Dream CXIX

I was working in the office, when I got a phone call that said that some folks were going to come and pick up an old Macintosh server to be recycled.  I had thought about leaving early today, but I stayed to help with this.

They showed up and put the server on a truck, and drove off.  Later, wandering around the office, I saw an old external backup drive for that server.  "I wonder if they'll want that too," I thought.  In fact, I worried about it to the point where I grabbed the drive, jumped into my car, and decided to drive to the recycling facility.

I drove along the highway from Lenoir City to Knoxville.  Soon, I caught up with the truck and eased behind it.  I noticed that the pickup truck behind me was also from the same place, and I was sandwiched between them.

I waved the drive at them, and managed to pass it to one of the drivers.  Then I had to get back to the office.

I knew there was an exit coming up that would take me back.  I was in a hurry to get back sooner, so I looked for an earlier exit.  Finally, I found one, about a mile from the one I was familiar with.

I pulled off, and it was obvious from the first moment that this was a mistake.  There was no easy way to get back on to the highway.  I parked, easing my car into a small puddle, and tried to find out how I could get back.

As I walked around, I noticed that there were a number of news media folks around, and one blond female reporter was doing a segment on the growing blow-fly epidemic, which was centered in this area.

This sounded like trouble to me, so I went back to my car.  Unfortunately, the front of my car was now under almost three feet of water.  And from where I stood, I could see pond algae and other things that made it seem like I would have to step into at least five feet of water just to get into the front door.

The folks around me were sympathetic--I could hear them talking among themselves, "How can he do this?"  "Oh that poor man" and so forth.  I looked around for any tow-trucks that could help but there were none.  I knew I just to brave stepping into the water, and hope I was quick enough to prevent a lot of water damage to the interior.

I pressed my autolock, as I felt a blow-fly sting my wrist.  But against my thigh I felt the door lock shift in my favor.

I grit my teeth and forced open the door.  A huge rush of water came in, but I sat in the driver's seat and closed the door against the flood.  There was still a large amount of water to deal with, but it felt as if I was in control.

I only had to deal with the fact that my car would probably not start, and if I had to leave the car again, there were a lot of carnivorous fish that were thronging around me.

I put my key into the ignition, but was afraid to turn it.