Tidal Wave
2008-11-14 8:42 a.m.
I'm living with KM in a coastal city. We're a few blocks from the ocean in a small high-rise. Not like one of those 40-story towers, something more like 7 - 10 stories, but we live at the top floor. There's a few city blocks between our building and the ocean. There's a couple canals winding throughout the perfect cityscape below our window. It looks a little bit like being on the East edge of Miami, looking out onto South Beach.It starts out with a conversation, during which I step out of the room to go to the bathroom. While standing and doing the thing, I notice the building is rocking a little. If you've ever gone to the bathroom in the Sears Tower on a windy day you'll know exactly what I mean. Sometimes it rocks enough in those bathrooms that the water can agitate out of the bowl.
I eventually realize that it's strange for our building to rock that much since our building isn't that tall. It must be REALLY windy. I finish up and come out the bathroom and ask KM if she notices the building is rocking and then I notice how deeply gray the sky is through our enormous ocean-side windows. I look over the city and notice enormous (50 - 100 ft ?) sea lions are crowding the canals trying to get away. It's an odd and beautiful sight, so I take out the digital SLR and strap it to my hand, ready to start shooting.
Just as I focus the camera, I notice in my periphery that the waves are rolling pretty high. It finally clicks. I can't get the words together, but I tell KM to pack some shit NOW, we're in deep shit. I shove my laptop into a couple plastic bags and a couple days worth of clothes all into my gray backpack. KM takes a little longer as usual. I crack the verbal hurry whip a couple times and then realize I still have the camera.
I start taking shots. By now the sea lions have died down - likely mostly gone and there's water covering half of what used to be a beautiful city scape below our window. I finally notice the panic outside along with horns and yells. I keep shooting, yelling to KM to forget the decisions and pack her shit so we can get the fuck out of there. Then comes the first wave. A deep blue colors the entire window. The cityscape is gone. The sky is gone. Just a wall of ocean left. The window shatters and the water rushes in. Just enough to knock me to my feet.
I slip my way back up and look out for a moment to notice another wall headed our way. I grab KM and we run to the door. I open it for a moment and see water in the hallway and hear lots of panic. I slam it shut and we run to a room on the west side of the apartment. We sit in the corner and wait.
By the end, the whole building comes down. We make it out injured but ok.
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By far my favorite dream. As scary as it is, it's very surreal - while being almost too realistic. My mood through the whole thing is calm but hurried. I can smell the salt in the ocean. I can feel the cold water on my feet and clothes. I first had it a few months ago. Maybe a year? The dream engulfed me for about 5 minutes of waking up but I'd soon forgotten about it, until this morning.
Almost the same exact dream, but this time there was actual a reference to my memories of the last one. It was weird. For instance, while I was taking pictures (on a camera I've never owned), I thought to myself why we never saw the pictures from the last tidal waves. I remember taking the pictures, but I would have surely posted them on the web as soon as we found internet access.
As we were running around to pack, I'd also wondered how, if our building had been obliterated last time, are there cracks in the walls and an aged hardwood floor. Shouldn't this apartment look newer? Should we even be back in this building?
These questions occurred to me, but didn't wake me up. This time we didn't make it to the tidal crash. We'd run out before it happened and I woke up soon after - ready to get to work. But first I had to come here and write one of my favorite dreams.