Floating Car Nightmare

            Couldn't really sleep last night, but I did have an interesting nightmare before I woke up for good at 1 AM.

            I was driving Cecil to a show. I'm not sure what type of show, trade show, theater or movie, just "a show" of some sort. It didn't really play into things as it would turn out. I stopped to pick some friends, and they had some friends with them. I looked back to see 6 people trying to squeeze into the back seat. After a few minutes of watching them struggle to get situated, I "ahem" ed and pointed to the two empty seats in front. Instead of two people moving to the front, there were four thin people across the bench already, three of them tried to move to the front. I told the thinnest to go back to the back, but she didn't want to go, so the largest got out; making all the others get out as he'd climbed into the center seat. As they were complaining in the back about having to squish again, I suggested that maybe we could take two vehicles.

            It got very quiet, then "No, no, that's OK, we'll make room."

            It was about this time that I realized that I didn't know any of these people. Two of them were still hanging onto the doors when gravity went away.

            We were suddenly weightless. "Don't panic, and you guys, get in the car without pushing against the ground."

            Of course, the first thing they did was push against the ground. In horrible, but inevitable slow motion Cecil lifted off the ground and began to rotate. I quickly shut off the motor, but the damage had been done, even just spinning down, the car began to counter rotate, bouncing the driver's side tires hard into the ground and causing us to rebound even higher into the air. One of the passengers let go of the door and began to drift from the car.

            The screaming and shouting began, and then another passenger leapt out after their drifting friend, causing us to head even higher into the air. I strapped myself in, as did a couple of the smarter passengers. I started the motor for a second and let it counter most of our rotation (which had reversed due to our rebound.)

            More passengers bounced out of the car. I was left with a couple in the back seat and a woman buckled in next to me. The screaming finally stopped. I got everyone to close their doors and roll up the windows, not that I knew what good that might do. I just wanted to be prepared when the gravity came back.

            We drifted a little higher, and I noticed we were also moving a little bit sideways, wind. Soon we were about thirty feet above the road and headed out over a small valley. The apartments were on a hill. I then noticed that none of the other cars or people were floating. My passengers realized it at about the same time.

            The shouting started again, this time at me. We were approaching a tree so I told them "This is your last chance to get out without falling all the way to the road!" The couple bailed out, causing us to spin. I'd wished I told them to go out the other door. They yelled all the way into the tree, and then, as soon as they contacted its branches, they regained their weight, crashing through a few layers before catching up on larger limbs.

            "I knew that would happen" the redhead next to me stated, "I'm staying right here in the center of this car until you put us down safely."

            "I have bad news for you. I'm not doing this, and don't have any control."

            "But you're at the wheel."

            I grabbed her hand and put it on the wheel. "There, now you've got control."

            She spun the wheel, nothing happened, except pouting.

            We drifted on the breeze, I was glad it was slow. The car rotated, causing her to press against me, which I noted was weird, as we should also be weightless in the car. I was pressed against the driver side door. I reached over and pushed the lock down. Thinking it might hold the door closed better.

            I heard a heavy thumping, and we were suddenly lit with a spotlight from above, "Pull over, or land!" over a helicopter megaphone.

            I rolled down the window, "I can't."  The officers couldn't hear me, of course. I held my hands out the window in a shrug. We started to roll upside down; weight finally vanished inside the car as well.

            The redhead started to vomit, I handed her a plastic grocery bag from under the car.

            Not in time.

            Now I wanted to hurl, I leaned out the window, the fresh air helped, but I was still being peppered with hot liquid bile and bits of the redhead's dinner.

            She clutched at me, her nails digging into the flesh of my underarm. The helicopter moved closer, causing the tail of the car to be pushed down in the downdraft. We were now spinning all three axis, and some I'd never thought of.

            The helicopter backed off and the officer repeated his order to land. I tried to indicate that I couldn't and turned the hazard lights on in desperation.

            Bullets started ripping through the bottom of the car. To be fair they were trying to shoot the engine, and tires, it seemed.

            More redhead screams and barfing, not even trying to get it in the bag. I tried leaning out the window with my hands in the air like I was surrendering, but was below where they could see me. The glass on the rear passenger window exploded, fragments of safety glass knocked my own glasses off my face. They floated above and below my head for a second before suddenly becoming subject to gravity and climbing--falling out of sight. I ducked back inside, wondering if this nightmare would ever end.

            More bullets. More screaming. More vomiting. More spinning, the bullets adding even more motion to Cecil's increasingly ill advised flight. I heard the trunk pop open behind me. The spare was loose, as were the two jacks. They rattled around a bit before flying off in three different directions. I could hear more shouting from the helicopter, sirens approaching from multiple directions. I struggled to keep my hands up where anyone with binoculars could see them.

            More vomit. "Aren't you empty yet?" I shouted in frustration.

            Now there were tears and bullets and sirens and flying glass and more vomit and still all the shouting. I just started swearing under my breath.

            That's what I was doing when I woke, oh, and sweating, lots of sweating.

 

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