I don't normally share dreams but this one moved rapidly right into reality. Slightly annoying, slightly humorous, so I thought I'd share.
I live in a neighborhood that has been turning over in the past few years. I live right next to a middle school in a small townhome. There is some crime in the area. Mostly car break ins, some home break ins and some close calls where an alarm scared off a potential intruder while the residents were home. Occasionally gun shots are reported but I've never heard of anyone actually getting shot, so I mostly believe it's fireworks and some people are just naturally on edge. But I think in the 2.5 years I've lived here, I've only once or twice felt unsafe, the most recent was when a police helicopter was making low tight circles within yards of my front door. I set that up to let you know that I'm not ever scared of where I live.
Last night I went to bed around 11 PM and left my bedroom windows open to let in the cool Autumn air instead of running the air conditioning.
So, in my dream, I'm sitting at my kitchen table during the day with the windows open letting in a nice cool fall breeze. I'm cleaning my Glock after some time on the range and it's fully disassembled. Some of my neighbors (who to my knowledge don't actually exist as seen in my dream) are having a get together to watch a football game and are pretty drunk tossing the pigskin in the parking lot.
One of the guys happens to look in my window after an errant toss and sees me cleaning my gun. He proceeds to walk right inside, lifts up his shirt, revealing his belly fat and a gun tucked into his waistband.
"Want to compare Glocks?" He drunkenly slurs.
For you non-gun owners, Glocks aren't something you really compare. They are pretty ubiquitous.
He proceeds to pull the gun from his pants and limp-wristed, starts drunkingly flopping it around.
I quickly stand up and am now on full alert. I don't feel threatened per se, and I don't believe that is his intent. But the guy is wasted and I don't trust half the sober people I know with a gun and certainly not this drunk guy. As he's waving it around, he has already pointed the barrel in multiple unsafe directions, which is a huge pet peeve of mine when it comes to responsible gun ownership.
After some coaxing, I try to calmly put my hand on the top of the gun so I can direct the barrel safely towards the ground. While doing so, I manage to slip my hand around and hit the magazine release. I grab the magazine and put it on top of the fridge. He's pretty drunk and I don't think he notices.
While I think I've prevented anything from too crazy happening, I cannot say with any certainty if there is a round in the chamber.
I stupidly turn my attention always from him for half-a-second when I hear a loud "POP!"
Wait, HOLY SH*T! That was in real life!
I roll straight off my bed to get to floor as fast as possible and am now mentally 100% awake and in fight or flight mode despite half-a-second earlier being in full REM sleep. Only problem is, I rolled off to the opposite side of where I actually keep my gun. And my glasses. Something I probably need to try to remedy should I ever need to quickly be at the ready again.
A few seconds roll by and just as I'm contemplating an army crawl or quick flip over the top to get to the other side of the bed, I hear a second loud "POP!" This time, however, I hear it followed by a familiar fizzle.
Fireworks. Not a chambered round from uninvited guest.
My pulse quickly decelerates. I stand up and crawl back into bed. Another few seconds of silence go by followed with a rapid succession of fireworks. Maybe 20 in row coming from the football field about 200 yards away on the other side of another townhome row. All followed by the distinct fizzle lulling me back into safety.
I look over at my phone. It is 2:01 AM.
Who does that?!? I mean, probably some kids. But, those jerks!
I spend about another 10 minutes waiting to see if there are anymore fireworks. Chuckling a little to myself and replaying the vividness of my dream and how it quickly blended with my reality.
I drift off back to sleep to see what REM might hold for me next.
