Dream of: 02 January 1994 "Equestrian Arena"
While at a public event in Mexico, pressed in a large crowd of Mexicans, I gradually became aware that I might be in a dangerous situation. I had seen some Mexicans carrying sharp, farming instruments, and I recalled much anti-American sentiment had recently erupted in Mexico. I stood with my head lowered, trying not to raise it where people could get a better look at me. I had earlier seen one American-looking person in the crowd; but now I was entirely surrounded by Mexicans, mostly peasants.
The crowd pressed tighter and tighter, until I finally realized I might have trouble breathing. If I would just raise my head, open sky was above me. At first I didn't want to raise my head, but finally I decided not to be cowered, and slowly raised it to the sky. I breathed deep, thrusting out my breast.
Meanwhile, I became aware that a man standing next to me on my left seemed to have his hand on the right side of my butt. Suddenly I felt his hand slide into my pants pocket and pull out my wallet. He moved so quickly, I hardly had time to notice before he began running in the thinning crowd. I tried to grab him and hollered out, "Mi cartera! Mi cartera!"
He was too fast for me and was just about to escape, when another man in the crowd reached out and grabbed him by the wrist. The thief immediately relinquished my wallet to the intervener and disappeared into the crowd.
The man handed me my wallet. Although I regretted that the thief had been let go so easily, I was mainly concerned about getting my wallet back. I turned to the man and thanked him in Spanish. When he answered in Spanish, I gathered from his accent that he wasn't Mexican. I asked in Spanish where he was from and he said he was from Chicago.
Seeing him clearly was difficult at first. When I could finally make out his features, I saw that he was probably in his mid 20s. He was slender and had dark black hair. He also appeared to have some oriental blood in him. I had been impressed by the way he had stepped in and stopped the thief, and I knew immediately I wanted to be friends with him.
I quickly learned that he was a student and had been in Mexico for several months. I told him I had only been here for a few days, but that I was planning to stay for a while. Finally, I asked him if he had a telephone. He said he did and I asked for his number. I thought that was the surest way of being able to contact him. I recalled once before when I had been in Mexico, I had made a friend and we had communicated by telephone.
I was going to write down his phone number myself, but then handed him a paper and something to write with. He wrote down his number and handed it back to me. He had written three numbers, followed by the words "pobre 0, pobre 0, zero 0." I looked at what he had written and asked him how I dialed "pobre 0." And the phrase "zero 0" didn't make sense to me. Were "zero" and "0" not the same? He tried to explain, but I didn't understand. I decided I needed to see him dial the numbers on a telephone.
The crowd had completely disappeared from around us, and the event everyone was waiting for was about to begin. My new friend and I were standing on the edge of a large equestrian arena. On the other side of the arena was a man on a horse; my friend suggested that we run to the other side. I thought that would be mistake; but he didn't wait for me; he daringly ran across the arena close to the horse. When I didn't follow, he came back.
Now the horse with its rider galloped over to where we were. I immediately perceived that trouble would ensue. With my back pinned against the wall, I began to slide down to the ground. Meanwhile the horse turned around so its rear was toward us. It then began kicking its rear feet into the air, trying to come back down on my friend and me. A couple times the horse came down directly on me, but I was able to grab its hoof with my hand and easily push it aside. When the horse finally walked away, I was shaken, but uninjured.
A second horse and rider appeared and headed toward us. Now I was able to get on the other side of the wall, where I found a large piece of board leaning against the wall. I crawled between the board and the wall, hoping to hide. I wanted my friend to do the same, but I couldn't tell what he was doing. When the second horse approached us, to my chagrin, I saw that it was also able to come around the wall. It then began bumping up against the board, trying to crush me between the board and the wall. I thought I might lie on my stomach on the ground, thus lessening the chances that I would be hurt. At the same time, I began thinking that although the situation seemed dangerous, I was somehow impervious, and would suffer no harm.
Copyright 2002 by luciddreamer2k@gmail.com
