Today I had restless sleep, and that often seems to lead to interesting dreams. Or perhaps it's just the waking up at odd hours that lets me remember them. I'd be kind of concerned to discover that these kinds of things are going on in my unconscious mind every night and I'm just not aware of them. Although it'd explain a lot.

This time I dreamt that I was wandering around some kind of university or apartment complex somewhere in the US, and I realized I was close to the apartment where Tony and his girlfriend lived (My awake self doesn't recognize who his girlfriend was, though apparently in the dream I was friends with her). After visiting with them for a while, I decided to head home, but asked Tony to show me the way back. Tony was acting a bit hyper and restless, and I remember wondering if he was on drugs¹. He ran out to the stairwell (this was on the second floor) and leapt over the railing down to the sidwalk. The fall was apparently farther than he thought, and he nearly stumbled into the road (where there was active traffic). As he realized what almost happened, he sat down on the curb in apparent shock.

Meanwhile, I walked calmly down the stairs. At this point Chelsea came running out of the stairwell door and ran down the stairs past me. I dashed off to chase her, and found a 15-year-old Mexican kid holding her. I walked up to him and asked for my dog back, and he said it was his. He was carrying a baseball bat, and so was his younger brother. When I kept insisting she was mine, he and his brother threatened to beat me up with their bats. Someone called the police, and seemingly instantaneously, two officers showed up. One was Andrés, and one was a woman. When we explained the situation, and the Mexican guy again claimed she was his, I said, "Dude, she's mine! Look, she's got my last name!" (I showed him her nametag, which said something like "Chelsea Suarez", and this didn't seem to bother me, so I guess in the dream, that was my last name too.) I said, "Just because her owner's name sounds latin and you're Mexican doesn't mean you can take her."

At that, he said, "Oh, now I'm gonna shoot you."

I replied, "Come on, you know I didn't mean anything... despicative." (At the time I just couldn't think of the word 'derogatory', but now I realize the inadvertent 'spic' connotation, and I'm surprised he didn't shoot me :)

Anyway, about this point I woke up, so I never found out if I got to keep Chelsea. Although, now that I think about it, I'm not sure why I would have had Chelsea with me on a trip up to the States. I don't think at any time in the dream I stopped to consider the thought that she actually was his. Sorry, Mexican guy. I didn't mean to try to steal your dog.

1. An anti-libel disclaimer: I've never known Tony to do drugs, and can offer no explanation as to why my unconscious mind saw fit to render him thus. :)