In my dream, I have just shown up at a camp of some sort. In the woods -- a pleasant place to be -- with the aroma of the evergreen trees permeating most everything. It is evening.
I walk into a fairly large room -- maybe 30 feet on a side -- which has been set up as a "bunk house" for maybe eight or ten people. And there are at least five or six people in the room at the moment. All men. Different sizes and ages and faces. They seem to know each other by the chitchat they're sharing, and I guess I am known to them and they to me, because no introductions seem to be necessary. And no one comes over to me to welcome me. I know that I'm the last one to show up for whatever it is that we've come here for.
It seems that everyone in the room is setting aside the day's activities and is at the starting point to getting ready for bed. But everyone is still dressed in their street clothes. Everyone has chosen their bed, and there are a variety of beds scattered across the room. Some look quite sumptuous and others almost austere. Understandably, being the last one to arrive, my bed is the least desirable: a very simple Army-variety of cot. Single mattress maybe 4 inches thick on a metal network suspended on the edges with coiled springs.
The chatter around me continues and little if any attention is paid to me. It's all quite chummy. They assume I understand what's going on and can take care of myself. And maybe there's nothing really they could do to help me anyway.
I can resign myself to the bed -- I've slept on these things before -- but I'm concerned about who's going to snore, which would certainly keep me awake. And I don't like the position of my bed, which is towards the middle of the room. I see space in the far corner, which would have the advantages of keeping me out of traffic, maybe a little less noise, and putting me closer to the windows. The windows are on both walls near my corner, and there's a wonderfully cool and fragrant breeze travelling between them. With all these grown-up men's bodies in this one room, a cool and fragrant breeze will be a blessing. Yup, I'm fortunate to have this space for me! So I pick up my cot (fortunately, being so simple, it's also lightweight) and carry it over to my corner.
The pleasant chatter continues and no one seems to be making arrangements to get to sleep. I begin to wonder if anyone will get to sleep at all...
I begin to consider how I will settle down for sleep myself, even if no one else in the room is going to do that. I notice that there is a simple wall lamp attached to one of the walls that should shine a light directly over the place where I intend to lay my head. Yay! A reading lamp that shouldn't bother anyone else in the room!
I reach up to turn the light on -- really just to test that the light works -- and it falls off the wall. It had been held in place with two screws into the drywall without anchors. So the screws simply pulled cones of drywall out with them when the lamp fell. Meaning that the remaining holes are much larger in diameter than the screws, making the screws useless. And there are no tools around to be had.
I start to search for some other method of supporting the lamp. I had felt so fortunate in having the lamp, I'm reluctant to give it up.
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