Dangerous Rain

There was me, my mom and dad plus a few others and we were all together after the bomb went off.

I didn't recognize the other people (there were at least two of them) but I seemed to know them in the dream.

The bomb was nuclear.

In my dream I had the sense that I'd witnessed the explosion, or in fact had NOT witnessed it, having turned my head and closed my eyes, but this was more of a memory within the dream than an "actual experience".

We were in a house, a one story house with a large window looking out on a grey suburban/industrial landscape. My dad was in PJs and a housecoat. The rest of us seemed to be dressed. There was a feeling of anxiety that was almost panic. I had to get these people out of here before the radiation got us. One of the people I didn't know rushed outside and got into the white van that was collectively ours. She was resolute and leaving. It wasn't that she was leaving that alarmed me, it was that she was planning not to wait for anybody. I followed her out and pleaded with her as she got in the van. It was raining. The rain left a sheen on the side of the white van like the rainbow colours you'd see in an oil spill only fainter. It was ominous, a sign of poison in the rain and I was standing out in it. Despite my pleas, she drove off, leaving the rest of us behind. But there was another car, a smaller red Toyota. We would have to use that.

Back in the house, Dad didn't want to go anywhere.

I argued with him as I got myself ready to go, brushing my teeth and thinking maybe the water I was using was already poisoned. I ruminated over all the changes that were likely to come; things as simple as teeth brushing were already fundamentally altered. Things that had always been routine and safe were suddenly, shockingly dangerous.

I insisted that we had to go. Dad claimed that the glass window would keep the radiation out. I knew this was wrong but couldn't convince him. He said that the people in Gagetown had been declared safe. I said, "Dad! Gagetown is an 8-hour drive away!" (Before this I thought we were somewhere in Europe.)

He would not be moved.

So Mom and I, a small dog and one other person, we all made our way out through the rain to the red car. We got in and drove away leaving Dad behind.