a dream

Last night I dreamt that I went to a large, old theater to watch a film with a friend. The theater seemed to be in a former Communist country in Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union. The lobby was grey concrete and glass, but the main hall was baroque, with bright red carpets, chandeliers, and freshly painted white moldings on the ceilings. There were only a few other people there, and they seemed to be Kazakhs. The film was in black and white. All the lights were on and it was bright. At one point I looked up in the balcony and saw Arvo Pärt playing the clarinet, and I took out my clarinet and played along. Next to Arvo Pärt was a woman. Then the film was over and we left the hall. When I entered the lobby, holding the clarinet, I realized that I didn't have the case. I didn't remember having the case, or even taking the clarinet out of it and putting it together, but I went to the hall to look for it, doubting it was there. In the back of the hall, on the bright red carpet, I saw two black wallets. They were both worn and one was very thick. I looked around to see if anyone was looking. No one was. I nervously picked up the wallets and put them in my backpack, which I didn't have before. I went to my seat to look for my clarinet case but couldn't find it. After I left the theater, at some point, I looked in the thick wallet and saw that it was full of many $50 and $100 bills. The bills were fresh and almost stuck to each other. Nervously, I took out a $50 and a $100 bill and threw it in the bag. Then I walked around thinking that I shouldn't take the money and also that I should take more. Outside, in front of the theater were buses waiting for us. We were on the campus of a school. It was a boarding school in New Hampshire called Exeter, the rival school of the boarding school I went to in real life. The buses were on the street at the top of a hill. I walked down the hill and wandered aimlessly. I ended up in the stairway of a modern building. The walls were very white, and there was a large window that looked out onto grassy landscape. There was a water fountain in the stairwell. I looked in the bag at the wallet and the money, not knowing whether I should put the bills back or I should take more. The bills I had taken were folded up small. I had crumpled them up in my hand nervously, but I don't remember when. Somehow, they ended up folded, not crumpled. I left the stairwell and saw an asian girl behind a counter in what looked like a student center. I considered giving the wallets to her, but didn't know whether to put back the money first or take more or just give them as they were. I went outside. Outside I noticed that the landscape was very beautiful. The grass and trees were a lush green. I wanted to get back to the buses but didn't know the way. The roads were very windy and hilly. I walked along one and ended up somewhere that seemed to be the athletic fields. Nearby looked like the buses, but they weren't. I was running as fast as I could but moving very slowly. I walked a different direction along another windy road downhill and suddenly saw that the campus was on a stone cliff. About 100 meters below, I could see waves from the sea crashing against the rocks. I thought that the campus was truly beautiful. I kept walking and, turning the corner, I reminded myself that Exeter wasn't on top of a stone cliff by the sea. When I got around the corner, as if to appease my thought, I saw, about only 50 meters below, a harbor with sailboats which looked like Boston. That seemed to make more sense, although Exeter isn't in Boston. But the harbor satisfied me anyway. I was getting further and further away from any buildings. I felt scared and lost. Then I saw a small back door of a building built into the side of a stone wall on the left side of the road. I went inside. It was a stairwell. I walked upstairs into more open space but then heard someone coming. I became afraid and went back downstairs towards the door. I stood still by the door. The person, who was a girl, an Exeter student with long, reddish, curly hair, came towards me. I became very afraid and wondered whether I should make myself invisible. I knew I could, if I tried hard enough. I tried and became invisible. I tried to remain perfectly still. The girl looked confused because she thought she had heard something. As she got closer to me, I became afraid that she would touch me, so I pushed her away. Surprisingly, she wasn't surprised at being pushed by something she couldn't see. There was more interaction with the girl, but I don't remember anymore exactly what it was. I awoke.