Blue Opossum's Dream JournalDay Before School Dreams Series 1

Signs Morning of September 5, 1966. Monday.

On September 6, 1966 came my first real-life experience with public school(kindergarten) and larger social settings. What I carry most in terms of memories of thosedays relates to situations with my belligerent coach (and I presently feel as an adult, with hisseemingly surreal lack of patience, that he had no place being around young children), theeerie sounds of other children laughing and talking and racing down the stairs above andbeyond (with truly bizarre acoustics while heard from downstairs in the sports room)sounding very much like a flock of ghostly geese and probably one of the mostdisconcerting sounds of my youth, playing with toy wooden trucks in a limited space(forward, backward, forward, backward), making scenes (such as “snowscapes”) out of

construction paper, and the event where an obnoxious boy (Eddie) told the teacher (Mrs.Yandell) she was wrong about something and she asked him if he would like to teach theclass - and so he nodded and got up and rather quickly drew a letter “C” on the chalkboard(his back to the class) and she asked him “What is that?” and he bursts out crying, and soshe asked him if it was okay for her to “be the teacher again” and he nodded, still sobbing,returning to his seat.

Aside from that was included; the day to day pouring of my little carton of milk down thesink as soon as the teacher left the classroom (saying I could not go to recess unless Idrank my milk, but cow’s milk usually made me nauseous), and trying to avoidabsentmindedly opening my eyes and accidentally looking at the teacher’s legs as shewalked by while checking on the other students during nap time while lying on my back onthe floor mat pretending to be asleep, or for that matter, even remotely relaxed (which Iusually was not). If anything, I certainly wasted a lot of milk that year.

In my dream, I do not really yet know what public school entails (or what the inside ofthe buildings look like). I ride around in a car in the back seat with my brother-in-law Bobdriving and it somehow seems I have a choice on which school I would be going(unrealistically, of supposedly many in the area when there was only one logical choice inreality). We are studying the settings, traveling around seemingly randomly. Children my ageare carrying protest signs, but really, they are warnings and “reminders” about driving slowlyor carefully. I wonder if carrying signs to inform adults is what school is all about from day today.

There is an ominous scene of a sign lying on the sidewalk (at an angle, face up,seemingly saying “GET LOST”) that I view out the window to my right while we are goingsouth. I get the impression that a boy (though no reason to assume it was a boy) hadsomehow vanished, leaving only the sign behind. What if that could happen to me? Wasthere more to school than carrying signs around? I would find out in real life on the sixth.

Looking at this on another level, it could suggest that I (metaphorically) was no longer“holding a stop sign” (regardless of what the actual sign in my dream was, as dreamschange associations continuously, especially with unlikely or impossible composite settings)and thus needed to go on to be in the public school setting (thus I left the sign; “stop sign”,protest sign or not; behind, when associating myself with the disappearing student - yet thismay also simply be a realization that I was in the car so thus could not be on the sidewalkholding the sign - even though I was apparently aware that it was a different person that hadvanished) - or maybe I/they just had to go to the bathroom and thus left the sign on thesidewalk until my/their return. When I think of “sign”, “stop sign” tends to come to mind morequickly than other associations (including protest signs or “drive carefully” signs held bychildren). It did not really seem as if the beginning Kindergarten students were “protestingschool” (they seemed cheerful, mostly) though seeming double-meanings as such cannot beavoided even when they are completely irrelevant. Additionally, the actual crossing guardnear my apartment building residence on 901 ½ Rose Street, a chubby female, was seen onschool days to hold up the stop sign at the intersection. Concerning the phrase “signs ofthings to come”, I was probably not familiar with the meaning at this early age. Obviously,trying to integrate certain adult associations or meanings with an early childhood dream is

children). It did not really seem as if the beginning kindergarten students were “protestingschool” (they seemed cheerful, mostly) though seeming double meanings as such cannot be

not really that feasible or reliable.

Sep 5th, 1966

The Parking Pit Morning of September 24, 1967. Sunday.

