I was leaving the Birdhouse. Jaybird was seeing me out and I was taking in the lack of neighborhood. Just like the home in Courage the Cowardly Dog they no longer lived in a genteel suburban neighborhood rather smack dab in the middle of nowhere with grass as far as the eye could see. Now there was a road which is fortunate for visitors. As we walked across the expanse towards the curb I was talking about the stars which shone overhead. The moon was a few fists above the horizon and I was making astronomy jokes. None of them really survived waking from my slumber which is a shame since two of them were really funny, the third joke required a long-winded preamble followed by the punchline about the confusion between the plural of "mare" and the first Italian woman to walk the face of our natural satellite.

maribou was waiting in the doorway and the light behind her cast a long shadow across the lawn. Jaybird patted me on the shoulder and ran back home leaving me in the darkness along the road. Like Dr. Banner in the old Incredible Hulk television series I began walking down the long, lonely road towards my next adventure. Suburbia suddenly sprung up about me and I could see my car in the distance. A house across the street had a party which was winding down and everyone was following the host's edict of "You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."

As everyone was leaving, they were accompanied by the host's pets. Rats, cats, little yippy dogs and other critters flowed out onto the lawn in an ambivalently ambling carpet. To my horror I saw the critters go into the street and start wandering around and underneath the cars. These people, partygoers one and all, being the kind of folk who do not care for animals as living beings instead as objects were heedless of the beasts. Fortune smiled kindly upon the animals granting only near misses but my heart raced in helpless horror as I watched not knowing what to do. I couldn't reach them in time being so fat and useless.

One of the cars backed up and a little yorkie didn't make it. A short, piercing scream followed by the long shadow cast by the car's headlight became her final resting place. The hosts were crying and finally demanding that the people stop their cars and stay put until each little beast could be wrangled and brought back inside. Anger, sorrow, despair and frustration culminated in my waking from a sound sleep, my heart racing and my arms clutched around my pillows for dear life.

Gay as it sounds writing out the dream was about as stressful for me as having the dream in the first place.