Night Watch, Locked Out

Lots of dreams lately, but too much going on to have taken the time to write them down. Last night was a doozy, though, three thrilling episodes (of which I remember the first and last.)

In the first dream of the trio, I was having trouble sleeping, so got up and was wandering the space station's shopping mall. The mall was a giant eight story collection of shops and services (mostly the latter.) The mall was crowded, despite the hour, as many visitors to the space station kept their own local time. The sunlit forest and farm areas were exposed to daylight 24/7, and the mall and research labs, where I worked, were on the "night" side of the station. The police force of the daylight side were called the "Frangers" (short for "forest rangers") and the night side station security were the "Night Watch." Both security forces were headed up by the station security office, but all of the members but the Chief and his two deputies were volunteers. There was an application for the Frangers, but there were never any positions listed for the Night Watch, even though there seemed to be plenty of them.

I was strolling from the lighter "gravity" area down to the heavier rings of the mall to do the 12 staircase circuit when I heard the Night Watch announce the time, one fifteen am, and "all's well, lots of walkers out this morning." followed by a smile, more felt than heard. I had never experienced that before. I stopped in my tracks and looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, then realized it had been in my head. Odd, that. I relaxed and closed my eyes, I could hear a half dozen people checking in with the same "All clear here" and the like. I'd never noticed that before on any of my walks. I decide to try something.

"Good morning, can anyone hear me?" I thought with the intent of someone hearing it.

The chatter stopped for a second, and then there were a chorus of "yes's" and genuine well wishes with only one sort of worried greeting. I wondered if I'd make a mistake. I noticed one of the Night Watch looking around, checking out the crowd, a confused look crossed her face. "I wonder if he's still out there, I can't feel anybody but us. Hello?"

I waved at the Night Watch officer, a strawberry blond in her fifties, slightly plump in a way her smartly cut uniform couldn't quite disguise. "Was it you?" I heard her think to me. Clearly as if she'd spoken. I found it more than a little odd, as I didn't believe in psychic powers, but then realized it must be a side effect of my Hall implant.

"I think so," I thought directly for her. She smiled and approached. I could hear her checking to see if anyone else had heard me, they hadn't. That didn't surprise me, as the message had been for her alone.

"Welcome to the Night Watch."

"Don't I have a choice in that?"

"Sort of, join us, or have the implant removed and be sent dirt side."

I realized that the implant wasn't removable, as I'd purchased it myself while living on earth. She didn't know that, as most station employees had theirs "on loan" from the station owners' association. Being sent dirt side would put a kink in my research plans, not to mention aggravate my allergies and arthritis.

We talked for a bit, long enough for the "all's well" to be sent out again, along with lots of questions about me.

"Yeah, you can't hear him unless he's talking directly to you, or broadcasting, pretty amazing control for a breakthrough."

"Oh, finally a new dispatcher!" I heard a very excitable sounding girl's voice ring in my head.

"Let's not get ahead of our selves here. He's a TopSec Research, Custom, Private already working three fifths. I doubt they'll let him go a full shift with us.

"Awww," the little red-haired girl sounded disappointed.

It sounded like I was just going to be a civilian volunteer, plains-clothed, and only when the insomnia kicked in and I was going for my walks. But it was kind of nice to feel like a part of something larger.

-----

The second dream had something to do with a solar powered aircraft, but I don't remember more than that, and a very crowded feeling cockpit. And the color orange.

-----

The third dream was this morning. I was staying in the convention hotel, but wasn't attending the convention. I was there to make contact with a couple from China, and to give them the papers and instructions to make their way to a safe house so that they could defect. I was staying with a partner, we were registered as a husband and wife. We had an adjoining balcony with the Chinese couple. I was napping outside in my robe after the exchange had been made, and was trying to see if I could get a ticket to the last day of the convention. My partner wasn't interested. When she retired to our room, I took a long drink of water, then fell asleep. When I woke up, I couldn't get back into my room, the sliding door was locked.

