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Dream of: 23 January 1982 (2) "Constitutional Law Exam"

I was taking my Constitutional Law exam. After I had arrived in the classroom and had sat down at the table, professor Guinn, had handed out the exam. I had five and a half hours in which to complete it. I began working on the first question, which dealt with dual sovereignty.

I was going to write the test longhand. I had originally planned to type the test, but I was under so much pressure, I didn't feel as if I would be able to type it.

I began writing on a yellow, legal-sized paper-tablet. After finishing one page, I began to turn to the second page. But when I started to turn the page, I suddenly realized I had some of my class notes on the underside of my tablets. As I turned the page, the notes were visible. Guinn happened to be standing in front of me just at that very moment, and although he didn't say anything, I was sure he saw the notes. I was afraid he would think I was cheating or that I had broken some rule, even though I knew I hadn't. Guinn walked on.

As I prepared to write on the second page, I suddenly realized that before coming to class I had cut all my pages in half, so that now I only had half-size pages. I couldn't write on them. I sat in a dilemma.

Besides that, I was having difficulty answering the question. I could only seem to come up with vague sentences, such as, "The purpose of law should be followed according to its purpose."

I realized I was going to have to go buy some paper. When another girl stood up, apparently to go to the restroom, I thought, "Well, apparently people are leaving the room."

So I rose to go buy some paper. As I walked out, I noticed that some girl had written on her paper a case name, which appeared to be "McCullough v. Maryland." I suddenly realized I should have mentioned that case in my answer about dual sovereignty. I had completely forgotten about that case. Obviously I was going to have to completely redo my answer.

As I walked outside, I realized an hour had already elapsed since the test began. Of the eight or nine questions, I had only gotten to the second one. It seemed as if I were obviously going to fail the test. I was in a panic.

I headed down the street and decided I was first going to get something to eat. I saw Leah outside. She was wearing a red dress and was with her parents. She was apparently taking her lunch break and was going to eat lunch with her parents.

I walked on down the street until I arrived at a small restaurant which reminded me of one which used to be on Chillicothe Street in Portsmouth. When I walked in, I saw Anderson and Anderson's brother, Jim, sitting at a table. I hurriedly walked up to a man standing near them and asked the man if he would take my order. I asked him if they had oyster soup. I also wanted some salad, but I couldn't remember the word "salad." Since there was some salad on the table, I pointed to it and said, "Some of this stuff."

Then I remembered the word and added, "Salad."

I also ordered something else, and then sat down with Anderson and his brother Jim. Three girls (probably no more than 18 years old) and another fellow were sitting on the other side of the table. Anderson and I talked for a while and I asked him to introduce me to the girls, and he did. Although I wanted to meet the girls, I thought they were too young for me and that we would have nothing in common. I wasn't particularly interested in meeting the fellow with them.

I began thinking again about the exam I was taking, "Now that two hours has passed, I've only got about three and a half hours to complete that exam, which I obviously cannot do."

I thought perhaps there would be another exam like it given the following day and I might be able to take it. I thought, "Well he might take off if I took the exam the next day. Like he might take off ten percent. That would really affect a person's score."

I thought I needed to review and go back over some of the constitutional law questions. I needed to look up some of the cases and remember their names. That way I could look at each question and then determine which cases I was going to use in the answer of each question. That would be better than answering the questions without referring to any cases.

The fellow on the other side of the table asked me what I was studying. I told him I was studying law, but it seemed as if no one could hear me.

The restaurant seemed to be full of "new-wave" type people. One fellow sat down beside me, until I apparently said something which offended him, whereupon he jumped up and started to attack me with a fork. I stopped him before he could stab me, and after a struggle, I managed to subdue him. I threw him to the floor and held him down with one foot, until I was able to motion to a policeman in the restaurant. The policeman came over and I said, "Look, I'm a law student. I'm right in the middle of an exam. I've got to go back and take this exam. And this guy just assaulted me in here, attacked me."

The policeman seemed sympathetic and took the fellow. Other people in the restaurant began marching out. When I turned back around, Anderson and his brother Jim had already left.

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