Awoke with a Clatter

I was sleeping peacefully last night when all of a sudden I became wide awake real quick upon hearing what sounded like something hitting a window in the front room.

Sitting up in bed, not hearing anything further, I thought it might have been the Santa Ana winds, plaguing us for a week now, blowing something up against a window but then, thinking the wise thing would be to investigate, I grabbed a weapon from the nightstand, took a look around.

Nothing amiss.

No broken window.

Saw no one lurking outside.

Getting back in bed, realizing it was 3:10 a.m., I thought Great! I’m awake now, won’t be able to fall back asleep. It’s going to be a crappy day.

Grabbing the laptop, I jumped online, read a few blogs, browsed the web until, along about 5 a.m., I felt sleepy again, shut the laptop, lay back down on the pillow.

My next memory of last night was a dream ……

Purchasing items from a pharmacy, the bill coming to a little over $45 and change, I saw myself reaching into the fanny pack, removing and giving to the cashier a $50 bill.

Looking back on that dream, it was the perfect opportunity to try the TikTok Lucid Dream challenge, where one is to attempt to interact with others in the dream — ask a question, preferably "What date is this?" or "What time is it?", but I didn’t remember to do that because it's incredibly difficult to remember to do so when dreaming. Plus, I was thrown off by the drama that ensued.

After paying the $45 and change, having a nice chit chat with the cashier as she bagged my items, I suddenly realized she’d not given me my change.

Asking her for the change, she said "I’ve heard that one before".

Huh, thought I.

"I’ve heard that one before" she repeated.

Not realizing I was being insulted, called a liar, I checked the fanny pack, saw there were no bills added after I removed the $50.

Looking back up at her, I don’t recall what I said, but she said something about it would only have been a few dollars, so I was thinking she was right. Why worry about a few dollars and was prepared to write it off, walk away.

But then, I saw a smirk on her face that caused me to realize that when she said, "I’ve heard that one before", she actually thought I was trying to scam her and she felt she’d beaten me at my scammer’s game.

It was then I stood firm, told her "Count the drawer".

I’d knew that if the receipts were totaled up and compared with what was in her drawer, she’d find she had more money than she should because she’d forgotten to give me my change.

She disappeared for a few minutes, returned with her manager who was grumbling about having to count the drawer ..... her Black manager. She herself, the clerk, was White.

I said something about wanting my name cleared, that I shop here often and don’t want to have to feel I was being looked at suspiciously over something I did not do.

"Count the drawer" said I to Black Manager.

There were two ladies in line over to my left observing. Both backed me up on that theory — that it was not the amount of money but the principle.

Black Manager didn’t care for their input and, at one point, he leaned over the counter and began cursing one of the ladies to high high heaven.

She cursed right back at him whereupon, I took out my cellphone, and said to Black Manger, "This is so going live!" and I began recording while wiggling my arse and singing over and over to him a refrain that went … "You gone lose your job, you gone lose your job today. You gone lose your job, you gone lose your job today, hey hey".

As I was dancing/singing, there was a commotion over to my left as the woman cursing back at Black Manager was either being held back or removed by someone I didn’t see.

Then, the alarm on the cellphone went off and woke me up.

It was 7:00 a.m. and the dream went unfinished/unresolved.

It was an exhausting night.

I'm feeling so tired now that I can barely lift my feet off the ground, and this is a Pain Cave workout morning.

Oddly enough, the plan for today is, after working out, to head to the pharmacy across the street, pick up a few items to take with me as I head out to the beach area tomorrow.

Wouldn’t it be spooky if the bill comes to $45 and change.