I seem to be at the primary (elementary) school in La Crosse where the layout is muchlarger than in reality (though it may be implied to be in Arcadia) and with more chain-linkfencing, perhaps being a total of about four blocks. The school bus (which I did not need totake in reality until living in Cubitis) ends up in a “parking pit” but I am not sure this isnormal. I was not aware of being on a school bus at any point prior to this. I look down whenwalking in the parking lot and see at least two of them. The students do not seem to beannoyed or disturbed. There is an awareness of a scent of very light rain on asphalt. (For atime, between 1967 and 1969, mostly, I sometimes clearly smelled asphalt, “blacktop”, or tarin some dream scenes. This slowed as I got older.) I do not actually see a bus fall into (ordrive down a supposed ramp into) a pit at any point.

I am somewhat confused about whether or not it is a school day (recurring). I mostlywalk around outside and there is a vague idea that I should “rescue” them, because there isno ramp going down to the “pit” (which is about three school buses high). I think aboutputting down a ladder, but not much happens as I end up absentmindedly just wanderingaround the area. (No one calls for help or seems confused. Perhaps there is a doorway inthe “pit” whereby they can leave and go into the school building, perhaps using steps.)

Sep 24th, 1967

Banana Boat Morning of September 2, 1968. Monday.

In my dream, in readying myself for starting school on Tuesday September 3, 1968, mytransportation will apparently be a banana boat. It will seemingly be as such for about twoweeks regarding the somewhat unclear back story, as apparently the school buses are allbroken down and will not be fixed until a couple weeks from now.

At one point, it mostly seems as if the cargo boat is somehow going over land ratherthan any body of water. There is the sighting of a mischievous monkey near the top of acrane that looks somewhat like a sketchy charcoal drawing at one point. At times, the manybananas lying around do not seem exactly like bananas, though many have likely beenmangled or flattened somehow.

At one point, there are a number of small columns, about waist high, each topped withat least two or three bunches of bananas. (It reminds me vaguely of the layout of a drive-intheater.)

Students are wandering around, but soon, I do not see anyone but a few adults andthey seem to be shopping (buying bananas only). I wonder if I am in the right place.

It is only a guess that this dream was most influenced by “Day-O (The Banana BoatSong)” by Harry Belafonte (especially the association with the line “I wanna go home” inanticipation of an unknown new semester), as my sister Marilyn had the record, though Imostly heard it in 1966.

Another influence might have been associations with my new lunch box for secondgrade (of the same kind as shown), as it was yellowish (but then so are school buses) andvaguely reminiscent of a banana (the handle was yellowish and curved).

It is probably far more revealing to say “It reminds me vaguely of the layout of thedesks of a classroom” than suggesting a drive-in theater here, though it was outside and itwas a genuine reflection at the time - perhaps contemplating being in a classroom again yetstill with the additional potential of outside freedom - though inside/outside ambiguity is fairlycommon in my dreams - though exotic and highly unlikely outside settings sometimes seembilocated in an inside familiar location; for example, at one point (though not throughout thatparticular dream) the “large desert” in “Beyond the Martian Time Barrier / The MartianCasket” was seemingly somehow “of” and “in” the living room of my Cubitis home while stillseeming like a “real” desert setting including even the larger expanse of land and the skyoverhead - it was only as my dream was ending that I became more aware of where I“really” seemed to be mentally as walls and floor began to partially come into focus.

Sep 2nd, 1968

Rolling to School and Skydiving Home Morning of September 1, 1969. Monday.

“Roll out, tumble out, any way to get out; if you can’t get out, throw your money out.”This was something my father used to say now and then when I had to get up for school,but it was usually my mother that woke me.

In this case, third grade was to begin on the second of September. In my dream (I donot seem that focused), I roll sideways on my side to my classes along with most others(some have textbooks, some do not and I do not seem to), though a few others are walkingnormally - I mostly only notice their feet and legs and sometimes hands carrying textbooks. Ihope I am going in the right direction. I eventually have to crawl up onto my desk, which isdifficult. My body feels a bit heavier.

