Dreams

It's late at night and I'm looking for a hotel. In this dream I'm married, and have a family. My wife's Latina--short, petite, with dark hair, brown eyes and olive skin: beautiful--and we have two children, a girl and a boy, 6 and 2. We stop at a hotel run by a Hispanic man I seem to know well. He has a room for us waiting, a suite with glass doors leading to a balcony and soft queen-sized beds, but we're standing outside in the parking lot, struck by how dark it is. There's an outdoor pool, and I'm afraid my daughter will fall in and I won't be able to find her. In fact, at some point in the dream she dives in and starts swimming and I have to jump in, clothes and all, to pull her out.

She's fine, she's a good swimmer, but my heart is pounding in my chest and I then remember that my cell phone is in my pocket. I check it to see if it's gotten soaked, but somehow my pocket seems to be almost waterproof and my cell phone only has some condensation on it. It still works. I exhale a sigh of relief. I feel like I may need it later.

The hotel manager looks around nervously, fidgeting while he talks in broken English. We shouldn't be out here. It's not safe after dark. I have a bicycle and hide it in the branches of a tree, and park my car under a bush so it won't be easily seen, and we take our suitcases in to the hotel. We came here to vacation during holiday between teaching semesters. I've brought a book and have been looking forward to some much needed rest and unscheduled time with my family, but realize now it won't be as peaceful as I'd hoped.

We've just gotten settled into our room, the kids are sleeping on a bed and I hear broken glass coming from down the hall, in the direction of the main lobby. "I'll go check it out," I say, though the look in my wife's eyes is one of terror, and I wonder if it'd be better if I stay here with her and our kids in case someone else comes, or if I should go out to meet whatever is out there. I decide to leave.

Outside our room, there's a large indoor swimming pool and fountain. Although you could swim in it, it's mostly used for decoration. The fountain has been turned off for the night, and the jacuzzi/hot tub at one end has shut down, but there are bushes and small trees around the edge of the pool, to give it the look of an outdoor paradise. Unfortunately, it also provides excellent cover for anyone who might be hiding.

I hear a splash in the water and see a deer bounding out of the pool. It had come inside for a drink, but had gotten spooked by the presence of a human. I almost laughed with relief as I saw it find the exit and make its way through an open door outside. Maybe that was the noise.

But I didn't think so. There was something else. A warning sense keeps my adrenaline pumping and all my reflexes and senses on high alert. There had been patrols of gangs outside, shootings, the once safe neighborhood was now a place of terror and I grieved the loss of another safe haven. The hotel had been our getaway, and we had stayed here whenever we were in the area. My wife and I had honeymooned here. We had struck up a friendship with the hotel manager we'd been here so often. And now, I was wondering if we'd get out.

I walk silently down one of the hallways toward the lobby to find the hotel manager crouched down behind the desk, pistol in hand. He doesn't say anything but motions me to stay low and not make any noise. I drop and run low to settle down on the floor next to him. I hear voices outside and they are coming nearer. . .

The next thing I'm outside, my wife and kids are back in the car, and I'm telling them to keep the doors locked. It's pitch black except for a solitary street lamp, but I know we have to get out of here. I run to the car door, lock the door behind me, and start the engine. The radio turns on, and startles me. The car's running, but it's idling rough, and I'm wondering if it has enough juice to get us going. There's a hill we have to climb to get out of the neighborhood, and the way the car's running, I'm not sure we can make it.

We pull out of the hotel parking lot and onto a side street when the car dies. I set the parking brake, but it doesn't hold and the car begins to slide backward. I apply the brakes, and they don't work either, so I jump out of the car and try to push it from behind. The hotel manager joins me and we keep pushing the car, trying to slow it down and get it moving in the opposite direction, but we know we're vulnerable from this position and can get picked off from the shadows. I'm terrified, and my only thought is to get out of this place with my family, all of us still alive. At this point I'm also begging the hotel manager to come with us, because it's no longer safe for him either, but he shakes his head violently and refuses. "It's my home," he says. Everything he owns is here, but I'm afraid he's a captain stubbornly going down with a sinking ship.

We finally get the car running again, drive slowly up the hill (the whole time I'm wondering if we're going to get shot, we're moving too slow), and out of the neighborhood as the dream shifts sequence and my wife, two small children, old jalopy of a car and the hotel manager fade away and I find myself in Rapid Eye Movement to somewhere else.