I start to walk away, then think of the Nemean Lion task and break out in a grin. I stop in my tracks and walk back a few steps to the people. I tell them, "I need the Nemean Lion." The guy says something like "Okay" and they start briskly walking through the racks of clothes. I follow them closely and we reach a door in the wall. It's made of tinted glass and has a sleek steel handle. The guy opens it and we go through. The entire inside of this part is all made of the tinted glass it seems. We go down a very short hall directly into a small, high-ceilinged room. I see a large male lion with a shiny blonde mane standing obediently in the middle of the room. The two people rush up to him and I notice he has a long-ish muzzle and an almost silly overbite. As I approach I say, "There's my lion!" in a "here, kitty kitty" kind of voice. The guy says something to the chick, then turns to me and says, "You take him." The girl hands me a black leash attached to a thick collar around the lion's neck and the lion immediately starts walking towards the door we came in. As I turn to face the same way, he starts running. I run along behind him as we go out of the store into a very large shopping center. It's still night time. We slow down for a second as I look around for a place I'd expect a kitty cat contest to be. My eyes slide over several store signs, then find one dead ahead that's not a sign, but a banner which says "Amphitheater". We run across the empty parking lot and into this building. The lobby is large and made of warm-toned marble. There are several thick, round columns. We blow past these and right into the main room. It's very big, but low-ceilinged. There's a small, rounded stage at the back and behind it is a screen with pretty images moving and shifting. There are stacks of folding chairs against the walls and about 20 people have taken these and seated themselves willy nilly near the stage.
I walk straight up between the people to the stage. There's a group of cats sitting obediently in a row (yeah right lol). I tell my lion in a pet voice, "Go on up there!" and point to a spot behind the other cats. But, a man, a stagehand I suppose, takes my leash and leads my lion back around the people and up to the side of the stage. My lion walks up and sits in the spot I had indicated. He towers powerfully over the other cats. Satisfied, I go and take a seat about 10 feet from the front of the stage, right in the middle.
To my right is Zack. We greet each other in a quiet voice. I look to the left and there's a beanbag chair with my mom in it and my Dad leaning over the back. They both look very young, especially my mom, and she's pregnant with me. She's wearing a big t-shirt with some wording on it and her hair is in pigtails. She's chewing her thumbnail and staring off into nothing, apparently stressed out. My Dad asks her what's wrong and she starts before turning to him and saying, "Nothing." She turns back and continues chewing, now staring at what's going on on stage.
I look forward again and suddenly we're right at the front of the stage. A drawer is popped out of the front of it and there's a cat sitting inside. The drawer closes, taking the cat under the stage, and then the announcer starts talking about the cat and the screen displays pictures of it. After this, a drawer below that one pops out and Zack puts a cat in. The announcer talks about various cats for a while. I'm a little intimidated by this one black and white cat. It has bright blue eyes and a blue beaded necklace that really brings them out.
Finally, all the other cats are gone. I feel like I need to make my lion prettier, so I do a kiss-blowing gesture at him which I believe will enhance his fur. A rippling line passes over him and makes his fur blonder and shinnier. Very quickly the announcer says my lion has won, and the competition is over. There is some applause. There are now tables in front of us, set with food. I know somehow that each food represents a different cat. We're supposed to eat the winner's food first. The food that represents my lion is buttery toast absolutely soaked in honey. It's delicious! I recall actually cutting it with fork and knife and eating the entirety of the two pieces. There are some small bottles of liquor, I think honey whiskey, and I drink almost a whole one, heartily celebrating my win. Zack is still on my right and my Dad and Mom have transformed into Curtis and Zack's wife Nicole. Zack says, "Y'know who makes the best toast ever?" he pauses and he and Curtis both say, "Nicole." We all look at her and she smiles with pride and nods. Zack says, "It's cuz she picks up that good cheese on the way home from work like ____." Missed that last bit. We all kinda laugh and nod. I'm feeling pretty drunk physically, but mentally I'm good.
I get up and start to leave, thinking that I need some more solid confirmation of my win. On the other side of the door to the lobby is the announcer man. He's looking at me and kinda has a sour face on, like he also entered the contest and is a sore loser. As I approach he wordlessly hands me a small blue ribbon. I look closely at it and at the bottom, in small silver print, it says, "1st $100k". I dance around the lobby with my hands over my head like, "One hundred thousand dollars, F@#K YEAH!!!" I stop and decide to wake up. I do my "pushing through layers" thing or whatever and I'm in bed. I do my nose RC to make sure, and yup, sure am.
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