The dream came to me on the night of March 26th, 2003. It was my granddaughter Mariah's eleventh birthday: Mariah.....The name/word meant Desert Wind:
In the dream, my husband Mike and I lived in the old Marietta (Ohio) apartment that my first husband Gary and I had lived in. Located on Tiber Way, it had at one time in history been a large hotel. But by the time Gary and I married in 1965 it had been converted to an apartment building with several small business shops located on the ground floor.
Mike was apparently working "overtime" and I decided to go for a walk. Upon returning to the apartment, I noticed out Bonneville, Pontiac was still not in its parking spot, and I wondered how late Mike would have to work. I climbed the stairs that led to our second floor apartment and walked across the large foyer area toward the kitchen door from which I had exited.
Noticing the door stood slightly ajar, I began backing away from it. I knew I'd shut and locked the door when I left, and I was not about to go inside by myself. (**This experience actually happened to me when I lived in that apartment except it was "reversed." See The Sick Man for details.)
"I'll go across the street and ask Katie to come over and enter the apartment with me," I thought as I made my way back down the steps.
Upon entering the building where I believed Katie Wilk to be staying, I was greeted by a heavy set, older woman who appeared to be in her late 60's or early 70's.
She sat at a long table and appeared to be doing paper work of some type. "Hello, may I help you?" she greeted me as I entered the large room.
"Yes," I smiled. "I'd like to talk to Katie Wilk. Is she here today?"
In the next instant I was speaking to Katie who had materialized from down a corridor to my left. Beside her stood a dark haired woman whom I did not know. I explained my dilemma to Katie and asked her to walk back across the street with me. She readily agreed, and invited the dark haired woman to come along and see "all the pretty things that I made" to decorate my home with.
We saw no one in the apartment, and before I knew it we were back out on the sidewalk in front of the building. Katie and the other woman crossed the street and I decided to "walk down to Third Street."
I strolled down Front Street in the early evening hours. The sun was setting and it would soon be dark, but still Mike was not home from work.
I walked a couple or three blocks and made a right turn. About half way up the block I stopped to listen to a group of men who were singing gospel songs. The men were all dark skinned and somehow I knew they were not from around our area. Some of the songs were traditional gospel songs while others were rap songs with a Christian theme. I'd never heard this type of singing before, but admitted to one of the other people who were standing there listening that ..."they are quite good."
The group was performing in a blacktopped parking lot which was located to my right, and about half way up the block between Second and Third Streets. After listening for a few minutes, I decided I'd move along as it was getting later and I wanted to get home by the time Mike came in.
When I reached Third Street, I crossed the street and walked part way down the street to a large church which sat to my left. It sat upon a slight hill and had a stone retaining wall built along the front and up beside the steps that led down to the sidewalk. Services were just letting out and I could see people sitting on the wall and gathered on the steps.
Madalyn Bulknight sat upon the wall, and I walked over and spoke to her.
She asked where I'd been and I told her I'd been out for a walk and had stopped to listen to the group that was singing around the corner. "Oh yes, they are wonderful singers. We sometimes have them come in and perform for us." she said.
As Madalyn and I chatted, I noticed an attractive man standing on the steps and shaking hands with people as they made their way down the steps. He had medium brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing a very nice, gray suit. He continued to shake hands with people and thank them for coming, but every so often I noticed he was looking at me, even as he spoke to others. Finally, he looked over the heads of some of the guests and spoke directly to me ....."Excuse me .... have we met? Don't I know you?"
"No Sir, we've never met .... but you have probably heard my name before." I replied.
Just then a man spoke to the guy who had asked if we'd met, and just as Madalyn said something to me I heard the word frank/Frank, and I assumed the gentleman in the gray suit was the pastor of the church and his name was Frank. I was sure we'd never met before because I knew no one named Frank. Why or how he had heard my name before did not occur to me.
As I stood on the step, still speaking to Madalyn, I noticed a very pretty, red haired woman standing at the top of the steps. She too was speaking to people as they left the church, and she too seemed intent on looking over their shoulders and down at me. I did not know her, but thought she was an exceptionally beautiful woman. Her hair hung well past her shoulders, and was a beautiful shade of auburn with golden highlights.
"I have to go around back and get my purse. I left it lying on the air conditioning unit. I'll be right back," I said to Madalyn as I excused myself from the group.
In the next instant I was retrieving a cloth purse from on top of the huge air conditioning unit that sat behind the brick church. The purse was made of straw colored cloth material that had a basket weave design to it and two half circle wooden handles, that came together to close the purse. (** I have never owned such a purse in my life.)
I walked back around to the front of the church just as "Frank" stepped off the last step and onto the sidewalk. "Where did Madalyn go?" I asked as he again spoke to me. "Oh, she went on. She had to go ahead." he replied.
I leaned against the stone wall and thought that I'd see Madalyn later. The red haired woman came past me and spoke as she too made her way toward the sidewalk. Someone said something to Frank about behaving himself, and he replied that he had to, now that he a Laura were married. Everyone laughed, and the red head walked up and slipped her right arm through Franks left arm and the two of them turned and walked down Third Street together.
Frank and Laura appeared to be in their mid twenty's and made a very attractive couple.
"There goes George and Laura Bush. They sure are an attractive couple." I thought as I watched the pair walk down the street arm in arm!
Next, I was walking down the street toward my apartment again. This time is was getting pretty dark and I still didn't see my Pontiac parked out front.
For some reason I went back to the place where I'd spoken to Katie Wilk.
This time, I walked into a room filled with beds! All kinds of beds .... roll-a-way beds, fold out cots, bunk beds, old fashioned beds from times gone by, even some appeared to be box springs sat directly on the floor with a mattress on top. The room was absolutely filled with beds ..... and people.....all clad in pajama's, and obviously getting ready to go to sleep.
The long table that had been in the room was now gone, but the woman who sat behind it earlier was still there. "May I help you?" she asked as she came walking up to me.
"Yes, I'd like to speak to Katie again if she is still here." I replied as I watched a couple of children play beside the bed of a man whom I perceived as their father. He sat on the side of the bed and watched the children too. Both children had dark hair. One was a girl, the other a boy. They appeared to be between five and seven years of age.
"Oh, I'm sorry, but Katie has retired for the night." the woman replied.
By this time I could see the Pontiac sitting in the parking lot and I knew Mike was home. Upon entering the apartment I told him of the experience I'd had with the door being slightly open when I'd come home earlier. Immediately he pointed to a window about 2ft by 3ft in size that was located directly over top the door, and explained that it would be very easy for anyone to push down on the metal bar at the base of the window and unlock it. He was certain that's how the intruder, whoever he was, had entered the apartment.
******** End of Dream / BMW ********
