hrj

So there we were -- some portion of my immediate family, including at the very least my parents and I, but I think a brother or so as well -- in a hotel in New York City (not that it's important that it was NY, just that in the dream it happened to be). The initial part of the dream, was primarily just me, wandering around looking at museums and things. There was one very odd incident where I was crossing a street and stepped in some extremely gluey mud which pulled my shoe off. I went to retrieve the shoe, but there was a whole pile of shoes that looked exactly like it except for being different sizes or the wrong handedness. A policeman on foot patrol wandered by and I enlisted his help in trying to recover my lost shoe, but instead he confiscated all the shoes, including the one I was still wearing, and took them away. So I had to make my way back to the hotel in stocking feet.

But here's the really weird and vivid part. My family was sitting in the hotel lobby in these overstuffed chairs. One entire wall of the lobby was a long picture window facing on the street, but it was separated into large panes, and along the top edge there was a narrow part that louvered out to open for ventilation. Outside, over the sidewalk, the window was shaded by one of those canvas awnings, and there was a supporting strut-work structure underneath holding the awning up that was absolutely crawling with roosting pigeons (as these things often are, in or out of dreams).

Suddenly there was the sound of a very loud flapping of wings and the noise of agitated pigeons and a large vulture flew in and perched on one of the struts under the awning. This wasn't an American turkey vulture -- more like a European griffon vulture: grayish with a long neck and the little ruff of feathers at the base, and very very large. The effect was like an elephant among a flock of sheep. It sat there on the awning support, right next to the open louver, turning its head this way and that and sniffing the air. I joked, "Ok, so who's hiding the road kill?" Then it hopped through the open louver and flew down to perch on the back of the lobby chair my mom was sitting in. It sniffed the air a few more times then took a tentative peck at her forehead. At that point I grabbed it by the neck, right behind the head (gently -- just so it couldn't peck) and tucked its body under my other arm (so it wouldn't flail around and hurt anyone, including itself). And everyone is in an uproar ... and then I woke up.

Analysis: This one's just plain about the fear of mortality. No stereotypical motifs, though -- this is all brand new imagery.

**Google "Hinckley" + "vultures"