Bad American

I went to bed last night not feeling well at all. I had a bad sinus headache and wasn’t feeling too well overall. So perhaps that has something to do with a very long and vivid dream I had. Since it could possibly be an omen of some kind, I will write it down here.

I am living in the future in some city. While there was a faint perception that it might be downtown Cleveland, it didn’t look like it. But the gist was that some kind of disease had wiped out generally half of the population of the country. The figure I got was 125-135 million people in the US had died.

Anyway what that meant in the dream was that parts of the civil infrastructure, as well as business and residential areas, were untended and uninhabited. There were signs posted along downtown streets for people to avoid walking under window washing platforms and other scaffolding and things variously hanging over streets from various high rises. I consciously walk around some of these areas in the dream. Why the survivors don’t go up and bring these hazards down is beyond me, but that’s a dream for you.

I am reminded in the book Warday that an abandoned Manhattan suffered from untended cornices, windows and other building adornments falling into the street. Perhaps that is the memory that fuels this.

The virus that killed so many people has almost apparently run its course but not completely. Affected people still walk around and are occasionally spotted by people who examine the inside of their mouths. If their tongues are spotted, off they go. But the interesting thing about this dream is there is no fascist infrastructure. There is fear, plenty of it, but the people are led off humanely and the thing about the survivors is that they take great pains to go about their business as if everything is normal when it clearly isn’t.

Again, there are no flying tribunals or jackbooted police or anything. In fact there is a noticeable lack of any authority structure.

I live, with a group of people, in a very nice modern downtown hotel. Why I have no idea. I clearly have a room on the 9th floor. I am in an elevator and I know I must press the “9″ button. When I arrive at my floor, I go into a very well appointed (but not luxurious) modern room with a nice bed and other accoutrements. There is a woman with me sort of tangentially. I don’t see her but I feel a presence occasionally - not sinister or anything.

The thing about being on the ninth floor is that for some reason I get the feeling that this is desirable to be somewhat well above street level so you can see your surrounding area. There is a fear of people with the virus. The poor people only suspect they may be ill but don’t know for sure until diagnosed on the spot. They wander into the hotel lobby and people try to avoid them. Somehow their physical appearance is a tip off. I’m not sure how.

Again, there is a palpable sense of fear in this dream but not terror. It’s hard to explain. I place a chair under the doorknob of my room, ostensibly in case one of these wandering virus holders tries to get in. Locks on the door apparently aren’t a concern.

We are served meals in the lobby. The food is nondescript.

Later, our group organizes forays into the surrounding area. Why I am in this group and why they must live in this hotel I cannot say. We walk (yes walk) to a local mall.

Here’s the thing about the mall. It seems like any one level American shopping mall with the requisite stores. This mall seems to be in a horse shoe shape with either ends of the horse shoe lit and busy but the interior bend of the mall is dark and it is implied that this is for the same reason other parts of the city are uninhabited - there are not enough people or resources to keep the entire thing lit and active.

But people stroll through the mall with their kids in strollers and such and behave as if their is nothing amiss. I find it somewhat incredible in a way as I observe. People stroll through the darkened part to get around to the other side of the mall. There are stores selling consumer doo-dads as if nothing has happened. One store is selling in house spas like the ones people replace their bathtubs with and also put outside on decks. As I pass, the sales men are standing by these spas as the water merrily bubbles away. I find it all a bit fantastic.

If I remember more about this, I’ll post it.

Parts of this dream may have indeed been influences by recent re-watchings of The Matrix and Soylent Green. That may explain some of the ideas and imagery but this was one of those rare dreams were the scenes and story are consistent and the images vivid enough for me to recollect them here. That is very unusual for me.