I went to Pakistan last night!  Heheh.  Never been there but I sure dreamed about it.  I don’t know why I was there, it wasn’t to play music but more as an observer, and/or to visit a sister of mine who was living there (not Lucie or Lilly but a new one, ha ha). I was dropped off dreamwise into a street market in a remote town, sparsely populated, very few houses.  There weren’t too many people shopping, but some.  Mostly what I saw was just the one short and narrow market-street sloping down to meet another street, a long one that ran perpendicular to the market. On the longer street there were a few extra booths on one side, and then a few houses; the opposite side just had a guard-rail with a panoramic view of a giant plain with a few mountains in the distance.  The fields close to the road were tilled, so I assume that was farmland, but beyond that it was just dusty plains with a bit of scrub-brush here and there.  (Don’t ask me if that bears any relation to the real Pakistan.)

I’m strolling down the longer street with a group of people, I guess that was my sister-I-just-met, her husband and another couple.  I walk into one large booth to examine some fabrics and jewelry they had on display.  I’m holding an umbrella that someone in my party had loaned me (but why?!).  As I’m leaving I thank the proprietress of the booth even though I wasn’t buying anything. She looks at the umbrella in my hand and says something along the lines of "you gonna pay for that?" She claims the umbrella is part of her inventory, takes it and lays it down on one of the tables with her other stuff.  I’m baffled as to why she’d mistake it as her own when there were no other umbrellas in sight — I tell her that one of my companions had given it to me, and call the group over to confirm my story.  They do, but I instantly realize the woman will think we’re ALL lying, we’re all in on the umbrella-theft.  So, whatever, I let her have it and we all walk off to explore the other booths. Later, as we’re leaving the market to walk down the long street, I hear a woman’s voice yelling for me to stop — the woman had changed her mind and wanted to give me the umbrella back.  Uh… okay, thanks lady!  TOLD ya!  I’m a nice person, I wouldn’t lie to you about a thing like that…

Later I’m taking a tour of a local school.  It was a big school, with the whole span of grade-levels. I was talking to a group of kids — some of them had uniforms on and some just had regular clothes on.  A couple of the kids were from the special-needs class (I just woke up and can’t think of the p.c. term for that).  They were high-level kids intelligence-wise but one of them was blind, very tall and had an — unusual-looking face.  He couldn’t speak very well but a friend of his was there to translate when I had trouble understanding.

So me and the group of kids are standing outside looking out over their sports-field, just chatting.  The field is ENORMOUS and I comment about how great it is they have such roomy facilities.  Nice school, dudes!!  The kids excitedly mention to me that this is the same town where an episode of the X-Files had been filmed some years back. They briefly describe the episode, and I say "OMIGOD, is THIS where they filmed that?  WOW!!  David Duchovny was HERE at this school?  I totally recognize it now!  Cooool!!" (In real life I have no idea what episode I’d be referring to, if any.)

As we’re out on the field, I realize I’m supposed to be watching a little dog for someone.  The dog runs off and I have to chase it down.  Now I’m totally naked, having lost my clothes. (ha ha!) I’m trying to play it cool; I find the dog and gather it into my arms so it won’t run away again.  I give the dog back to its owner, and now I’m supposed to submit a form to one of the school officials. So I walk up to his desk and hand him the form, trying hard not to lose my composure about the nakedness.  There’s nothing I can do about it now… hopefully he’ll just assume I’m one of those crazy hippy Americans who doesn’t like to wear clothes.  I think to myself, "yeah, I’ve got a little flab, I’m no runway model but who cares?  Not ashamed of my body, but man, I would like to get some clothes on; where the fuck are my clothes?"

Later on, I’m back on the market street (with my clothes on, heheh), ready to be teleported back home.  My new sister was there with her baby.  We’re playing with the baby, what a cutie! I ask her a few questions about what it’s like to take care of the child.  Glad I have a little nephew but jeez, I don’t think I’d be a very good mother myself. So I praise her for her mothering skills; she’s obviously doing a great job with that.