I checked the other room, the Chinese couple had left during the night. Their door was open but I didn't have my room key, so I didn't want to go out into the hall since I was just wearing my robe and flip flops. I scooted back across the balcony and knocked on the slider. There was a woman in her underwear sprawled out on the bed. Nicely shaped, too bad we hadn't had time to be more married like. I could see luggage, but it wasn't mine or the other agents. I began to wonder just how long I'd been asleep. The woman woke with a start and rolled over. It wasn't the other agent, she quickly covered up.

She picked up the phone, so I shouted "thank you." and turned away, looking out over the city.

A few minutes later a hotel manager sort appeared. I explained that I had fallen asleep on the balcony (it had been a warm pleasant night with a gentle cool breeze) and meanwhile, it appears that my "wife" had checked us out. I didn't have my luggage, clothes or even a room key. I told him the Chinese couple next door had been pleasant but very quiet. He actually remembered them. After a few minutes of trying to figure out how I'd gotten on the wrong balcony, he discovered that my car was still in the Valet parking. I suggested that we move out of my former room, as we were making the current occupant uncomfortable, she was covered in a thin sheet, not having dressed.

We moved over the the adjoining now empty room. The Hotel computer had somehow "lost" my hotel reservation records, as well as the room next door. I considered myself fortunate that the assistant manager had remembered the Chinese couple, so knew my story wasn't a complete fabrication. I would need to stop and fuel the car once before making it home, so asked if I could borrow a shirt and shorts from the gift shop, he had my vehicle information and home address.

Not without a credit card or cash, they said. They would let me keep the robe, though. The assistant manager thought a moment and then said he had some lost and found items I could probably use. When the car was brought around, my bags were in it! (But not my "wife's.") I was able to retrieve my wallet, and tipped him forty dollars for not making a big scene about it. The hotel management was very polite about it.

Lost at Sea

I was driving through the desert with J, re-living our recent vacation, when the news came on the radio that we were lost at sea.

Odd, that. We were quite plainly driving across the desert, and I had more than half a tank of gas left. At least until the life preservers popped open.

Then there was suddenly no gas gauge, and Little Red was a life raft with a half shelter on it. We were still in the desert.

J was worried that they would never find us, but I was pretty sure we'd be okay, as we were stopped in the middle of the road.

Druid Civilization Game

I dreamed that about a dozen couples had gotten together for a long gaming weekend in a secluded park area. There was one main cabin, with lofts and four full bedrooms, so a couple of couples would have to share the pull outs in front of the large fireplace in the sunken living room. We got ourselves settled in and I retrieved a card game. It was a civilization building game, that had a Celtic or Druid centric theme.

The goal of the game was to build a series of villages and then to link them up in a way that made them, as a whole, self sufficient. The world you played in was different every game, as there were cards that determined the layout of the world you had to settle. It was a competitive/cooperative game, as there were certain thresholds that needed to be met by all the players in order to survive the sorts of catastrophe's that might be pulled up out of the deck. We played a round, then everyone went outside to enjoy the woods and the various rocky hillsides nearby. As we were exploring the area, several of the people pointed out that the layout of the rocks and hills and cabin and little stand of woods was very much like our game. We decided to play a live action version of the game so broke up into teams of four. One team took the stand of woods near the house, another a nearby hill, and our team took the stand of rocks and the rocky caves in them about three hundred yards from the house and hills.

We used our cell phones to show the other teams the challenge cards, and ran back to the house to get new hands when needed. The first game went pretty well. So well we decided to do a second game, even though it was coming up on sunset. When everyone got back to the house, I collected up the cards to shuffle them up and redistribute them. I dropped them into one of my bags accidentally, and we started to gather them back up. Multiple hands in a tupperware tub at the bottom of a small bag made the process far more difficult than if I'd been allowed to do the task alone.

