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02/27/2006 Entry: "Spooky Dreams of Dad"

Here's last night's dream. Family, be forewarned: Dad's in it, and it's a little spooky.

Let me give you some background info. On Sunday morning, I was leading Sunday School when I thought I heard the phone ring. "Was that the phone?" It wasn't. (Of course I've had a few dreams about Dad calling me on the phone.) Mom looked at me, and I looked at her, and then my sister, and then one of them said something to the effect of "It was Dad!" We chuckled.

Onto the dream...

It was after a play. Rockland's "Just Off Broadway Players" had just finished some production, but not at Rockland High. As I'm leaving, this Asian guy says to me "Bill?" It was my old Junior High friend Steve Parks! (Now in the dream, I had this memory. I had found a picture of me and Steve at his birthday party. It was dated. So I did a google search for Steve Parks and his birthdate. Google gave me a phone number. I called and left a message, saying "If this is Bill Batty's old friend Steve, please call me. If not, sorry for the trouble." Of course in real life, none of that happened. Is it funny in my dreams I have memories of stuff that didn't happen?) He had come to surprise me. I ran up to him and gave him a big hug. We talked a long time. He told me he was married, had five kids, and two of them were twins. Twin girls--fraternal. Just the opposite of me! Cool!

We said goodbyes. As I was leaving the school, I overheard two little old ladies leaving the play. "Shouldn't we go out dinner, or something like that? Don't we do something after a play?" one asked the other. "I wonder what Bill Batty would do if he were still alive," the other one said. I felt quite proud that people will still using him as an example.

OK, here's where things get weird. Mom, if you're reading, you probably ought to stop here.

I'm outside, on this little island. There's a beautiful white staircase coming down from the sky. It was a glossy white lacquer, almost as if Weatherend Furniture made staircases. But it just went up. And the surroundings were really beautiful. It was almost like Disney! And there was Dad. But he wasn't in good shape. He looked like, well, someone who's been dead for a few months. And he said to me "Why haven't you paid Jeannie Baker that $40? The only thing I asked of you before I died was to pay her back that $40. I even gave you $20, and only asked that you make up the other $20. I can't rest until that's paid." I opened my wallet, and there was a $20 bill, with a yellow sticky note on it. It read "Jeannie Baker."

I said "Gee, Dad, I'm really sorry. I don't really remember you asking, but I'll go pay her right now!" Ironically, Jeannie had attended the play from the beginning of the dream! She came down on a school bus with a bunch of other ladies from the Augusta area. So I ran to catch up with the bus. Jeannie was standing on the stairs of the bus, and the door was open. I explained to her what I needed to do, and she was very understanding that it had taken awhile for me to catch up with her. So I paid her the $40, and she thanked me. I looked across the little brook back to the island. Now on the island is a bed, and Mom is sleeping in it. Dad is just about to crawl in with her, and I'm thinking (Mom, I told you not to read this!) 'I can't let Dad get in bed with Mom!' So I yelled over to him, and gave him the OK sign. He nodded, and left.

And I woke up.

For those keeping track at home, for supper I had tomato/basil pasta with some sliced bratwurst on top.