Eight-Dollar Bills and Shoeless
(dreams 12/22/24)
Janet Kuypers
12/22/24
The first thing I remember
Was all in black and white,
And looking like an episode
Of The Twilight Zone —
A man in a suit, in what looked like
The waiting room of an office,
Paced around, seems to frantically
Mumble words I could not hear,
Then walked through one of the
Office doors, and just like a camera
Recording The Twilight Zone, the
View panned over to the secretary
Who had the most confused
Look on her face (...if only
I knew what this man said).
Then the scene suddenly morphed
And I was in the scene, I think
We life was in color now, but I
Was in an elevator, I guess
It was in that office building.
(I say I see color, but the elevator
Walls were metal, and all the
Colors seemed quite subdued...)
And, kind of like that panicked
Man in the suit in The Twilight
Zone moment, I felt like I had
To be somewhere, I was going
Somewhere, I knew not where,
Alone in the corner of this crowded
Elevator. So, I looked down,
And although I was not out of
Place in how I was dressed,
I had no shoes on. But then the
Elevator doors opened and
Everyone started filing out, so
I instinctively followed to the
Door until I realized that this
Wasn’t the lobby, so I stepped
Back (I didn’t know where I
was going, but I knew I
Wanted to leave). Everyone
Left and I was left with one
Woman in the elevator as the
Doors closed. And like most
Everyone in the elevator-world
Does, she entirely ignored me
And remained in her gown
Hectic business-world mindset.
And I thought: this woman
still doesn’t see that I’m not
Wearing any shoes, and then
It occurred to me: people don’t
Pay attention to people’s feet...
But the next thing I knew I was
Out of that elevator, I was
Somewhere I knew not where,
But in my hand was a bank
Envelope of money, so I
Opened it, saw lots of tens,
A few ones, and I thought
That I should sort this money
So that it was in the right order
Denominationally, so I was
Moving the tens and the ones
And then I saw that there were
Six-dollar bills in there and
Eight-dollar bills in there,
And I thought that there was
No such thing as 6-dollar and
Eight-dollar bills, but hey,
This has to be right, I mean,
It came from a bank. That is
When I realized that I have to
Remember that I also have
Two-dollar bills, so I have to
Remember to put them there—
But in the right order.
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