Sunset was rather faster than we anticipated, so we ended up working from flashlights. The cards had swollen up in the humid air, and the stack seemed to be nearly twice the size it was earlier. Fog started rolling in, and the group decided that we were hungry. I noted that there was a nice fire pit near the stand of rocks we'd taken as our village in the previous game, so we agreed to gather there and heat up dinner over an open fire. I decided that sitting around an open fire with greasy fingers wouldn't be good for a card game, so started packing the game up. The swollen cards wouldn't fit back in the box. I ended up taking my breakfast cereal out of its bag and using that to hold the box and all the extra cards. I agreed that we might need to find a different printer to make the next set of cards.

I remember next to nothing about the actual play of the game, other than the cards controlled resources, messengers, and challenges. The number of cards in your hand was based on the population of your village. In the live game, the players took the messenger and resource cards from group to group across the actual countryside. (Which is why we decided not to play after sunset.)

Two Drake Surprise, Visitors

              I dreamed I was playing WoW and something odd happened to my display. Every time I mounted up to fly to another place, a second red drake appeared, its animations slightly out of phase with the original.
              I opened up an in-game ticket to ask if there was something I could do to help fix that on my client, and the GM that responded smacked that character with a permanant ban! Just for asking a technical question they thought that I was hacking the client (really all I wanted to know was how to clear out the cache files.)

              This morning I dreamed I was walking around the block, and by the time I got back to the house I had half a dozen women walking with me, all chattering about their kids and what they were doing home for the holidays. I introduced J (my niece) and they all looked at me with "Sure, we believe that's your niece," looks on their faces. They were all sorts of quiet until they got in the front room and J had to clean up the futon (which was made up for her bed) in a hurry to make room for everyone to sit.

Photography Resort

              I dreamed I was headed out on a vacation with two women who both wanted me to call them mom. They were both in their mid thirties with shoulder length hair and rather ample breasts and full hips. On had fairly straight brown hair and the other had curly light brown hair, almost blonde. They each had about the same build and facial structure, so I had the idea that if they weren't sisters they could play sisters on TV. I explained that would be awkward, as I have a mom, and I was older than them. Still, that was what they wanted, so I went along with them, just to avoid any argument. We arrived at a resort that seemed to be a combination of a village and a theme park, like a live-in Knott's Berry Farm.
              We had rooms in a long strip mall looking place that had a large common area, a huge kitchen and a large dining room. I was volunteered to take photographs of the rather racy evening events, and the two women promised that “we'll make it worth your while, later.”
              After the party where I got to photograph lots of sexy leg flesh and provocative posing by the party goers, I retired to my room and copied the photographs over to a small thumb drive as well as my laptop. In the morning I woke to the smell of smoke, the thumb drive was red hot, smoking, melted looking. I unplugged it and smothered it to put out the fire. I also found the camera charger untouchable, hot, so unplugged it from the wall and put an ice filled towel over it. The two women came over and wanted to borrow my camera for the morning, there was a ladies only event, they wanted photos from it, but I wouldn't be allowed to come in and take them. I checked, at least the camera had a full charge. I put fresh batteries in the fill flash and showed them how to avoid “red eye” or over exposures.
              I showed them the melted and burned flash drive, and then I explained the situation with our backup storage and the charger. One of my 'Moms' asked me to run out and buy another charger and replacement memory. “There's a resort jeep with a driver you can borrow to get to the ferry that will take you to the main land.”
              I had wanted to explore the theme park and take some candid shots of the people to mix in with the more staged ones from the party, but figured we'd be here a few more days so I would have time, if I could find a battery charger for the camera. I rejected the idea of using my cell phone camera and decided to use my own money to buy a small digital camera, one that ran on regular batteries, to have as a back up.
              The jeep driver was a very cute blonde in hot pink short shorts and a cream colored halter top, all its buttons open and tied just under her small breasts. As we drove to the ferry landing I managed to convince her to pose for photographs later. I was quite enjoying the occasional boob bounce and nipple flash as we drove along.

