(This bit added late as remembered) - I go to sleep at my Grandmother's and I know there is a man's corpse in her house waiting to be picked up by the undertaker. It's in a special underground room which is located high up on the second floor (I know) where it can stay cool. I don't know the man, I don't know how he died, but he's in there. I shut the door and I hope my cousins don't realize he's there or they will freak out.
I wake up at Grandmother's house and I need to get ready for her party. She's not been well and a lot of family and friends are coming for this. I go to the bathroom and take a shower. I realize after I get out of the tub that it had been plugged, and now is almost overflowing with water. It's so full that if I reach my hand arm in to pull the chain it will flow over the top edge. But Grandmother, always so clever and always having the best, has had her tub build with the chain attached to the tub about an inch from the rim. I snag the chain and pull, releasing the water. It's a really nice tub and totally made out of hand done tile - not a one piecer. The shape is almost traditional, but still artistic and interesting. I silently admire her choice and wish I had one for myself!
I get ready and walk downstairs where aunts and cousins are getting the food and house ready. I have made some food in advance, and I'm considering making another cake, but I decide against it because the kitchen is so full of people and they really do have enough food. I walk around the outside of the house and I see two work trucks parked in the backyard. Grandmother has large front and back yards and also about 12 acres around her. I see that they are building a very strong fence and realize they're building it so she can let her dog out to use the bathroom without the dog running off. (Real life Grandmother hasn't had a dog for over 10 years. I do have dogs and wish for a fence like this often). I look beyond the main fence and see TONS more fencing down below in the acreage. It looks like someone is building something to very minutely sort animals of some kind. They are small, individual pens with hutches inside. It looks like someone who wants to breed a hundred rabbits and provide a 12x12 foot enclosure plus hutch for every single one. I just don't get it. Each little cube looks like it contains hundreds of dollars of fencing and work - so excessive. I ask Grandmother about it and she explains that her handyman "Rick" had said that they might as well put in this fencing to improve the resale value of the house down the line. I can't understand how having a hundred premium rabbit hutches will improve the resale value for the average buyer, unless Rick is planning to try to buy the house himself someday. I feel like he's taking advantage of her, but my confrontations of him and of her don't go anywhere. It's frustrating, but there's nothing I can do.
While walking and looking at the new fencing with her, she explains to me that an internet bill from the time I lived with her (over a decade ago) had come in and she said I needed to pay it. I was, of course, happy to pay whatever it was. The bill was $3500, and I owed another $3500 for something else. It felt like an astronomical amount of money, but of course I would pay whatever she said I owed. She's one who would mention it to other people, so I didn't want to leave it a second. I got my billfold out to see how much I had. She jumped in and said that we could make it an even $4000 if I wanted, I said that would be great. I gave her $2700. The $2000 was in hundreds and the $700 was in fifties, 34 bills total, but the stack was about three inches thick. (I guess that's my mental representation of that much money). I would figure out that day how to get the rest from the ATM or the bank.
My Granddad (who had been dead for several years) is there at the house. I can't remember his role or the context. He was talkative and active though. (I wish I could remember the details)
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Later on, the party is in full swing. I'm wearing a dress, normal shoes, and latex exam gloves. The venue is sort of unusual, it feels like it's at the top of a hill that you have to drive up a sleep incline to reach. I'm trying to get up there a second time and I'm riding in the back of a van with a man driving and a man sitting next to me. To get up the hill, the vehicle has to pass through a garage with an open front and back, manage a hard left turn, then get up this very steep, leaf covered hill with trees overhanging. In front of the garage, someone has left about 6 piles of sawdust about 4-6 feet tall that we have to go through/over. It makes the ride bumpy. As we're going up the hill, it becomes very scary and bumpy, and the windshield, which is designed with a vertical split and on side hinges, comes apart and flaps open. The driver has to pull the windshield shut while driving and it's all terrifying. When we get to the top I realize that I am gripping on to the grab handle with my right hand and my van-mates thigh with my left hand. Except, when I look over to the left, I see that I'm not grabbing his leg at all, but the outside of the crotch of his pants. And there's something there. Horrified, I jerk my hand away and apologize profusely. He says, "It's okay, I liked it. It was working." I try to stammer out more apologies and explanations, but he's sort of "locked in" with his eye contact and giving this "energy" that is inescapable. I don't know what to do. I think that he must not have been able to see my wedding band because of the exam gloves, so he thinks I'm just being coy. As we get out of the van I see the driver is my friend Ray (of the "tiny piano game" dream fame). We have arrived at a free exhibit of curiosities and he starts to wander off on his own but I grab is hand as he's walking away and give him a look and he understands immediately that I don't want to be left alone with this guy and walks with us. I'm so scared of this guy and his energy that I don't want to release Ray's hand, but I do because I'm afraid at what it would look like if my husband found out I'd been rubbing one guys pants and holding another guy's hand. We walk through the exhibit and I'm really disappointed. The theme is, "Things in everyday life that are upsetting and annoying." One display was a collection of nutty bars that have all been partially smashed in their wrappers. Definitely annoying. Think of the crumbs. Each item was kind of like that, and I think mostly damaged food. There was some fruit that had a good looking peel but inside had brown spots. I thought it wasn't a great exhibit, but not too bad for being free.
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