Dream: 125th St (Part 1)

I wrote this out several months ago and figured I'd post it. I'd forgotten all about it. It's long. Maybe about 4 [long!] posts worth.

-Welcome to the inner subconscious workings of my brain ;)

I was in the city walking home from something and thinking that the street I was on might not be the best way to go. But I realized I could get to the street I did want by walking a few blocks more and turning, so I decided to continue walking in the direction I was going rather than turning around and going back.

A large family from out of town was also walking down that street. -And by "large family" I mean that they reminded me of that movie with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt with all the kids. I think some of the kids in the dream were those kids, but the parents weren't Steve Martin or Bonnie Hunt. They looked more... I don't know... "Simple." I didn't know them but we all happened to be walking down the same deserted cobblestone-ish street, and I was listening to them as we walked.

The parents were saying that they thought this was the wrong way to where their car was parked, or something like that. (Note: There's going to be a lot of "or something like that"s in my descriptions!) Then, a little girl with them (maybe 8 or 9 years old) told them it was the right way and that "Look, the sign says it's 43rd street" and that if they kept walking they could turn and get to 42nd street. I thought to myself "She's right." and that was what I was going to do. Walk down a few more blocks and then turn left onto 42nd street. But her parents, her father in particular, were still saying that they didn't think she was correct (even though our streets are numbered!) and they wanted to ask someone. I stopped while they were asking. Maybe partially to hear the answer, maybe just to snoop. I don't know why.

They walked up to some sort of house. I thought that was strange. -An old house in the city, as opposed to an apartment building. A disheveled looking man came out wearing a dingy white undershirt and boxer shorts, and I thought, "He's obviously lived here for years. He'll tell them their daughter is right, and then they can keep on going."

They asked him how to get to Broadway (or something like that) and he said something about walking two blocks down, taking a left, and then getting a subway... and I think I spoke up at that point and said something about how that wasn't right. And the man replied that we were at 125th street waaaaay over on the East side and that they'd have to take a long bus/cab/train ride to get back down to 42nd street and Broadway. I asked how that was possible since we'd just seen the 43rd street sign? But I just figured "That was weird..." -How that had happened. I mean streets do take some crazy turns in NYC (Like where 10th street and 4th street intersect? -Really they do! In real life!), but I was still surprised. Though it seemed to explain the house a bit better. It would be more likely to see a house in the city the further uptown you went, as opposed to in midtown around 43rd street. So as illogical as it seemed, it also made sense in a weird dream-logic kind of way.

Note: In the dream, 125th street was supposed to be a dark, sketchy, and very dangerous neighborhood. In real life, it's not. 125th street, in real life, is fine.

I don't really understand what happened next. I think the family was concerned about walking down 125th street, and was trying to figure out what to do. Meanwhile the guy from the house started talking to them, and they all ended up kind of hanging out around a wooden picnic table that was in front of his house. I think he said something about how he was crazy, or that the police had said he was crazy, or something like that. But he wasn't acting crazy. I mean, you know... he wasn't well dressed in a suit and tie or anything, but so what?

So the parents started talking with the guy, and they and the kids were around the table socializing, because they weren't really sure what they wanted to do, and I noticed that it was slowly, slowly, starting to get darker.

(Part 2 of the dream is here.)