Judge Swing

              I was bicycling and debating with the pretty brown-haired Judge. It was after dark so I didn't want her to have to bicycle home alone, especially since her bike didn't have a light on it. She rode in front and I had loaned her my wind-up light so she could see the road ahead. My bike had a working tail-light so I rode right behind her.
              During the trip, we were discussing the case of a student who posted a link that led to a video of a comedian who was reading the preamble to the constitution, translated into “Ebonics.” Not in and of itself a problem, except that the video was profuse with profanity. The parents, of course, sued the school district for violating the student's first amendment rights. A fairly complex case, because the words and video, were not in fact the students. The link had been accompanied by a warning about the profanity, and it was only posted in the comments section of a class forum.
              I made the argument that the removal of the video from its site would be a first amendment violation, if the creators had posted it. The Judge indicated that the school owned the forum and therefore had the right to remove the offending link and discipline the student. I listened to her argument, and told her that I had to agree, up to a point. The infraction was one of bringing a profanity laced publication into a discussion, to which it was, in fact, relevant, not one of misusing a computer in an attempt to harm the network or affect another's use of the system. So the schools punishment, a semester banished from using the computer, was akin to a school punishing a “Playboy” recommender by telling them they couldn't read anything for a semester.
              She asked what I thought a proper punishment would be.
              I told her that I didn't really believe in punishment as much as restitution. So in this case, I would say an apology was in order, a reiteration of the code of conduct as it involved the classroom forum, and I would tell the student that otherwise they did a good job of using their specific skills they'd learned to branch out into the realm of public discourse, which is, after it's all said and done, exactly what we want them to be able to do.
              The judge nearly crashed her bike and I had a hard time braking in time to keep from piling on.
              “You just made me change my mind. No one ever does that.”
              “You're a judge, I thought you were supposed to keep an open mind.”
              “You don't have to after you've made a decision. The parents would have been much better off having you as an attorney. You conceded the First Amendment point by going completely around it and went right to the meat of the matter. They didn't think the punishment imposed was appropriate. Too bad they didn't argue that.”
              “It gets into the whole mandatory sentencing thing, where we forget that we are human beings with human failings and that justice is a human concept not a natural concept. We end up trying to eliminate the human from justice in the name of fairness, but then lose that essential part of the whole idea of justice.”
              The Judge just looked at me, an odd expression on her face. “There's street lights, I'll race you home,” and with that she took off like a shot.
              I took off after her, but was no where near in as good a shape as her, and with her head start she vanished around the bend before I could see where she went. Fortunately I remembered the name of the street where she lived and was able to brake and turn in when it came up. The house, I thought, was going to be tough to find if I didn't see her bike outside.
              There was only one house with lights, on, though, so I rolled up to the house and knocked on the door.
              A teen opened the door, I hesitated, as the judge didn't have any children. The teen was very perceptive, and smiled, “She's my aunt, come in.” The teen skipped into the front room where there were piles of luggage and the rest of her family.
              The teen's father, I was guessing because of the age difference and similar hair and skin tones, greeted me, “So, you're the one my baby sister is in love with.”
              I blushed. “We're friends, just biked home from visiting my wife and I.”
              At that point the judge came into the room, having all ready taken off her jacket and with a towel around her neck. Her blouse was a very silky looking shimmer of creme that clung to her breasts and hung damply from her erect nipples. I tried not to stare. She took my arm and introduced me around.
              “I have your flashlight in my room. Come see the rest of the house, you haven't been here yet.”
              I followed her on a tour of the house. I pretty much forgot it all when we got to her room. A large mirror made up the headboard, and the canopy bed was done up in leopard patterned sheers with a chocolate brown cover. There was a trapeze or swing seat at the foot of the bed which she raised up out of the way with the soft whirr of electric motors.
              “Wow, sexy,” I turned to take in the whole low but warmly lit cream and brown experience. I suppressed the urge to make a swinging comment.
              “Not what you expected from a middle aged Judge?”
              “You're not yet middle aged, and no, seeing it, I have to say it fits you.”
              I looked into her eyes and immediately saw trouble. She was, in fact in love with me, or at least lust.
              “I have something else for you, just a moment I have to make sure our trip gets off. Wait right here.”
              I waited a moment or two, and then the whole house lurched and swung. I felt a slight acceleration and stepped out into the front room. “Where's...”
              “She's gone to make sure the connections are set.” The older brother pointed to the front door. “She said we should all wait her until she returns." The house rocked gently.
              “Right. I have to get home, though, so I'll see if I can catch up to her.”
              I opened the front door. The whole house had been set down on a rail car and was rolling towards a siding. I could see the judge up ahead along side the tracks, ahead of the electric engine that was pulling us. The front door was attached to a long horizontal pole, steel with the yellow enamel warning stripes peeling in places it was at least twenty feet long. The pole looked like it was about to catch onto brush along side the tracks so I stepped out and pushed the door shut behind me.
              “You're going to ruin the surprise!” came a shout from far ahead in the darkness.
              “I have to get home.”
              “Come with me, we're vacationing in the Rockies this year, three weeks.”
              “N's going to be waiting for me.”
              “I've been waiting for you. My whole life.”
              I walked along side the slowing house, realizing that my bike was back in the yard, so I would have to walk all the way back and I had the idea that was pretty far now.
              “I haven't anything packed.”
              “I'll keep you warm, and happy.”
              “I have no doubt, and that's really an attractive offer. I don't have words for how attractive. But you really wouldn't want a man who would drop his commitment to you for the first highly educated, intellectually stimulating and sexy woman who came along, would you?”
              “How often has that happened to you?”
              “Twice, I married the first one.”
              “But, you're the right one for me, and you know it.”
              We stood across the switch control looking into one another's eyes. I could feel the longing.
              “I have fallen in love with you, mister.”
              “And I with you, despite by best efforts not to. But I have made other promises...”
              “Which you will keep, making me love you all the more.”
              She wrapped herself around me and I held her as the house creaked to a stop behind us.
              “Let's call N and let her know I'm sending you home late.”
              "I don't know that she'd go for that." There was a large part of me that was concerned that this was a ploy to get me back in the house where I would be trapped. Even if it wasn't a trap, I didn't know that I would have the strength to leave again.
              “Or, better yet, let's call N and invite her along.” The Judge took my hand and lead me back towards the front door.
              I pulled out my cell phone, which brought a pout (a very sexy pout) to the Judge's cherubic face, my suspicions deepened.
             

