<Reality: Rita is an older relative of mine with no children. She chose me as a person from the younger generation to have a relationship with and be her beneficiary. She lives alone in an apartment in a senior housing building.>
Rita's one story house is in a nice, older neighborhood with decent sized yards and big trees. The house has an unusual entryway - there is a small foyer just inside a glass front door that lets in a lot of natural light. The house has a fairly open floor plan, but there are 3 doors going into it. To the left, there is a door into a dining area, straight ahead the door leads to a kitchen and hallway area, and to the right the door leads to an office area that is slightly from the rest, but doesn't have a door or full walls enclosing it.
Rita is having a party and our extended family is all there along with several of Rita's friends from church and the community. During the party, parts of the inside of her house look like my house with my things in it. It's weird to describe, but in the dream it didn't feel odd. There was a ton of food an everyone had a nice time visiting with one another.
The day after the party, I realized that I had left my purse at Rita's. I went back to try and find it and Rita had two women there visiting and helping her. I recognized them from the party and chatted lightly with them. I spotted two cell phones on a music stand and realized they belonged to two of my uncles who must have left them there. I immediately offered to take the phones back to them, but the two women intercepted me. "How do we really know these phones belong to your uncle and that you're not just trying to steal them?" "Well, I recognize the phones, they carry them all the time." "Yes, but do you know the number on the sim card?" "Well, no, but let me see if I can find pictures of their families in the phones." I snatch a phone to look for pictures but don't see what I'm looking for. I'm angry at being prevented from returning the phones, but I don't want to make a mistake and actually steal the phones, so I leave them there. I find my purse, say goodbye to Rita, and leave.
Later, a neighbor tells me that she is having a party and was planning to serve a salad but didn't have any dressing. She says, "I guess I could just try to make some myself, but I don't have any of those little pink and blue specks to put in it." She tries to make a dressing out of just milk and mayonnaise, acts like it tastes good, then bursts into tears because it's actually so disgusting. I remember that Rita had several unopened bottles of ranch dressing left over from the party. I am hesitant to go over there because those women with her had been so strange, but I want to help out my neighbor.
I walk up to the house and see that Rita and the women are busy with something in the kitchen. The floor plan isn't totally open, and I think if I enter into the office door I could just sneak into a side room where the food was set up, grab the bottle of ranch, and then dart back out without being noticed. As I open the office door it makes a creak that I think will be audible, so I quickly knock on the door frame and shout, "Yoo-Hoo! It's Elizabeth just popping in again for a minute!" - acting as though I wasn't trying to sneak in. I see a scuttle in the kitchen. Barbara has told the women that she wants to hide and pretend she's not home. I'm embarrassed, but I'm kind of in it now. The women are furious with me and think I'm there to steal and wreak havoc. I try to explain that I wanted to borrow some ranch dressing from Rita. They tell me what a nasty, horrible person I am. They tell me that I won't receive my inheritance and I will lose my house (this is why it was significant that her house was like mine in the dream.) I'm devastated and ask if I can please get some of my things out of the house first. They let me gather a couple instruments, but when I'm finished, I see that my purse has been completely emptied of contents. They have gone through it completely (even the pockets of the billfold) to make sure I haven't stolen anything. Rita's purse is next to mine and one lady is going through it saying, "I put everything in this purse. I know exactly what should be here and what order it should be in. If anything is missing you are going to be going to prison!"
I gather my things and half a bottle of ranch dressing and walk towards the door. One woman is rudely escorting me out, saying what a disgrace I am. I want to defend myself - I imagine myself saying, "You have really made a terrible misjudgment here." Instead, I try to show my harmlessness by being extremely polite and not making a big show of defending myself.
