Dream of: 13 January 1994 "New Phase"
I had met Louise and gone to her house with her. Although she was friendly and I was happy to be with her, I didn't want to encounter her husband. I learned that he and Louise weren't getting along and that they probably wouldn't stay together much longer; but I still didn't want to see him.
***
While Carolina and I were in an apartment where we were living, I heard a knock at the front door and I thought it was probably Louise. I knew Louise was going to come and visit us; it would be the first time she and Carolina had met. I felt the meeting would be a little awkward, but I thought they would probably get along. I even had an idea that the three of us were going to live together.
As I headed to the door, which was in the kitchen, I saw the apartment was basically in good shape, although a few things were lying around in a disorderly fashion. I opened the front door, and instead of Louise, I found a man, a woman and their two sons. I immediately remembered someone was going to come over to look at the apartment because I was moving out and they might want to rent it.
I invited them in. The man and woman were probably in their late 30s and the two sons were in their mid-teens. The man seemed like a strong robust character; he immediately began looking about. As we walked through the kitchen, I pointed through an open door to an adjoining door and said that that room wasn't part of my apartment. The room to which I was pointing was large and had beige carpet. I explained that although the room was part of a neighboring apartment, it had never been rented during the whole time I had been here.
Carolina, the others and I walked into the adjoining room and walked over to a balcony above the street below. We were probably on the third floor, and could see several intersections of busy streets below. I pointed to one busy intersection and said that was where the most accidents happened, and that I had actually seen a person killed there.
Outside, next to the balcony, were some domed, tiled roofs; the two boys began climbing on them. Although it was dangerous, I pointed out that the roofs were formed so if the boys fell, they would only fall about one story to the roof below. That was better than falling all the way to the street. As the boys climbed off the roofs and back into the apartment, I thought I heard the parents call them Leroy and Steve. I thought the names seemed strange since my name was Leroy Steven.
Several people were gathered in front of a building across the street, where there was quite a bit of activity; at first I thought they were having a fight. Some glass was broken. Then I realized they were purposely smashing some glasses on the ground as part of some kind of ceremony, such as when Jews smash a glass at a wedding. They were simply celebrating something.
From where we were I could see the flat roof of a building right next to mine. Surprisingly some life-size sculptures of people were standing on the building. When I looked closer, I saw that they weren't actually sculptures, but appeared to be made of something like cardboard. I then saw that a man was seated in a chair in front of a large camera, taking pictures of people. Apparently he would take people's pictures and then create the cardboard sculptures. Carolina and I were both surprised and impressed to see the sculptures there.
I talked with the people to whom I was showing the apartment, hoping they liked it, because I wanted to move. I told them I hadn't paid rent in a year because I had paid for a year in advance. I thought I had paid about $6,000 and that the rent was a little over $500 a month. I was impressed that the man actually took time to go around like that with his family to look at apartments. That seemed like something I wouldn't do.
While we were on the balcony, we were able to see one of my neighbors in another apartment, a thin old woman probably in her 70s. Some people were with her. I had never taken any time to get to know her. Nevertheless she began telling the people with me that I was a good neighbor and that I didn't make any noise. I told the people that I did have a stereo system which I used, but that I didn't play it loud. Besides, what I liked about the apartment was that it was secluded so no one could really hear me, especially since the apartment with the large room was unrented.
We walked back into the large unrented room and I explained that it was connected to an even larger room which I called the ballroom. I thought the two rooms didn't rent because no one wanted only two large rooms like that. I told the people it might be possible for them to rent the large room with the beige carpet along with my apartment. I told them that if they found out they could do that, and they decided not to take the apartment, to please tell me, because if I could also have the large room with the beige carpet, I would stay here. I wanted to make it clear that I would only stay if they decided they didn't want the apartment.
When we turned to the rest of the apartment, Louise had arrived. She had a long line of perhaps 20 clients waiting to see her. She was standing behind a stand-up portrait-camera and taking the pictures of the clients one at a time. That surprised me because I hadn't realized Louise was a photographer. I tried to remember what kind of work she did and I recalled that she was a bankruptcy attorney. I couldn't quite reconcile in my mind her being a photographer and being an attorney.
I mentioned to the people that Louise had offered me a job working for her, but I thought to myself how little Louise understood me to offer me such a job. She had said she would give me 10% of whatever she earned and that she would point me in the right direction. I figured 10% would only be $20,000-$30,000 a years. Although it was a lot of money, it was a paltry amount compared to what I could earn on my own if I wanted to.
What Louise didn't realize was that I had something quite different I was planning to do with my life. To do the kind of work she was doing would simply be a step backwards. I had done all that and was ready to move on to a new phase, however difficult it might be.
Copyright 2003 by luciddreamer2k@gmail.com
