Squatters

The Squatters

   Dream Journal

I DISCOVERED MY DAD HAD AN AFFAIR while he was working away. My mum knew about it. So did the congregation elders, but none of them seemed bothered. I challenged him and he started to chase me around a large bed brandishing a razor-sharp sword. I also had a sword and I slashed at him cutting him badly. I ran out of the bedroom and began walking through the streets carrying my sword. I thought people would find it suspicious so I picked up two large plastic dinosaurs. At that point, I realised I was in a dream (lucid dreaming) and that I could change things at will. I saw a small child and turned their hands into two paper cups of fizzy pop.

I walked to a house that I had seen in a previous dream. It was an empty house I was going to rent for me, my (now ex) wife, and our youngest daughter to live in. I tried the front door and it was locked so I walked around to the back door. The back door was unlocked so I let myself in. At first, the house appeared to be empty still but then I saw a mattress in the front room. I walked upstairs and found the bedrooms had been boarded up. I punched a hole in the plasterboard and then walked downstairs where I met a young man. He explained there were squatters living in the property. He told me I was welcome to stay overnight.

I entered another room and saw a woman and her teenage son. They were very dirty. They asked me about Jehovah’s Witnesses and I showed them a picture of Charles Taze Russell in a book. I explained that the religion was a cult and that they should avoid it at all costs. Then I played a talk by Russell on an old gramophone.

I was about to settle down for the night. The woman gave me a knife, a fork, and a spoon, still in their packaging. She showed me her air rifle which she kept by her side when she slept in case the house was raided by the police. Just then, the woman’s boyfriend called her on her mobile. The woman explained I was going to stay the night.

I tried to ring my dad on the landline to tell him where I was. His number contained lots of sevens. The dial-pad was covered in dirt and was sticky. The number seven didn’t work properly. Then I heard a voice on the line. It was a conversation between the police and the woman’s boyfriend. The police were explaining to the man that I had left Jehovah’s Witnesses. Then the woman’s mobile rang. It was her boyfriend. He told her I wasn’t allowed to stay overnight after all.

I started to worry. Where would I sleep? On the streets? I tried phoning my dad again and this time I got through. I told him I was in a house full of squatters and there was a risk I could catch hepatitis. I started crying and told him I needed somewhere to sleep for the night. I hung up the phone before he replied and sat there hoping he would ring me back.