Back from Vacation, Surf Penguins

@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;I dreamed that I had just gotten back from a long vacation (which we did) and the house was empty. Everything had been removed, including the paint from the walls and the carpet and wood from the floors. All the door knobs and light switches were gone, too. When we went to reconnect everything, we discovered that the wire had been pulled out of the walls as well. I didn't go check, but am pretty sure all the copper pipes for the plumbing were gone as well. I was glad that whoever had stripped the house had atleast turned off the water.
@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;I told N that I didn't ever want to go on vacation again. It was at that point that I asked where the cats had gotten to, and why didn't our sitters notice?

@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;I dreamed I was a sea lion or perhaps a seal. I couldn't really see myself, but I was able to zoom through the water with just a flick of my body and feet/flippers. I met up with a group of three penguins. They were tired of swimming around, and wanted to try something different, so I found them each a two to two and a half foot length of 1" x 6" board. We then went to the breakers and I body surfed while they learned how to "hang six" on their surf boards.
@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;@nbsp;After surfing for an hour or so we decided to walk up the boardwalk and get some fish tacos. I had to buy because I was the only one with pockets (?) and cash.

Forest Cruise Ship

       N and I were on a cruise, not sure to where. The destination didn't seem to be important, though, as we were having a great time racing through the forests trying to round up buffalo. The cruise ship was a huge forest from bow to stern. There were a couple of circular stair cases around the ship that allowed you to run down below decks to where the regular cruise ship cabins were located, as well as the dining rooms and shops. The entire upper deck of the ship was a forest, though, green and lush, a mix of pines and eldar, ash, birch and elms. I found a couple of oaks and walnut trees as well. I remember thinking that there should be more nut trees if they wanted to cut down on their food bills.
       I wondered if I could build such a ship, and if it could actually support buffalo and people (though certainly not as many as were aboard the ship in the dream.) Sort of a "bioboat" instead of a "biosphere."

Cruise Interrupted

       I dreamed I was on a cruise ship. The cruise had been at sea for several days, having been unable to pull into the port at our destination (islands, the Galapagos ) due to weather and eventually time. We were pulling back into San Diego, and the cruise line was giving us half off vouchers on our next cruises. Personally I thought they should either refund the whole cruise or make good on the tour in another fashion. I know we'd been wined and dined for ten days, but we'd only been to one port, and that not the main stop of the cruise.
       I walked through one of the grand salons, and noticed that the fabric panels in the ceiling were made of the same pattern material as the bedspread in my cabin. I mentioned that to someone and she joked that was so if the ship "went all Poseiden on us," we'd have a soft landing.
       As I went by one of the outer windows I could see into the Convention Center, and I could see that they were preparing the CC for The San Diego Comic Convention. The whole Toucan mascot was back, as well as the eye logo. I mentioned that to one of the people who was in the hallway. He indicated that he would be there next week.

Carnival of Confusion, Laptop of Lust, T-Rex of Terror

       I dreamed that N and I were waiting in the hotel bar for confirmatin of our travel to the cruise lines. We had our luggage piled up in a booth when N decided that we were going to need some warmer clothing. She slipped out to shop.
