lucyoncolorado

I've been trying hard to become lucid lately and it has been disturbing my sleep. I've been dreaming very little and have had very poor recall. Last night, I took the advice of people on this board and decided not to even try to become lucid last night. As expected, I slept very well and remember one really vivid dream that was probably three or four dreams that happened back to back. Though I was never able to become lucid (and didn't try) there were moments in this dream where I made the decision to change the course of the dream and where dream characters and I challenged the existence of things. For that reason, I think maybe there was still some part of me that was thinking about becoming lucid, so I hope this is progress.

In which I escape catastrophe at an amusement park called Noah's Park only to find myself in a river full of dog-dragon-snakes that are being studied by a scientist who lives in a haunted house...

K and her two kids were down here visiting us. I'd heard that there was a new baby-friendly amusement park nearby, so I asked K if she wanted to go check it out. R came along too and we arrived at a series of entrance gates with long queues full of clean-cut couples and their very young children. When it was our turn to pay, the cashier told us the entrance was free, but that the only way to exit was to make sure to get on the ark. The ark?

We follow the path from the entrance until we are standing under a large dome from which blue paper-mache clouds are suspended and a neon sign reads Welcome To Noah's Park! We all realize that this is a Christian-based theme park. I'm interested in staying as I've heard about places like this and I'm curious, but I'm worried about K getting upset because she is an atheist. She just shrugs her shoulders and says we'll stay because otherwise the kiddos might throw a fit.

Because E is too little to do much, K has taken him to a little baby park where they are relaxing on the swings while R and I take G on the rides. We are having fun and looking at exhibits but at this point the dream is fuzzy. One of the rides has something to do with the Second Coming of Christ, except that it takes place on an It's A Small World type trolley. We are riding through different parts of the world seeing what the Second Coming will be like there.

Then a foghorn is sounded and the entire place becomes chaotic with activity. It seems like people have come out of nowhere, and it is suddenly so crowded that we are surrounded by people, pushing and shoving. Frogs start to fall from the sky and bloody sores appear on people's faces. G starts to cry. He's scared and wants to be with his mother. I pick him up and try to explain that none of this is real. These are actors showing us what the Seven Plagues would be like. I'm acting calm, but really I'm angry. Toddlers are too young to understand this and the scene is convincingly real. Even I'm a little scared.

Suddenly, the ground shakes and the amusement park breaks off from the main land. It becomes an island and starts floating out into the ocean. The people on the edges of the island are falling into the water and drowning. Many of them are desperately trying to get back on the land- they are clawing at the dirt pathetically. In the distance, I see a giant ark coming towards us. It is full of animals. I mention to R that it doesn't look nearly big enough to fit two of every animal on the planet, and he responds that It's only a model. Noah stands at the front looking like Steven Carrell in Evan Almighty. The resemblance is so striking that I lean over to R and mention how surprised I am that Carrell would make appearances at an amusement park.

Then the earth shakes again and I fall over. People start to trample me, rushing to get to the ark. I see G standing alone crying. Then more people run over me. Finally I'm able to pull myself up, but when I look around, I can't see G or R anymore. I'm alone in the crazy crowd.

I notice that all the people are running towards rollercoasters where staff are strapping them in. You have to take a rollercoaster on to the ark, and anyone who is left behind will drown. I run up and down the aisles of the rollercoasters as if they are in a cinema hall. I'm calling for G or R. At one point, I pass by K's husband. I stop and tell him that I didn't know he was here. He says he got on the ark at an amusement park in California and has been struggling to stay alive ever since. He says that the amusement park goes to a new place every day where it releases all the people who are trapped on the ark on to the new amusement park island. Then they must all fight to get inside a rollercoaster to get back on. He says it is more difficult each time because the size of the crowd grows. I ask about the animals, and he says that they have all been thrown overboard. He tells me about seeing an elephant struggling and drowning and I start to get really depressed. He also tells me that it's sad to watch so many people drown. Then he looks at me with horror and asks, "Were you just looking for G? Do you know where he is?" I don't want him to worry, so I lie and say, "He's with R. I was just trying to find them so that I could get on the same roller coaster that they're on." Then he warns me that it's probably too late for me to get on a rollercoaster. He wishes me luck as his cart starts heading towards the ark.

I keep running and calling for G and R. Then I bump into K and E. They are strapped into a rollercoaster car. She can tell I'm distressed so I tell her the truth about losing G. She is surprisingly calm about everything and suggests that I just call R on her cell phone and ask him if G is with him. I feel really stupid for not having thought of this before. We call R and he says that he and G are strapped safely into a rollercoaster on the other side of the park. I am relieved but K just seems amused.

Then I realize that everyone is safely heading to the ark except for me. I'm not going to make it. I start to tell K everything her husband told me and I start to cry that I'll be left behind. She just laughs and says, "Don't be silly. None of this is real."

