In my dream, I have finished with some project or obligation and am looking to find my car so I can drive home.
I begin by looking up and down the street where I'm standing. The street is a nice small-town kind of street lined by a few trees and a number of parked cars. It reminds me of West Chester. Traffic is light -- just a few cars passing by. So it should have been easy to spot my car, if it were located on this street. But I can't see it anywhere.
The scene changes to a parking garage, and I'm pretty sure my car is located somewhere in here but can't recall a parking space number or a row location or even which level I parked on.
I start on the lowest level, looking right and left, but quickly decide that my car isn't here. I think there's an elevator somewhere in the garage, but decide to use the stairs to get to the next level up. I'm concerned that, given the fact that I know so little about this garage, that the elevator could skip over one or more levels without my knowing about it. And that could complicate the search a great deal.
I am getting confused as to how many levels there are in this garage. I get off the staircase from time to time to look at this level or that one. Something tells me that there are only two or three levels, but every time I go back to the stairs that number seems to change. Sometimes it goes up and sometimes down.
On one occasion, I find another staircase. All metal and all painted green. As I start climbing the stairs, I see that there are low gates installed across maybe every third or fourth step. The gates are maybe knee high. I can't imagine why anyone would install these, as they represent a challenge going up and a serious obstacle going down. While I stand there trying to figure out what it is I'm looking at, a woman speaks up from behind me telling me to keep moving or get out of the way. I allow her to move past me, and somehow, she manages to climb the stairs without any interference from the low gates.
The scene changes again, and I find myself in a much larger stairway and as I move up or down (I forget which) I come across a young woman -- certainly not the one I met on the other stairway. She is very slender and gives the impression of being under fed. She looks like she's missed a considerable number of meals. She also looks tired and cold -- clutching her light jacket closed. I pass her by and continue to look for my car -- level after level.
Going down a staircase, I come across the same young woman, who is now accompanied by a young man. Something tells me they are brother and sister. But he looks quite healthy and well-fed. She leans up against him seemingly for safety but also for warmth. But I understand that they are both essentially homeless and looking for a place to stay and a job for him.
I take out my wallet and find that I have two $20 bills and a couple of singles. I'm tempted to give them all of my money, but I may need a 20 to get my car out of the garage and possibly fuel to drive home. So I hand him a 20 and try to say something supportive. He pockets the money without saying "Thank you" or any other acknowledgement. But the young man's pride requires him to adopt a "We are getting along just fine. We've only recently arrived in the US, and we're not settled yet, but where we are much better off here than where we've been."
I would like to provide additional assistance to the two of them, but the young man's attitude -- coupled with the fact that I still don't know where my car is -- suggest I should simply move on.
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