Dream of: 01 October 1986 "Shelter of the Courthouse"

After being away for a while, I had returned to Dallas. Early in the morning I went to judge Schwille's court in the Dallas County courthouse. Since I had decided I wanted to work again in Dallas, I put my name in the box out of which the names of court-appointed attorneys would be drawn. The courtroom began filling up with people and other lawyers. Most of the lawyers were unfamiliar to me and many were black. A couple times my ex-wife Bonnie walked around the room, but we did not speak.

The judge walked into the courtroom and saw me. The drawing of the names took place, and my name was picked first. The judge returned to his chambers and a woman attorney walked into the courtroom and took his place. Apparently, a new procedure had been instituted whereby lawyers were taking turns doing some of the judge's work.

The woman attorney called out a defendant's name. Since my name had been first on the list, I thought I would be appointed to represent the defendant, but instead, the woman attorney handled the case herself without appointing another lawyer. After she sent the defendant on his way, she followed the same procedure with several other defendants.

Finally, she stepped down and another lawyer who followed the same procedure took her place. At last judge Schwille returned to the courtroom, took over, and immediately called out my name. I walked up in front of him and said, "I'm back."

I wanted to be sure he understood that I had returned to work in his court. I also mentioned to him that I had forgotten to write "Spanish" by my name, and I asked him to put an "S" by my name to indicate that I spoke Spanish. That way I could also represent Spanish-speaking defendants. The names of several Spanish-speaking attorneys were already on the list.

I had hesitated to return to court because I still had long hair, but the judge did not seem to mind. Apparently, he was going to appoint me to cases even though I did have long hair.

After he appointed me to a defendant, I worked with my new client, quickly completed the task, and turned in a pay sheet to the judge for $100. I felt good about being back in court. I could start earning some good money again; this was where I needed to be.

When the judge finally went back to his chambers, I walked back to talk with him. We discussed a case which I was going to argue, and he gave me the citation of another case which he said would help me if I would read it. I told him I would return later to discuss the case more with him. Having finished, I walked outside the courthouse, where rain was pounding down.

While I was still standing under the shelter of the courthouse, a black fellow walked up to me and showed me what appeared to be a small plastic container for carrying 35mm film. He opened the vial, showed me that it contained marijuana, and asked me if I wanted to buy some. Glancing inside the vial I noticed some seeds which were obviously from marijuana. Other leaves were also in the mixture.

The fellow said he wanted $15 for the marijuana. I agreed. After paying him $15, I took the vial and stuck it in my pocket. As I started to walk away, the fellow suddenly wanted to fight with me. We were standing on a slightly raised platform; the fellow attacked me, and I threw him off the platform, but he kept coming back and I had to throw him off the platform about a half dozen times.

I screamed for help so someone might call the police, but no one did anything. Finally, I used karate on the fellow. I did not really need the police, although I would have preferred for them to have appeared.

When I at last managed to extricate myself from the fellow and climb into the driver's seat of a car, to my chagrin, the fellow also slipped into the car. As I started driving down the road, the pugnacious fellow was still trying to fight with me. Somehow, I managed to open the door and kick him out. As my car proceeded forward, I looked back and saw the fellow lying in the middle of the street. I was finally free of him.

I finally stopped the car, got out, and began walking around in the rain. I was wearing my long, beige, trench coat which I took off, folded up, and threw down by the side of the road.

I returned to the courthouse where I put on a thin, blue jacket. Once again, I left the courthouse and began walking around in the rain. This time I took off the blue jacket, folded it up, and threw it down beside the road. I continued walking until finally it struck me that I had thrown my coats away; but it did not bother me.

I thought about the marijuana I had bought from the belligerent fellow. It suddenly occurred to me that some of the leaves which had been lying on top of the mixture had not looked like marijuana leaves. I began to surmise that the leaves probably were not marijuana at all. I figured someone had probably taken some marijuana seeds and mixed them with another substance so when someone saw the mixture, he would recognize the marijuana seeds and think the whole mixture was marijuana. Saying what was included in the mixture was difficult. The mixture might even include something dangerous. I began to doubt I had done the right thing by buying the mixture.