"But how will I get out of the amusement park if I can't get on the ark?" I ask her.

"I don't know," she says, "but relax and try to have fun." Then her rollercoaster starts to take her away towards the ark. She turns around, looks at me with a big smile and says, "You can swim back. You can fly. You can do anything you want!"

I realize that she is correct. This makes perfect sense. Of course I can swim and fly. I don't become lucid though I do suddenly have the powers to manipulate the dream.

I think that it would be nice if my dog Lucy were with me and suddenly she comes running from the hysterical crowd and licks my face. People all around us are trampling each other and screaming, fighting to get to the ark. Some people are hanging on the wheels of the rollercoaster as it heads up into the loop that takes them aboard. I see some get their fingers cut off. Others fall from the top of the loop. I try to yell at the hysterical people that none of this is real, but they won't listen to me.

So Lucy and I walk to the end of the amusement park island. We look at the raging sea below and jump in. Initially, the swimming was hard for me though Lucy did fine. She was dog paddling without any problem. I got tired fast, so I decided to float on my back and paddle myself with my arms. Suddenly, we were moving really fast through the ocean. The sun was shining on my face and I could see birds circling above me. When large waves hit, at first they splashed me in the face and caused me to tumble underwater and choke. But after a little while I learned to stand up and surf the waves even though I didn't have a board. It was extremely pleasant, peaceful and fun, and if I ever learn to attain lucidity easily I'm going to spend a lot of time swimming in the ocean.

Eventually, we rode the waves up to land and up a river. The river was flowing backwards, away from the ocean and up the tributary to the source. I crossed my arms under my head and floated as if I was on an inner-tube even though I was not. It was a lot of fun. Lucy put her front paws and head in my lap and snoozed. The seagulls were squawking and I could see riverboats in the distance. People were fishing along the shore and I told Lucy that I thought we were on the Mississippi.

Suddenly, the river took us underground and into a dark cave. Something that looked like a giant snake switched its tail beneath the water. Lucy and I scrambled out of the river and stood on the bank under what looked like a limestone cave ceiling full of stalagtites. A hunched back old woman, dark skinned and chubby with matted hair and big eyes, was standing along the bank holding a lantern. She told me that we were almost lunch for the dog-dragon-snake. She introduces herself as a wildlife biologist and explains that we are actually in the Everglades. Apparently a little-known tributary of the Mississippi will take you there.

She holds out a dead chicken, its neck broken, and whistles to the dog-dragon-snake. Suddenly this giant monster emerges from the river. It has a face almost exactly like Lucy's with the typical German Shepherd black mask and diamond between the eyes, except instead of fur its markings are scales. They glisten sickeningly in the light of the hunched lady's lamp. The scaly dog-head of this creature was easily 10 feet in diameter, and its body was that of a long slithering snake except that it had four short legs with sharp claws like a dragon. When it snatched the chicken from the hunched lady, it's snake-eyes rolled back in its head. I felt a shudder of pure evil.

The scientist took us back to her house (which was my house somehow) where she made me some warm tea and explained that the monster was the result of escaped pet anaconda snakes that ate so many stray dogs that they started to merge to form a new animal. Then a ghost came and cast a spell on them that crossed them also with dragons. They breed quickly, and she is worried that they will soon leave the Everglades and move all over the country, devouring dogs everywhere.

I told her I didn't believe in ghosts.

Suddenly, the back door swung open and a ghost flashed by, snatched up Lucy, and ran outside with her. The ghost looked like the typical Japanese style drowning ghost, a female dressed in white with long, tangled black hair. I was holding a stuffed animal, a Snoopy doll that I'd loved as a girl, and I immediately dropped it on the floor of the woman's house and rushed out after Lucy and the ghost. The scientist called behind me, "I told you so".

We ran to a clearing in the center of which were several boulders that had been pushed together to form a circle. The landscape was rocky and arid like in Central Texas, with prickly pear cactus and mesquite trees all around. The ghost had my Lucy dog, but we just stood there looking at each other. The chubby scientist lady eventually made it to the area too, huffing and puffing, but she stayed outside the circle.

"You can't tell her that you don't believe in her," the scientist told me. "That makes her mad!"

I just stared at the ghost. We didn't take our eyes off each other. It felt like I was Clint Eastwood at the end of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I remained calm, ready for the slightest movement.

Without even blinking away, I shouted back to the scientist lady, "I need you to go back to your house and get the Snoopy doll I dropped. It's important to me. Bring it to me."

The lady left. The ghost hissed at me. I looked at Lucy and told her to come. She simply jumped out of the ghost's arms and ran over to me. The ghost was still standing there and I told her, "I don't believe in you. There might be a ghost in my house, but she's a friendly ghost who has never done me any harm. You aren't real." I felt very brave.

There is one more scene to this dream in which Lucy and I went to a bar. I can picture the bar very clearly though I don't remember anything else about it.