My father was driving rather badly. Once he laid his head on the seat behind him and drove for about 30 seconds without even looking at the road. When he speeded up and raced around the curves in the road, I mumbled, "I'm scared."

I looked at the speedometer as he whirled around a curve; it registered around 50, which was much too fast for that curve. I suggested I should drive. At first he didn't pay any attention to me; but finally my mother persuaded him to pull over. He opened the door, stepped out, walked around to the back and got into the back seat. My mother scooted over. I stepped out, got into the driver's seat and began driving. It was dark and I turned on the headlights. As soon as I turned them on, they went back off.

Suddenly I slammed on the brakes. The car whirled around and skidded off the road. Nobody knew what had happened. I thought I had gone into a ditch; but upon closer scrutiny I saw the road had simply ended and I had driven into the middle of a field. I backed up the car and turned it around; but the road behind us likewise had disappeared. We all stepped from the car into the field and looked around.

The field seemed to be atop a ridge. It was a starry night and everything looked strange. We began walking along.

I saw a house with some vines on it. Next to the vines was a pay phone which I thought I might be able to use. A man standing near the phone boarded a car and drove away. I thought, "Well why didn't I just ask him where we were?"

Before going to the phone, I looked at the house, which appeared to be empty; someone was pulling up in a car. So I walked toward the car, intending to ask where we were.

I figured it was probably about 6 a.m. I had started carrying one of the two sisters. I felt close to her and held her close to my cheek. She was probably about 3 years old.

Suddenly I looked into the sky; someone was coming down in a parachute. I pointed out the parachute to my father. I told him the fellow had actually been shot into the sky from a cannon and was now coming down. I also pointed out fireworks going off on the horizon. The fireworks continued exploding one after the other. My father also shot some fireworks into the sky. His fireworks arched into the sky, headed earthward, and exploded on the way down.

We finally reached the house. My father, my two sisters and I walked inside the house. It wasn't empty – people were inside. They seemed rather young. I asked them where we were, but they didn't seem to want to tell me. My family and I sat down at a table with the people and we began eating. I asked a man at the table if he could tell us where we were. I thought we were near Portsmouth probably somewhere near Wheelersburg, Ohio. I asked the people at the table if we were in Ohio. They seemed astonished I would ask that.

It finally became clear we were in Elderfield, Illinois. This fact was quite disconcerting to me. I began trying to figure out how I had previously dreamed we had gone to Elderfield and now I had actually arrived in Elderfield.

I asked people at the table how far Elderfield, Illinois was from Portsmouth -- but no one had heard of Portsmouth. I tried to figure out exactly where Elderfield, Illinois was and asked them how far it was from Chicago. They said, "About 200 miles."

I asked, "Well is it due east of Chicago?"

Someone said Elderfield was about 200 miles southeast of Chicago.

I tried to decide whether we should return to the car and drive back to Portsmouth.

Suddenly my mother walked in with the lady of the house. About 15 teenagers also walked in. They stood and stared at me as if I were something fantastic. It was as if they thought I had appeared from nowhere. Our being there was apparently highly unusual.

I noticed how quickly the food had disappeared.

Copyright 2011 by luciddreamer2k@gmail.com