Dream of: 06 February 2006 "Overdue Movies"
While I was in the garage, cleaning out my car, I found six DVD movies on the floor of the back seat. I had rented the movies from Blockbuster and had forgotten to return them. I looked at the dates - the movies had been due on December 14th and 15th. Today was already December 26th. I thought the fine for overdue movies was $1 a day, which meant $6 a day in this case. Since the movies were now over 10 days overdue, I would owe more than $60. I was very upset that I had so negligently forgotten the movies. I had even forgotten to watch them. I thought I still might watch one movie - a comedy featuring a black fellow.
Still upset, I got out of the car and headed up some stairs which led from the garage to the second floor. Once upstairs, I lay down and completely covered myself with a blanket. After I had lain a while, I tried to get up, but discovered I was so tangled up in the blanket, I couldn't get out.
I heard someone enter the room: my mother. She walked over and helped me out of the cover. She was only in her mid 30s. I told her what had happened with the movies. She commiserated with me, but there was nothing she could do about it.
***
Standing outside the Blockbuster store, I stuck the six DVDs into a receptacle which looked like a mail box. I walked inside and told a black fellow who was a clerk that I had put the movies in the box. I hadn't paid the fine yet, and I thought I would probably wait for Blockbuster to send me a bill. I might not even pay. I worried, however, that if I didn't pay, Blockbuster would put a negative entry on my credit report. I didn't want that to happen. I hated the credit report - because of it, I would have to pay.
The clerk was friendly. He told me a story about another person whose child had kept a movie for more than a year. The person ended up owing around $500. The clerk indicated that many people owed fees for movies. It seemed to me that Blockbuster must be making bundles of money from these overdue fees. At least I wasn't the only one. But other people's problems didn't help me, and I still felt bad that I could have been so stupid.
Copyright 2006 by luciddreamer2k@gmail.com
