I found a rather large magazine section and decided I would probably just stand there and read several magazines while waiting for the other two to finish shopping. A man standing near me picked up an issue of Playboy to read. I thought I might read an article in Playboy later, but not at the moment. Instead, I directed myself to a section containing comic books. I saw some Marvel Comics, and was surprised to see a Marvel Comic of Superman. It seemed as if I had heard that Marvel had begun publishing Superman, but I had never seen such a copy.

I picked up the Superman comic, opened it to the first page and began reading. I liked the Marvel format. The Marvel pictures of Superman seemed more realistic than the pictures in Superman's former comic books. Superman also seemed more realistic than before. It appeared that Superman had done something bad, and also that he might no longer be invincible. As I read along, I was also intrigued to discover Batman in the story.

I read for several pages until I reached a page in black and white instead of color. I skipped the page and went on to the next color page, thinking the black and white page was an advertisement and not part of the story. It then occurred to me, however, that the black and white page had actually been a part of the story and I went back to it. I compared the last panel of the previous color page with the first panel of the black and white page. In the color panel, Superman was lying on his stomach on a road and was being oppressed by large hunks of ice. Since the first panel on the black and white page showed a similar picture, I concluded that the black and white panel was a part of the story after all and I began reading it.

I stood for a while as I read, but finally I sat down on the bottom shelf. A black woman walked up and asked me what I was reading. I thought the woman worked there and I showed her the comic. Apparently, however, she didn't work there and she was looking for a particular magazine to read. Since the comic I had wasn't the magazine for which she was looking, she continued her search. She finally pulled out a drawer which looked as if it might have magazines in it, but she still didn't find that for which she was searching. I thought I might take a look in the drawer myself.

***

I was in a Volkswagen (which also seemed somewhat like a Volvo) being driven by the fellow with whom I had walked into the grocery store. A woman was also with me in the car. The fellow now reminded me of John Smith (a confused acquaintance from Waverly, Ohio who died in the early 1970s). Apparently the fellow had just committed a robbery and we were now fleeing the scene. The Volkswagen had originally been orange, but just before we had left the scene, the fellow had thrown green paint over most of the car, so that it now looked green.

As it turned out, the fellow had stolen a large brown paper bag of a certain species of rare snakes. The snakes were a grayish color with some light-colored stripes around them.

I was quite alarmed by what was occurring, and I really didn't want to be a part of it. Once before this fellow and I had been involved in a crime together and we had been caught. I didn't want the same thing to happen again. Nevertheless, I praised the fellow for his thinking of painting the car like he had, since I realized that now we probably wouldn't be detected by air. I pointed out, however, that the bottom part of the car was still orange, and that the interior was still orange. I also added that someone might have seen the license plates as we had been leaving and that we still had the same license plates. If the police were looking for this type of car, they might see the license plates.

Riding on a road close to the Ohio River in southeastern Ohio, we were approaching Gallipolis. When we reached Gallipolis and rode through town, I thought about how this was the town where I had been born. I would like to see the hospital where I had been born, but we didn't have time for sightseeing. The fellow drove the car back toward the Ohio River and ended up at a beach with a few people on it. After the fellow pulled into the beach area, he suggested that the woman and I could leave if I wanted to. I decided that she and should probably leave. After the fellow handed me a smaller brown bag with probably ten baby snakes in it, the woman and I stepped out of the car. The fellow drove off and left us.

Now I was unsure exactly what I was going to do. I thought I would like to rent a motel room, but I didn't think I had any money and I didn't think I could offer the snakes in exchange for a room. I was concerned about the snakes, because I knew they must be handled and cared for properly. They probably wouldn't be able to survive long in the paper bag.

The woman and I walked until we reached the park in the center of Gallipolis. Suddenly I saw a bright flash of light and I needed a moment to realize that the light had been lightening. I stared up at the colorfully red sky which lit up several times from lightening, but not as brightly as the first time.

Dream Epics Home Page