Don't get sunburn, get sunscreen

I had a troublesome dream last night. It's not as strange as the floating resort island, but it's still one that's been bothering me today. Perhaps just telling it to someone will lighten the load.

There was a party going on, and I left it. Seemed normal enough - nothing truly imprinted itself on my memory about that situation. I got in my car (the one I currently drive, not some "dream" mobile or anything) and started driving. I drove a road similar to the Pacific Coast Highway, winding, with a coastal view to the driver's side. I waved at a few people, don't know if I knew them or not, and took a right onto a paved road that disappeared into a stand of trees.

I didn't drive far before the road became gravel, then thatched with sticks. Trees thick with their late summer foliage that hadn't quite turned to brilliance yet blocked out the sun, so things were quite dark for the middle of the day. Just before the road changed again, I saw that two cars had pulled over onto a parking pad - a black Mercedes and a lighter colored sedan of some sort. I only know the Mercedes because I recognized it in my dream. The other car, I couldn't tell much about as I drove by them. I remember thinking "Oh, people are trusting - leave their cars here and go for a hike".

I crested a small hill and the road turned to mud, dipped slightly, and then advanced at such a steep pitch, I would have trouble getting my little car up the hill. I put the car in reverse, backed up until I got to that convenient little parking pad, and parked. I left the car there as I pulled out my backpack and a water bottle and kept going up the road.

The more I walked, the steeper the road became. At one point, the face was so steep, I was climbing it like a rock, face inches from its smelly, gooey surface. Not a soul in sight, I kept going. After all, this was so steep and so high, the view had to be amazing, right? I was about to give up when I finally crested one last rise, and was there. I was right - the view was amazing, but it wasn't what I expected.

The sun is nearly completely blocked out at this point, and it's quite dark, but just as I was about to turn around, my hand hits concrete. I pull myself up to a slab that's facing a rock wall. A small piece of that rock wall is gone, replaced by bars...So you can see see out. Or if that wasn't their initial purpose, that was what they ended up being for in my world. Rays of light reached through the bars, cutting their own pattern on the concrete.

I walked closer. It became apparent I was looking out from a mountain. On the other side of the bars were rolling green meadows, sun-drenched and stretching lazily to the tree-lined side of another mountain across the way. A few people were walking around aimlessly, but all I saw were their silhouettes. I sat down and watched for a while, sitting in my shadows, and slowly began to discern to whom these silhouettes belonged. One of them, my friend "Janet" was wearing a long flowing skirt like she'd never wear in real life...she sashayed up to another shadow whom I knew was her boyfriend that I haven't met yet. They kissed, and she walked off.

That's when I noticed the satellite cone (not a dish, but a cone!) jutting out from the right side of the bars. Did someone live here? That's when a co-worker with whom I rarely exchange words beyond the job sat down next to me. "This is stupid," she said. "Just because you get sunburnt doesn't mean you have to sit in the shade. Get sunscreen."

We made small talk for a few minutes, then, skinny thing that she is, she slipped through the bars and walked off, on her own. That's when I woke up.

Strange, eh? Like I said, I've had stranger, like the time I was on trial, or the fake wedding. But this just stuck with me. Go figure....