I just recently had the third prison dream that I can remember, at least to a certain extent. The first seemed at first to take place in a small Wisconsin town from my childhood, but it turned out to be a inside a vast space station or a hollow planetoid with a gigantic space dock visible beyond the upwardly curved horizon. The second took place on a floating prison converted from a luxury cruise ship, but it turned out to be part of an entire fleet. To make a movie out of either of these would involve a rather large budget.
This latest dream took place under much more moderate circumstances, but towards the end promised to evolve into something more spectacular. It started out in what seemed to be a fairly conventional communal cell, except that it was shaped like a large "L," lined with an insufficient number of steel benches. The cell door was at the end of the long arm.
There was a hazing ceremony, in which the newbies formed a loop facing inward (there wasn't room to form a circle), while the veterans formed an inner loop. The idea was that the inner line would take a full turn around the outer: any veteran facing you could demand your wristwatch, and if someone had already taken it, you owed a "favor." Of course, by the time you ran the gauntlet, you owed a lot of favors. I didn't have a wristwatch to begin with, which elicited some mild consternation and laughter.
As the dream progressed, I noticed that there were also women and children in the cell, and it seemed to me that I was in the middle of some sort of political purge.
Suddenly, a hidden door opened at the upper middle of the short arm of the "L," as you would look at it from above, and an official appeared, pointing to the new arrivals and telling us that we're moving to another temporary location. I wound up at the head of the line, and we filed down cold concrete corridors and metal staircases until we reached another door. It was opened and we filed in.
The new cell was shaped like a large "U," the door being at the top of the right arm, as you look at it from above. There was a perceptible downhill slope from top to bottom. We were struck by the relatively luxurious furnishings, consisting of colorful velvet upholstered booths. I had the impression that somehow they converted into bunk beds.
The inmates there were clearly unhappy to see us. I was assigned to a booth at the head of the left arm of the "U," which would normally be the domain of the most prestigious prisoners. The fellow I sat next to, despite his plain gray prison garb, clearly seemed like a tycoon or crime lord who had a tramp seated next to him at a fancy restaurant, and could do nothing about it. And yet, before I knew it, he started talking to me as if he needed an audience.
The next thing I noticed, there was a sheet of water flowing down the aisle between the booths, running towards the bottom of the "U" downhill, where apparently there was a bathing area. Somehow near the bathing area I discovered another secret door that led down to a spectacular cavern, and as I walked through it I realized that once again I was at the head of a line of people.
At that point I woke up.
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[January 14, 2024]
I just had a fourth prison dream, which started out odd, but actually turned out to be fairly pleasant.
It clearly took place during World War II, and it started with my sitting in a lecture auditorium filled with young German officers being instructed on something vague. I was wondering what I was doing there when the lecture drew to a close. Everyone stood up for dismissal, and someone called out "sieg heils" but only two soldiers responded. One of them upbraided the others and insisted upon a response, whereupon they did, slowly, and with the left arm. Not caring, I went along with it.
At that point, someone noticed that I and another person in the hall didn't belong there. It turned out that we were both prisoners of war, had been requisitioned for a detail, and were on the attendance list mistakenly.
The dream continued in the nearby town, where the commandant was considering books to be added to the staff library. My duty was to mark those that had been considered but rejected, so that they wouldn't be considered again in the future. After a while I accompanied the commandant to a nearby diner for a break, and there two or three customers took interest in my being an American and asked some questions. I don't remember the details but it was a pleasant conversation.
Then we visited a nearby farm, presumably to see if they needed laborers. While there, I noticed that one outbuilding had a sort of mural painted on one wall. I don't remember what was depicted, except that there was a lot of scrollwork, and I noticed that there were names painted along the bottom, apparently of former farm hands, and one of them was my own name, which I pointed out to the commandant. He asked me if I had attended the nearby university before the war, and I replied no, it must have been someone else with the same name, possibly coming over from Sweden.
The farmer recalled him, saying he was taller, slimmer, with a beard (apparently I was clean-shaven in the dream). My mind conjured a picture of a young version of Edward Mulhare in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
At that point I woke up, but before the lingering dream completely melted away, I was asked by the farmer how I found life in the prison camp, and I replied that of course I dreamed of escape, but otherwise it was not unpleasant, and I'd be willing to come help out at the farm.
[Note that several days after this dream, I decided to resign from my current job and take an early retirement.]
March 26, 2024