       I heard someone screaming "Bartender! There's a Monkey in my Drink!" followed by gouts of barking laughter. I watched for awhile in the mirror over the back of the booth and finally saw the bartender making something. He shot a dark liquid into the drink and the patron and the barmaid both shouted "Bartender!, There's a monkey in my drink!" I could tell the barmaid was not that excited about it, but the patrons around the bar laughed.
       I walked over and asked what the drink was. The bartender described it and when he got to the last part, a shot of thick oil-like coffee liqueur hae said thats when you shout, "There's a monkey in my drink!" for 25% off. I thanked him and asked for something with coconut and anise flavors. He made something and I went over to the barmaid to pay for it.
       She thought I'd had a "There's a monkey in my drink!" It was $12.60!
       "No it's a coco-anise thing," I held the tumbler up to her, "Sniff. I'm allergic to coffee." She got indignant.
       "A question to the bartender will clear this right up." I was still trying to be pleasant about it. She rang up my drink, adding it to the TMIMD. I patiently explained that I only had one drink, not two, "See," holding up the obviously different than a TMIMD colored drink.
       "I'll just put that on your tab..." and she started adding the drink again.
       I walked back over to the bartender to ask him to straighten out the barmaid.
       I then went back to the booth. The barmaid raced over to drop off the tab, now with three drinks on it. She sneered and turned and stalked off. As she did so N arrived. She had a couple of extra pieces of luggage, both rather old and beat up with the cruise ship name stencilled on them.
       "There's not enough room in our luggage for the coats and long underwear." N explained. She wanted to see the tickets, but I couldn't find them.
       N was angry, "are they back in the room?" she asked cooley.
       "No, I'm sure I had put them in my journal or in one of the books. Lets just look for them before you get too worried." I wrote down the confirmation number in the journal just to be safe, so we have that as well."
       N just growled and made a phone call. I started going through the books and journal I'd packed. The Ship Agent from the cruise lines arrived shortly. N asked her what we needed to do if our tickets were missing. The agent explained that we didn't really have tickets, we had a confirmation and letter of introduction.
       "I have the confirmation number right here," I added in a hopeful voice.
       "That's all you need if your identification matches."
       "It does."
       The barmaid came over with a new receipt. "Your other drinks, mister."
       "What other drinks, there's only the one," I held up the one glass, which I hadn't even drank out of yet, and waved at the empty table." The receipt had another three drinks on it!
       "Let me take care of that," the Ship's Agent said, she took both receipts and walked them over to the bar. The bartender excused himself and came around the bar to talk to her. They both went over to the barmaid at the till and I could tell from the body language that they were both very apologetic to the Ship Agent.
       The ship agent returned to our table with a couple of sodas, one dark and one plain, asked N which she'd like. N took the plain one.
       "Can I go pay for my one drink, now."
       "It's all taken care of."
       "We thank you, and the cruise line."
       "It was just a misunderstanding, here they come now to apologize."
       Sure enough, the barmaid and the barman came over to apologize and offered us anything else we might like, on the house. I declined, but N ordered a rum and diet. A few seconds later a busboy brought three large packages in to us and N started unwrapping them.
       "Open up the suitcase, we need to shuffle some things around for the trip."
       I opened up the loaner suitcase and our over-stuffed one. N started repacking while I made new label inserts from origami paper I had stashed in my journal. I found our boarding information and letter of introduction to the cruise in with the origami paper.

