I’m driving north on Rt. 101 into San Francisco, somewhere between Rt 280 and Cesar Chavez with my sweet dog, Sadie, in the back seat. Suddenly, about a hundred feet in front of me, I see a 50 ft high wave of water breaking in violent froth and it’s coming for me like a runaway freight train! I’m not going to make it to the next off ramp! No escape! Have to think fast! Floor the gas pedal! Maybe I can just plow through it, surf right over it! We collide! Water is over the windows for a couple seconds and moments later, nearly engulfed, I’m achieving a little forward progress with traction on the rocks and boulders below me. In a few more moments the volume of water decreases somewhat and now my rear wheels are spinning free. The freeway is littered with rocks and boulders and I’m stuck. I look around to check on Sadie, expecting to see her on the floor, but she’s not there! Terrified I get out of the car and go to look for her. A moment later I’m somehow transported out of the flood zone and I’m on upper Haight st., three and four story Victorians with shops on the ground floor and apartments above. A tour bus painted white with black spots and a giant fabricated cow head on the front is coming down the street too fast, an old man leaning forward over the wheel. He makes a slight turn at the intersection and drives right into a store! Glass shatters and shards of wood are flying as the cow head bursts through a window on one side of the corner and then out the window over the sidewalk on the other side! He backs the bus out carefully, makes another turn and then drives into another shop across the street! Two more corner windows broken and the cow head sticking out over the other sidewalk. As I pause to wonder briefly, “anger, dementia, or performance art?”, I look up towards the sky and, surrounded by tall buildings, I realize I’m downtown! Looking up with calm curiosity I see a young man and woman rappelling down the TransAmerica pyramid. As their feet touch the side of the building, little puffs of granular ice burst into the air, sparkling like diamonds in the sun light. They look like angels, angels moving like dancers against the clear blue sky…, and I am JOLTED AWAKE by my alarm! As my eyes open,… and Sadie’s happy head appears over the edge of my bed and she slaps her loving wet tongue across my face.
I am awake and I am loved.