Loopy dream

I had a dream last night that there were several hundred of us in this large room that eventually morphed into a room full of shower stalls like you find at the gym. And then out of nowhere appears this Hollywood celebrity (Tony Danza) and he announces to us that we are now his hostages and there's no hope of escape. People are panicking and there are hundreds of us so he's having a hard time going around putting down little rebellions within the group. The funny thing is he manages to do that with threats of violence, but he doesn't actually appear to have a gun or other weapon on him.

So one of the people there begins to get brave and makes a run for it---to the back of the room where there's a hallway that leads to three doors marked A, B and C. He chooses one of the first doors (don't remember letter) and finds himself trapped in a small auditorium whereupon Tony returns to the hostages and declares triumphantly that the escaped hostage has been trapped.

Well, for some reason I happen to know that the last door (don't remember letter) leads to the outside. I spy this blonde woman across the room who looks like she's about to make a break for it. So I team up with her and assure her that I know the door that leads to the outside. So when Tony's got his back to us we make a run for it. We run to the very last door just barely managing to keep ahead of Tony who’s come running after us. She opens the door first and runs into darkness. When I get to the door, I jump in only to be met by a wall three feet into a tiny room. But my companion has already figured out that there’s a second door here and when she opens it, filtered daylight greets our eyes. In fact, we’ve stepped into a sort of shaft like you’d find beneath a manhole cover. And on the far wall of the shaft is a ladder that leads up to an opening. So she begins to climb the ladder. Meanwhile I’ve got my shoulder to the door and I’m fighting Tony as he’s ranting and raging and acting very much the raving lunatic that he is (in my dream, anyway!). While I’m keeping Tony at bay she reaches the top of the shaft and she relays to me what she sees---we’re in a compound of sorts that has a tall black fence around it with fingers that curve inward to discourage escapes. The shaft opens up just inside the fence and above it so that you might think you can jump down and over the fence to the outside. But it’s too far.

Suddenly it’s no longer Tony pushing on the door, but a throng of hostages trying to get out. My companion calls me to join her at the top of the shaft and I dutifully scamper up the latter. When I look out I see that Tony has reappeared on the outside of the fence and he’s calling for me to jump, knowing I run a good chance on impaling myself on the pointed fence. But I’m in control. I have this overwhelming sense that my destiny is in my own hands. I’m wearing my favorite black boots and in third-person point-of-view, I watch myself bound over the fence effortlessly. Somehow this opens the way for all the trailing hostages. They start to pour out and mill about the parking lot on the outside of the fence. Tony’s trying to coral them back inside, but it’s too late. I flag down a cop keep who casts a jaundiced eye in my direction, doubting sincerely my too-fantastic story. The hostages are calmly getting into their cars and driving off, looking very much like church just let out or something.

I give up on the cop and look for my companion. Tony’s threatening her and I intervene. Turns out Tony’s not done with us. He’s pointing at my hand and demanding that I return to him…his wedding ring. I look down and sure enough there’s a wedding ring on my hand (I’m not married). Funny thing is, in my dreamy other-world, I have the vague sense that the ring belongs to my companion. I know it doesn’t belong to me and I sure as hell know it doesn’t belong to Tony. I am enraged by Tony’s insistence and when he starts making threats I just want to kill him, literally. But my better judgment tells me he’s much bigger than I am and I’ll probably lose the ring if I engage him. So I bargain with him for a deadline and he gives me 24 hours. My companion and I retreat to a nearby little plaza with a fountain (there’s a real-world equivalent that I’m thinking of too). Here we sit next to each other as I explain what I’m going to do to make sure we keep the ring. For some reason my solution involves legal maneuvers (surprise, surprise). I’m pretty confident it’ll work.

We walk off together and…that’s the end of the dream. Anticlimactic, I know. I could make up an ending, but it wouldn’t be true.