       In the second dream I had my laptop connected to the TV at one of N's relative's homes to show a DVD of parts of our cruise. After the DVD was done, everyone went into the other room to have icecream. When I finished disconnecting the laptop I joined them, sitting at a table that was built around the trunk of a tree. I put the laptop up against the tree to await dessert when the screen saver kicked in. It was randomly going through all the media files on the computer. It came to a folder full of pool pictures, N and her cruise-mates around the pool. I didn't think too much of it, until a younger niece sat down next to us.
       "Cool, was this your cruise?"
       "Yes." I answered, then realized that the beach had been a nude beach, and the shows had been topless shows.
       I reached to turn the computer off, explaining that the cruise had been an "adult cruise" and she really didn't want to see naked pictures of her aunt and uncle, "Did she?"
       "Yes!" she answered. N's sister was sputtering.
       "Hey, I'm tuning it off," I put the lid down while the shutdown procedure ran, "besides, N and I didn't really get naked." I added 'in the pictures,' silently in my head.
       "I can't believe you made those part of the screen saver."
       "They're just in the unsorted vacation photo folder, the program just uses whatever it finds."
       "Thank goodness it didn't find your porn folder," my brother-in-law laughed.
       "Yes, that's in a hidden folder." I knew there wasn't any porn on the laptop, but laughed it up with him.
       N and her sister both elbowed their mates.
       "I know what porn is!" pouted my niece.
       "And you're going to wait until you are grown up and out of your mom and dad's home to admit that again, right?" I asked.
       She giggled. Her mom glared. Dad was trying to be stern, but he was just short of breaking out laughing again, I could see it in his eyes.
       "Oh! Right!" my niece made her eyes huge and round, turned to her parents "Mommy, Daddy, what is this 'porn' you speak of?"
       This time everyone broke up. N leaned over to me and whispered in my ear. "Do I need to split the two of you up?"
       "Hey, I'm not the one who mentioned 'porn', OK?"

       The third dream was just a snippet as I was waking up. N and I were out looking for T-Rex, he'd managed to sneak outside and we were worried about him as there were large open fields at the end of the short culdesac we were on. I called, and heard his answering cry from around the corner, then a howl and hissing.
       I ran around to the corner to see him break away from a woman. He ran to me, holding up his back leg behind him as though it was injured. The woman shouted and I heard brakes, T just managed to dodge a truck accidentally putting weight on his injured leg he howled and tumbled then got up and ran to me. I very carefull picked him up and shouted back to N, "Find a vet!, I'll get him in the car!"
       There was no blood on him, but I could tell his leg was dislocated or broken. I could also tell he was going into shock. This was a full on heart racing wake in a sweat, night terror type dream. Good thing T-Rex was sleeping safely at my feet rather than outside, I wouldn't have been able to calm down until I found him, otherwise.