Night of July 9-10, 2009

I am in the living room of my house in San Francisco. Inside, it is completely different. The ceiling is much higher than in real life. There are possibly two floors. It is late at night. Outside, a few blocks away, some people are setting off their own fireworks. Near the sliding glass door, I peak out the window between the curtains, fighting the reflections of street lamps to watch the fireworks. I decide to go out onto the patio, which is identical to the real one. There is a woman (35­-40 years old) there whom I have never seen but in the dream, supposedly know. She looks at me annoyed, frustrated and though as if I have intruded on her quiet time. (The fireworks have stopped.) I feel the same way towards her. She walks off to my left and dissapears, supposedly via an unseen door/fire escape/ladder, I don't know. Right before, she remarks saying, "[name of a pet, that, in dream, I believe to be a turtle] is here, so... watch out." It is very dark. One, very yellow street lamp creates wells of darkness everywhere: dark shadows and bright spots (high contrast). The sky is cloudless, starless and moonless. I walk up to the railing and look out into the pitch black city. Suddenly, I feel a presence. I look to my left. Bathed in light from the single street lamp is a motionless eight foot-long alligator/crocodile. My eyes widen and I am scared. I remember that this is the pet the woman was talking about. I back slowly towards the screen door. Piercing the silence, I hear a strange, falsetto, cartoony voice imitate the back/yap of a small dog and say, "bite!" The alligator lunges forward like the way that lizards jump, forefeet and stomach in the air, head lifted. At that instant, it seems as if this monster was smiling: a freeze-frame from an evil cackling. I leap up dodging its jaws, planning to somehow stomp on its head and close its mouth as I come down. I kick. Somehow, I end up perfect kung-fu kicking it off to the left (compared to the door) and it falls off the patio between the buildings, onto the ramp two stories down where the cars go. With an, "oh, no. I shouldn't have done that, I'm in trouble," feeling, I walk to the edge, not sure what to expect as I look down. I get the nightmare feeling: everything is slow and oppresive. I feel a pressure on me, my arms and legs are unbearably heavy. I can't breathe and moving takes a lot of effort. My heart is fast. Scared, I look over the edge and see the alligator looking up at me. Only slightly fazed by what should have been a fatal fall, it shakes it off and looks up at me, intently. Expecting it to leap up (2-3 stories) and get me, I gasp. I wake up, heart pounding.

It is nearly morning, I can't fall back asleep, expecting the alligator to be next to my bed on the floor, I get up and go have breakfast.