another dream and washington dc and harvard square

1. The opening scene found me at the home of a friend, whom I had seen when I was visiting Wasnington DC earlier this month. John and I crossed paths in seminary 30 years ago. He was an unforgettable character in those days: outspoken, gregarious, generous, part of the Pittsburgh crowd of conservative guys who were going to reform Presbyterianism from the right side of the theological spectrum. Most of them ended up leaving the denomination before too long. In any case, in my dream John was living in an undisclosed location, in an apartment within a huge institution--something like a school or an old-style mental institution. He had a sliding door to get into his apartment, which consisted of one large room, sparely furnished, with a bed on one side, couch on the other and kitchenette on yet another wall. We were together but I don't remember any conversation we had; it was the setting and my knowledge that it was John's place that stayed with me.

2. The next scene found me with two younger male friends in Harvard Square, just as you exit the "T" station onto the plaza coming from Boston. They, who both are either Harvard College or Law graduates, were never in Cambridge at the same time, even though they were so in the dream. As we were in the plaza together, one of them said to me that I ought to keep an eye on the people coming up out of the subway, since every day you could see significant thinkers and others who emerged from that door. They told me, for example, that a certain Nobel Prize winner, whose name I didn't know, appeared yesterday. I recall asking them where they lived and they told me in a dorm on 1100 XXX Street (I forgot the address). I asked them if it was in the vicinity of Sanders Theater and they said "Sort of." The Divinity School? No response. They disappeared and I began to walk toward their dorm up Massachusetts Avenue. I don't know why I was heading there, since neither of them was there. I think it has something to do with my tendency to investigate little "hints" that people drop in conversation, and then I use these "hints" to fashion worlds of understanding of my own. I didn't ever arrive at their dorm because of scene 3.

3. Just before arriving at a multi-storied buidliing near the law school, the clouds, which had been gathering overhead, began to drop rain. At first it was only a drop or two here or there, but then the rain really began to pelt me, and I needed to seek refuge indoors. Luckily, to my right and before arriving at the large building ahead of me, was a floral shop. The shop was a sort of "indoors/outdoors" shop, with glass sliding-doors all around. Thus, if it was warm, the doors could all be open, creating a sense that the store was continuous with the natural world around us. I went up a few stairs and into the shop. A few customers and a salesperson or two were attending to each other. I made as if I was looking at something so as not to attract any attention, but nevertheless, within a few minutes, I was joined by the owner of the shop, who asked me in a kind voice if I needed any help. I recall looking at her--she was an attractive woman, probably in her mid-50s, with longish blond hair,which rested on the black turtleneck she was wearing like the pyramidal-shaped branches of a fir tree that go from a point at the top and continue all the way to the base at the ground. She was slender and attractive, and she had a gentle air about her, as if long exposure to the quietness of plants and flowers had imparted to her a sense that you communicated most powerfully in life in inverse proportion to the number of words you used. Our eyes met as she asked me what I was looking for. I remember fumbling uncharacteristically in my speech, and not being able to answer her question. She stayed with me for a few moments, and then this part of the dream faded.

4. I was back at my friend John's place or rather, in the large building where he had an apartment, and I was walking down one of the cavernous hallways of the building. I was with another person, however, a woman in her mid-40s, whom I know from my hometown. She is married with two teen-agers, and we often talk about kid-raising and topics of professional interest. The two of us were walking side by side down the hall toward John's place. I recall that I enjoyed her company as we talked. We walked by a set of double glass doors, i.e., where you have revolving glass doors to get you into the building, and then a sort of large vestibule, before going through another set of glass doors into the hallway. No one was there, and I don't know if the doors were unlocked. I felt an urge to take her hand as we continued walking toward John's apartment, but I didn't act on it. As we neared his apartment, we passed another set of entry doors, and a few people were coming into the building. We arrived at John's apartment, and the door to his apartment was closed. I then awoke from my dream.

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