty.  Plus, I'd never get away with it.

Although, I can get very very obsessed with folding . . .