Dream

Posted on April 4, 2003 in Dreams

I’m getting on the freeway, driving to see my brother. The ramp is unusually long and it runs alongside the highway for quite a distance. I’m following a school bus. It rolls past a shopping mall. I spot a stop line with the word GAYS substituted for stop — clearly a custom job. I make a mental note to call the mall management and complain about it. A little farther on, I see another one which has a white piece of paper plastered over it and the word JOY substituted.

I decide to stop to pick up some drinks at a fast food place. The light-skinned African American who gives me my drinks snaps at me when I say “And your parents will be proud of you for that.” “What do you mean?” he barks hostiley. I ask him to bring the manager over to resolve this. I figure I didn’t say anything wrong and I want to get to the bottom of this. He says OK and brings her promptly. She comes up to the counter while he goes to the back. “You have to understand,” she says, “that he was working alone here one night and someone called him ‘nigger’.” I nod. I’m angry at the jerk who came before me who made this fellow so sensitive about innocuous remarks.