After school, the location of the school building has obviously changed during theschool day, as we have to skydive home from the door to our classroom (at the northeastend of the building). It is too high up to see much detail below. There is not much fear indoing this, but I end up falling into a cluster of tall grasses and weeds and cannot see myhouse. (The imagery is like the Serengeti Plain.) My body feels bilocated, or “half-in” and“half-out” of my dream. As such, the waking process seems very long, much longer thanusual (far more common during this time when I was much younger). The vagueassociations with sheet or parachute is not fully resolved for a few minutes.

There was play at times in pretending the school bus was an airplane and that jumpingoff from the step was like skydiving.

Sep 1st, 1969

Attack of the Giant Red Lobster Morning of September 7, 1970. Monday.

A giant lobster is approaching my school from the west and we all have to leave (Ihad been in a class on the second floor). When I am outside, east of the building and at afair distance from it, the giant red lobster approaches from the other side, but the scenedoes not look right. It is as if the school is now only one large wall with windows (andperhaps now implied as four storeys high), since I can see everything supposedly on theother side rather clearly as the creature bashes his claws on the building. Realistically, Ishould only have seen the building and not what was behind it through any windows to theother side, as I was down on the ground.

Not only that, the movement in each window seems to be the exact same partial sceneand movement somewhat like a fly’s eye view, including what is seemingly duplicated

sections of the same pieces of blue sky and arc of lobster claw in the background in eachand every window. The simultaneous imagery and movement in each window is almostominous in itself. Still, I actually enjoyed this dream because of its unusual “rare” nature.Although the “fly’s eye view” has occurred in other dreams (this being only one of two morevivid instances over a lifetime), it seems very rare.

This dream, I think, amusingly enough, was perhaps more influenced by the restaurantcommercials shown during “Shock Theatre” than by any monster movies at the time, though“The Black Scorpion” (from 1957) might have had an influence.

Sep 7th, 1970

The Confused Dinosaur Night of August 29, 1971. Sunday.

A small dinosaur (possibly a young Ornithomimosaur) that is only about as tall as Iam, and of which I think of as an ostrich dinosaur, is running back and forth in the hallway ofmy Cubitis home, trying to get into one of two rooms (and rattling the doorknobs each time),the bathroom or the hallway closet (the doors of which are on opposite sides - and nearopposite ends - of the hallway; the bathroom door perpendicular to the back door and thehallway closet perpendicular to the living room opening). I feel sort of sorry for it (regardingits seeming confusion or indecision) but stay out of its way (and it does not seem to becomeaware of me at any point or at least act as such). There is no threat of any kind. I seem tobe viewing the event from near the bathroom door though in the bathroom at one point,somehow seeing through the closed door.

Due to a particular vague association in my dream, I think this may have beeninfluenced by an old cartoon (possibly Betty Boop or Silly Symphony; though even afterextensive research, I have not been able to locate it) which showed a kangaroo going to thedoor of an airplane (while in flight), not being able to open it, and soon going back to sitdown again, I think because of being bored or annoyed with a singing character, though thismay be a false memory regarding certain details. I am not sure, as I neither wrote the nameof the cartoon nor time seen at any earlier point in my journals.

It is probably relevant that this year, starting fifth grade on the 30th of August, I mostlygot my school clothes from the hall closet and changed in the bathroom before sometimes“racing” back through the hallway to the living room to leave to wait for the school bus. (Forthe year after this, the volume of clothes I had took up more space and they were mostlykept in the room-length sliding-door closet in the southwest room - my father’s room at thattime.)

(There may be a subtle connection with my “Poor Little Dinosaur” dream from 1965,

from about a year before attending any school, and “identifying” with it on one level - it wasof the same general size and appearance as here.)

Aug 29th, 1971

Golden Fleece, Wrong School Morning of August 27, 1972. Sunday.

In my dream, I have returned to school for the semester to begin sixth grade (whichbegins in real life on the 28th), but it is actually the wrong school, as it is much like my fifthgrade homeroom class at West Elementary rather than the large new middle school (which Ihad not seen much of or ever been inside). I do not feel that out of place though. I amcarrying around the golden fleece for whatever reason, though I am not sure if this is whatis required or expected (this possibly being a vague association with the “security blanket”that Linus carries around in the “Peanuts” comic strip). I see myself sitting at a desk in aboutthe middle of the middle row a few times, though do not catch on that I am dreaming. Theclearest scene is of actually being disembodied and hovering within the center of a mostlydark room and seeing myself in the doorway looking my way.

