Dream within a Dream

It was not until I posted this item that I discovered (by doing a Google search) that Edgar Allen Poe wrote a poem entitled Dream Within a Dream, so I decided to come back and acknowledge that. My story has no relationship to Poe's.

I intended to write about this earlier, but simply forgot.

I had at least two dreams last night...they may have been intertwined, but I am not sure. The first one was very odd, as it involved a dream within a dream. I was in the hallway of my office at work, possibly toward the back of the office suite. I looked up, across the hall, and saw an open full-sized door that revealed a very shallow "closet" only a few inches deep. I immediately recognized that someone had removed the sheet rock from the hallway side of the wall and had then re-sheetrocked inside (in my dream, it was a few inches deep--maybe 6 or 8 inches--in reality, had it been done, it would have been limited to about 3 inches deep). I looked down the hall and saw that there were marks all over the hall of seams where sheetrocking mud had been applied. I realized that this couldn't be, because I would have known about it. I then started saying "Is this a dream?" over and over again. But while I was asking the question, I started to realize I might actually be talking in my sleep so I became conscious of not wanting to wake my wife. Finally I was "awake" and out of the dream...standing in the same place in my office, realizing I had just awakened from a dream. I did not question the fact that, if I had just awakened from a dream, I would have been in bed, not standing in my office hallway.

Just then, I started speaking to someone about a trip I would be making to New York City. I don't know if it was part of the first dream or not. At some point, the dream seems to have either ended or cut over to being in a new dream in which I was in a taxi in New York City, very late at night. I was in the taxi with someone else, but I don't know who he was. I remember thinking that the flight had been very late and that we had rushed out of the airport terminal and taken the first cab. I told the driver the name of the hotel, which was utterly bizarre...something like "Attitude Accordant at Edgemont" (that's not the name, because I don't recall it...but it was something wierd like that). The other guy and I sat in the back seat, silently, as the cabbie drove and drove and drove. I looked over at the other guy and he was asleep. The cabbie started asking where the hotel was and what street it was on and I remember saying I did not know but I thought I had the address in my notebook...but when I pulled out the information, I could not read the address or even the hotel name. About this time, the cabbie said something about the hotel being in a really dangerous area and he knew exactly where it was. And then I realized I had not checked to see if I had any cash on me and I did not know whether this other person did, either. It may be that this other person was a client...not sure. Anyway, I started panicking that I might not have the money to pay the cabbie and I remember thinking the cab ride would likely be several hundred dollars.

That's all I remmeber.

It was so odd, dreaming that I was having a dream. I think I have had similar sensations in my dreams before...dreaming that I was having a dream. I wonder if that is common and, if so, if there is any significance to it. Probably not.