A Night in the City

Another hotel, this time in New York City. It is night. I seem to be on an upper floor of a skyscraper, in a softly/darkly lit area in a back corner off the main lobby, and I'm watching a movie on a large-screen TV. There are two other people there: my wife and some other guest, though we are all seated somewhat apart from one another (actually, I'm standing in my space). The movie is ending, and my wife says, "well that's a pretty depressing movie to see right before a show." this reminds me that I have a stage show to go see, so I leave with out really saying anything. For some reason, I'm pretty irritated with her.

She follows me out to the better lit, more populous part of this lobby and mentions something about shoes - I don't have any on. I continue on.

Outside it is day, and it's raining. I run into my mother. She complains about having put on the pounds since moving here. I understand what she means, having done so myself.

It seems to be night again. I take out my cell and dial 411 to find where the theater is. What I get seems to be the restaurants nearest where the theatre is, the closest being 30th Ave and 34th St. That information seems to be enough for me, so I thank the person and put the phone back.

Then I appear to be walking through a very large community gym. There are no stands around the courts, they're more like full practice courts. A game is just ending. It appears to be the Lakers and the Kings. I pass Kobe by the baseline and overhear that the Lakers lost. I continue back into a quiet hallway, at the end of which, to the right, is a little recessed area, kind of a dead end, and to the right again, a bathroom. Across form the bathroom, sitting on the floor with a basketball in his hands, is Magic. A young Magic. To his left is a janitor's closet, and he's trying to make some short baskets into a bucket in there. He explains that he needs to make a certain number in a row for a record of his to stand in the books. He says this just as he misses one, guaranteeing it won't stand.

He is again holding the ball between his hands as I sit down across from him and put my hands over his. I tell him that it's all right, we each have skills we discover in ourselves throughout our lives, if we're open to seeing them as they present themselves. We can make these discoveries earlier or later in life, and there will often be more than one. I talk a bit about my own life as an example. Magic says jokingly, "What are you, a cub scout?" I laugh. "No, I'm married. Just some things I picked up along the way." An assistant coach walks by to go into the bathroom and, overhearing our conversation, says "What is he, a cub scout?" We all laugh.

I'm in a large store with nice nick-knacks, talking with Magic and Magic's wife (a kind, smart plain-looking Caucasian woman in her mid-late twenties). They're surprised to find out that we're moving my family to the city (Minneapolis this time), in East Uptown. Surprised, but supportive. We're looking at various items (eg. stuffed beards) while talking.

We're at our new house, just Magic's wife and I as I'm showing her the basement and the "octopus" furnace (Magic is upstairs looking around). I talk about the many projects that lay ahead with the house, including replacing the furnace some day down the line. We also talk about how bad the economy is. I mention the layoffs at work, and how I've dodged all the bullets so far, but am working 11 hours a day now. Magic's wife talk about how they've had to cut back too. Though it's obvious they're in a whole different income bracket, she's sincere and I appreciate her support.

Now we're at a nice restaurant, again on an upper floor of a NYC skyscraper. We're seated at a table near the window. Besides Magic and his wife, there a two other women who I appear to know, one who strongly resembles Liz from college. Magic's wife tells of how Magic once (only once) dropped acid with her back in college (I'm thinking, wow - they've been together since college. Very cool) It was long before drug testing, so no one knew - and he never did it again anyhow. I asked if there were any residual effects for a while, like moments when the basketball took on a life of its own while he was playing. I mention that for me, it was a few years after doing LSD before I never had those experiences again. She laughs, and says no, he didn't have any problems with that. One of her friends mischievously says, "Are you sure?" while leaning forward and making serpentine motions with her hands. We laugh, knowing this is one of those stoner games friends play with each other to freak each other out. The woman to my right (the one who reminds me of Liz) does something akin to (but not quite) "running down the hallway." I laugh and say, "how about this?" and show her "running through a forest." However, just as/before I reach the end and say the last word, I realize that the room has gotten very quite and the woman with whom I was playing this has disengaged and is politely trying to signal to me to stop. I look over and see the restaurant is focused on a table a couple over from us, a table that appears to be (impatiently) waiting for me to finish so they can proceed. There is then something like a wedding proposal, though it is this rather large woman standing behind an even larger man, handing him the envelope with the ring in it. Odd.