Regarding this featureless dark room, I get the impression that I have also somehowabsentmindedly taken clusters of hair from the floor or an unseen desk or chair - which mayhave come from at least one male while the room served as a temporary “barbershop” forstudents before starting the semester. The large amount of lighter hair, which eventuallyseems as large as a rug at one point, is not very realistic a situation. Later, I am not sure if Iam carrying around the golden fleece in my last classes of the day, or the rug made fromanother student’s hair.

Aug 27th, 1972

The Prophet Morning of August 26, 1973. Sunday.

In my dream, I am in my Cubitis bedroom and lying on my back in my bed, just beforesunrise. My bed is oriented against the additional door to our carport, blocking it, lengthwisealong the northern wall and with the foot of my bed to the west. Over time, the ceilingbegins to “melt” almost like “glowing cheese” and even seems to “drip” with globules oflight. A man of about twenty years of age walks through a doorway-like hole that had formedin the west wall, though where the large jalousie windows are in reality. There is no sense ofdanger, just curiosity. This is the only time I recall that the ceiling itself was melting in adream.

Over time, and my dream seems quite long (including with some extraneous “resets”),

the man talks to me about how “special” I am relating to knowing my destiny in some ways.In a way, it seems almost religious (and I do recall some vague associations with the HolyBible), but not in a more viable sense. In some ways, it seems as if this is my future self inabout ten years or so - though that is not a clear implication (especially as his racialbackground seems quite different). He seems very friendly and helpful though not really fullyChrist-like; more like a young farmer from the 1930s or some such in his speech andmanner. I do not remember much of what he said, though I saw this as meaningful in someways. I already knew there was so much that was unexplainable about my experiences(though did not really dwell on it that much during this time period). In the long run, althoughmy dream colored my mood in a positive way, I did not really get much out of it, at leastconsciously.

In my research, I found a possible link to associations with “The Magician”, though thedream character was not that much like Bill Bixby, though perhaps an odd composite of

“The Magician” and John Boy Walton on some levels, as generated here.

Aug 26th, 1973

King Kong Parade Morning of August 25, 1974. Sunday.

This dream seemed extraordinary to me for a few reasons. One reason is that it wasthe only very vivid dream I have had that seemed to be solely in black-and-white at onepoint, even considering the amazing sense of depth perception and distance perception andorientation. The mood seems quite intense and with a purpose. Just before King Kongappears in a parade (non-threatening, apparently) there is a clear mood of expectation(similar to that of certain other types of dreams, but augmented). I seem to be very largemyself (even bigger than King Kong) but seemingly disembodied and apparently invisibleand viewing the scene from above, looking at the rows and columns of “tiny” people in theparade as well as the large group of spectators.

This scenario seems like some sort of special seasonal event or important celebration.Even though there is also an odd “ancient Rome” feeling, the scene seems to be in amodern American city such as New York (although it also seems much like an area in LaCrosse that I had not been to in years - near the post office - as such, we seem to bemoving due north - though this would indicate the people are very tiny in proportion to thisarea and with the buildings implied to be much bigger than they are in reality). In a way, mydream seems like a nostalgic blending of the mood and “power” in the original “King Kong”movie from 1933 - yet there is no stop-motion animation feel at any point - it is quite fluidand realistic. None of the cheering and applauding people show any signs of fear. The sizeof King Kong though, is much bigger than his movie-implied size. The length of one of hisfingers is probably as long as four people here.

Aug 25th, 1974

The Little Giant Morning of August 24, 1975. Sunday (the day before starting 9th grade).

This dream is like an O-Henry-like tale and as such, is more like a ”story” than many ofmy other dreams of this time period. There was a stage where I called it “The SmallestGiant” to have a titular relationship with other (though completely unrelated) dreams such as“The Smallest Rabbit” and “The Smallest Ghost”.

In my dream, a fictional (at least unknown) family lives directly south of us andseemingly shares their house with another family, or perhaps they are only visiting them orstaying with them for a time (such as for during the next school year).

