I just woke up from a truly depressing dream. My car had broken down (probably due the expired inspection sticker), so I left it overnight on the side of the road (with the hood up). When I returned the following morning, I found that the engine (and all that other stuff under the hood) had been stolen – it was just a big empty metal case and i remember thinking that it looked like the thieves had licked it clean. I know it was thieves (plural) because I saw them driving away in a dusty red Nissan hatchback (license number LMN 983). My friend Karla identified the model and told me, but I forgot it immediately upon opening my eyes. I was not able to catch what kind of plates were on the car (definitely not Texas).

But I thought the info I had would be enough to give the police a good lead, so I called 911 (911 emergency services. what is your emergency? this is a non-emergency, i replied). For some reason I forgot to ask to be connected to the police and instead began the process of trying to find a lawyer. In my dream, calling 911 was actually much more like dialing information. The dream ended with the 911 lady connecting me through to a lawyer’s office whose phone number had been disconnected. The beep beep beep of the disconnected phone line was distorted and eventually morphed into the beep beep beep of my alarm clock.

The truly sad part of the dream was the moment when I pulled up to my car on the street and saw the empty engine area. By some odd knowledge, I immediately knew it would cost $1400 to replace the missing parts (in my dreams) and that was precisely the amount of money I needed to go to Europe (again, in my dreams). I boo hooed great big tears and was tremendously angry at myself for leaving the hood up.