more dream-filled dreams

We dined at a very nice restaurant in a city I don’t quite recognize. The meal is quite good, but as we get ready to pay our bill the waitress inexplicably grabs the check from my hand and declares “I forgot to add your last drink and the paper — that’s fifteen dollars.” I was dumbstruck. “Fifteen dollars? That’s outrageous! I was just reading it because it was left at our table. You can have it back.” “Fine!” she spat, hurling the check back at me. Suffice to say, she didn’t get much of a tip.

Our taxi ride was equally surreal. The maître de flagged down a car that was new and luxurious but bore little resemblance to a cab. I seated myself and instructed the driver to wait for my wife, who had quickly run back into the restaurant to retrieve her purse. Instead, he took off without her. I screamed and banged against the plexiglas barrier until we were out in the suburbs, at which point he pulled over and asked me to get out. He sped off, nearly running me over as I banged against his window.

Half an hour after phoning my wife, it was a wonderful sight to see her pull up in a real taxi. We drove back to a parking lot in the city where our adventure first began, where our car was waiting for us — running, lights on, and unlocked.