A fictional wooden fence, much like an old cattle fence (but of only two separated

narrower boards high), runs east and west at the southernmost end of our house all the wayout to the train tracks. The grass is also longer in our backyard than it had ever been in reallife.

The main idea is that there is a “giant” living in the neighborhood (next door, in fact). Ithink the giant’s name may be John but I am not one hundred percent sure. (There is only avague awareness at one point of the Edward G. Robinson movie “The Little Giant” from1933.)

However, the male that had been thought by others to be a “giant” is eventually seen tonot be that tall at all, but he is fairly chubby, and at one point, seemingly only a little tallerthan the average height for an adult male. He does seem a little mentally “slow”, though. Hevaguely reminds me of Kenneth W.

A few games are played, such as with a Frisbee, and some other events take placerelated to the “giant” making a few odd mistakes in judgement (mostly regarding distanceorientation). Near the end of my dream, there grows an idea that it is foolish for people tocall him a giant.

During the clearest (most retained) segment of my dream, I call over the fence to him,“hey” and his first name, saying “…Kindergarten starts tomorrow!” Of course, this is a“twist ending” and implies that he actually is a giant but only four or five years of age. I amalmost laughing as I wake, being aware of the apparent “cleverness” of my dream.

This dream was likely making light of my discomfort over the idea of going to highschool for the first time, and ninth grade was to start for me on the twenty-fifth of August (onthe morning after this dream). It colored my mood from mostly negative to somewhatcheerful, at least during this day. The fence appeared in my dream because contact with ourreal neighbors was nearing an end as well as any informality or previous openness.

Aug 24th, 1975

Swimming with Sharks Morning of September 12, 1976. Sunday.

In my dream, I find myself at what seems to be the bottom of the sea, though it doesnot seem that I am really that far underwater. It actually only seems that I am in about tenfeet of water or less. There are a few different kinds of large sharks swimming near me,but I do not feel threatened.

There is something about retrieving a wallet, though I cannot recall if it is mine or not.For some reason, I am aware of at least one important credit card (possibly more) -Mastercard I think, with possible associations with implications of the word “master” - andpossibly some identification cards or folded documents in the wallet I am to retrieve. I caneasily breathe underwater, and move about somewhat as if swimming.

My dream takes on an odd ambiguity, almost like two simultaneous dreams (both“deep in the ocean” and “looking at city features”), or at least implied bilocated settings.Above me, I look up through a “transparent” floor (as if I have X-ray vision) and notice atleast one girl in a skirt walking above me in a presumed office - though I do not feel anysignificant voyeurism-based interest regarding this imagery and perspective and it is alsounlikely that the building above me is actually over the water, as it seems like a businessbuilding somehow being seen from elsewhere. However, it may also be a high school with ayoung teacher present, though I see no one else. There may have been an odd level offoreshadowing and self-fulfilling prophecy here. A few years later, when “going back toschool” in a manner of speaking at WWTI (after moving back to Wisconsin) to get my GED(or so-called high school equivalency), I got a student ID card for the first time ever. Afterthe term I absentmindedly threw it over a bridge over the Black River.

High school (my tenth grade classes) had started on August 30th, but I did not go untilSeptember 13th, due to having recently had an operation on my hand, and I was also still inpain for a couple weeks after my surgery. This dream may have related to the concept oftrying to find my “identification” (or place at school) while starting tenth grade with certainstudents perceived as “sharks”, or potential bullies as well as either “getting credit” for doingschool work or getting school credits in a metaphorical association.

For an indeterminable reason, this dream seemed somehow “linked” to anothercompletely unrelated and later dream (perhaps being somehow associated with the “same”presumed fictional town at one point) about a fictional movie or documentary about the

“1910 Fruitgum Company” (an American bubblegum pop band of the 1960s) as if it was areal company. At one point, I watch while flying or floating from above, a 1922 red Phaeton(long-term-recurring dream feature) going down a street. It is implied that “WinchesterCathedral” (which I vaguely seem to hear playing at least once in my dream) is “their” song,when it was actually done by The New Vaudeville Band in reality. On one level, this mayhave been a subtle desire to “return to the past” (or at least review it).

Sep 12th, 1976