Oneironautic Escapades

11/23/20

I am with a group of people traveling, I am with an old friend who was my neighbor and we are following a van that a girl I know is driving. We follow down some dark roads and make a tricky turn into the highway, eventually we decide to stop at a motel for the night. I think we want to party but still kind of low key. As we are checking into the room I notice the adjoining room has like 15 african american young adults in it they are listening to somewhat loud music with an xbox on the TV and playing pool in the center of the room. I walk in the sliding glass door and they all stop to look at me, most of them aren't wearing shirts and I am also not wearing a shirt. I start introducing myself asking them what's up, they offer hands and I slap each of their hands going down the line saying what's up, nice to meet you, I'm Noah, what's up, what's up. They are fairly accepting and I see a kid I used to go to school with and say heey I haven't seen you in forever. I tell them he's an old friend and they are even more accepting now. I tell him we ordered some food and I would go get the pizza and come back. When I arrive back to my room there's just one girl and my other friends seem to have gone to sleep. I tell her the gist and she's down to go party with them. After I walk across the motel to pick up the food and come back I notice through sliding glass door adjoining the rooms that most all of the people are gone from the room and there's just a few older african american women sitting in the dark watching something on the tv. It is quiet and I have gathered they went to sleep. I go back to my room and tell my friend. We pull something up on the tv and get kind of tired. We lay for a while relaxing and may have dozed off for a few. I have the suspicion I may have checked the wrong room though I didn't hear anything from anywhere else. At some point I decide to walk into the next room over and it seems everyone had migrated there without me knowing. They are happy to see me again and my old friend asks me what happened, he thought I was just going to get pizza and coming back. I explained I had gone into the wrong room and assumed they had all gone to bed or left because it was quiet now. I know now it is early morning and they were just trying to be considerate. They are watching something on tv and I tell them I will be right back. I go back to my room and tell my friend of the err I have made. That they are all still over there. They just went to their other room and we are still invited. I now have a cooler to bring as well though I don't know exactly what's in it. My friend helps me carry it into the other dark room the old ladies are sleeping in, I set it on the floor next to a coffee table. I never make it back to the room with everyone else in it.

I am with my family in my childhood home, we are quickly leaving for a trip in a hurried fashion. We all load up in the camper and I gather we are going for some type of camping trip, I haven't really packed my bags or anything but there is great momentum and it almost felt like an emergency evacuation.

As we are driving I am still concerned about not having enough supplies or really any sort of preparedness for the trip. My cat is in the car but as we are turning I notice she somehow jumps out of the vehicle so I tell at my parents to stop the car. When I get out to retrieve her it is very muddy and I am surprised we can drive so effortlessly through the muck. I notice on the side of the road a super muddy truck with the owner no where to be seen. There are also a couple dogs that are fully submerged in the mud with only their sides showing. They feel like a stuck horse or elephant, I rush to free them from the weight of the mud and help them to their feet. They are winded but still living. I see the owner now who is also covered in mud but seems unconcerned both of his animals were almost dead in the mud. After resolving the situation I gather my cat and rejoin my parents in the camper and we resume our travels.

My father is driving and my mother is in the passenger seat. She is smiling and assures me they are taking me to some great surprise I will thoroughly enjoy. I ask if we are ever going back home because I don't have any clothes or supplies. My dad just cocks a sideways smile and glances at me from the corner of his eye. I guess we are moving. There are about a dozen strangers in the car now of varying ages all sitting along the edges like an indian overcrowded bus, I ask my parents about all of them and they ignore me. The situation now feels intense and almost post-apocalyptic in its hurry.

We arrive to a sort of drive-in theater which is super run down and very muddy with puddles all around. There are other families there with their campers and I gather this is where we will stay the night or at least a short time on our journey. There is a run down convenience store/shop in the center of the derelict lot.

As we are setting up the camper my pops was rushing the set up and not doing all of the steps out of over-confidence. There are braces which need to be lowered to the ground to provide stability to the camper so it doesn't rock back and forth while people step in and out. I ask if he is going to put them down and he brushes me off, insisting it is no problem and we don't really need to. The camper is rocking and swaying with every step and feels quite unstable. I tell him I will do it for him and he continues to give me excuses for why it isn't important. The ground is too muddy, it won't reach, the lug nut is rusted, it's stuck, don't worry about it. I get down and fasten the nut with a tool and hold a heavy hammer to dislodge the nut. He tries to show me how stuck it is by tapping gently while looking at me as to prove the fruitlessness of effort. I tell him to let me try and I swing a few times very swiftly and hear the crack of the nut as it loosens and the braces begin to drop. The ground is super muddy and the brace sinks a few inches but finds some stability and fixes to the ground. I stand and the camper is stable and no longer swaying.

The store in the center of the grounds is somewhat of a hellscape. It is super run down with hardly any supplies, broken glass everywhere, dim lights, and unidentified horrors attacking other people in the store. I don't know if I am attempting to shop or just get out, but it is night time. I am crawling on the ground and notice many shards of different colours as a crawl on top of them. Something is coming towards me but I can't identify it or it's intention. Events occur but I am unsure if the dream just collapsed or if it just transitioned to the next scene.

The big surprise is made known to me, my parents have signed me up for MasterChef. I am now on the set surrounded by other very well esteemed chefs and none other than Ramsey himself. I feel incredibly out of place but somewhat up for the challenge. All of the other participants are well to do accomplished chefs with restaurants of their own. Gordon sits me down and has a heart to heart talk with me. He informs me he knows about my lack of experience in the professional culinary scene and that my presence was by design. I am the only amateur chef participant in this season. He encourages me and assures me he will do everything in his power to assist me to 'catch up' with the other contestants. He believes in my skill and is hopeful I will shine through the challenges that will be encountered for the duration of the show. He is honest and non-patronizing. I am grateful for his sage advice and encouragement, though during his talk to me I am made aware the first challenge has already begun. We are being shown a table side service and plating of a specific dish with specific elements which all need to be executed in a very specific order to accomplish the desired aesthetic to the dish. I am glancing back and forth between Gordon and the table side service. Attempting to be as respectful as possible while also absorbing as many details of the dish and method I can focus on. It is a super-heated white ceramic oval plate which has just been pulled out of the broiler, small chunks of protein are placed and small sprigs of asparagus tossed between matchsticks of carrots scattered with small quartered pickled beets. They are left to quickly saute on the plate before a savoury créme anglaise which is more loose than normal is poured in the corner of the dish to slightly reduce on the plate to create the final consistency to accompany the dish, there are microgreens sprinkled around the edges. I have no idea how each element was prepared other than their shape and size and the harder I look the more blurry the dish becomes. Other chefs are standing around with their notepads asking questions and taking notes from the sous chef who is presenting the service. I think of questions regarding the temperature of the plate but second guess myself not wanting to appear plebeian. Gordon is done speaking to me, he shakes my hand and gets up from the table, and informs us we have one hour to complete the challenge.