I don't remember all the details, but I was with my husband and could tell we were about to get engaged. We kept wandering through large and complicated buildings, filled with people and all kinds of scenery. At one point we were in what seemed to be an upper class shopping and dining area. A romantically lit building with ceilings 3 stories high. We sat on the edge of water surrounded by rock walls blocking out all the people. I saw my mom standing on a balcony near by, smiling. Rick handed me a small box. I opened it to find 3 pearl-like stones hanging in a line. Earrings. "Interesting." I thought. Not something I would have picked. Then he pulled another pair out of his pocket, they were circle shaped instead of oval. He told me they were the ones he would have picked to give me, but for some reason he decided on the oval ones. He put them back in his pocket and handed me back the box. We were suddenly somewhere else. Maybe a store? I stood in front of a mirror as he opened a larger box for me. This time a necklace. Strands of bronze intertwined with random diamond like shapes on the front. The strands were a few feet long. I took the necklace in my hands and it draped to the floor. I put it over my neck and the strands fell behind my back, bending me backwards from the weight. Without words we exchanged a look acknowledging that the necklace was a no. We put it back in the box. Next we were wandering through an enormous building. It felt complicated. Halls and walls and rooms all over the place. Rick was carrying a large coral bow in his hands. It had white polka dots on it and stood about as tall as me. We wandered and I could tell his plans had fallen through. He couldn't find the right spot. The spot he had planned. Again, we never exchanged words, I somehow just knew. Finally we ran into someone that somehow knew our situation and gave us the suggestion to try the roof. There was a police overlook that was supposedly beautiful and vacant. As we exited the building I looked up and realized I knew the place. I was excited to go to the top. As we walked around the corner we came upon a circular slab of concrete surrounded by grass and a few stone columns. It was dark outside and I realized Rick and I were wearing bright orange sweatshirts. Where had those come from? I excitedly walked along the path and as we stepped onto the concrete slab Rick pulled my hand and stopped me. I turned to continue toward the top and he wrapped his arms around me lifting me into the air. We froze.
I now looked upon us, like a spectator. I stared at us frozen in the moment right before Rick was to propose. A distant sound broke the silence. SHHHIIUUMPF….SHHHIIUUMPF…SHHHIIUUMPF… the sound grew louder and closer. My eyes popped open and my dream disappeared. But the noise didn't stop. SHHHIIUUMPF….SHHHIIUUMPF…SHHHIIUUMPF…. My eyes shifted to the noise as a large, dark figure creeped along my pillow right next to my head. It was moving slow. And that sound. That disgusting sound. "A ROACH!" I screamed as I shot up and the creature disappeared between our bed and the wall. Rick popped awake and frantically yelled, "What?"
"It was on my pillow right next to my head and it went down there!" Like a 2 year old child I pointed and squirmed in the direction the dark creature had gone. "It was moving so slow…" A thousand thoughts ran through my head as I tried to figure out what it was. That noise. That noise kept coming back into my head. "It made such a weird sound... and it was so big and moving so slow. I don't know if it was a roach. I don't know what it was!" I grew more frantic as my uncertainty grew as to what had been crawling right next to my face and possibly on my head. I felt sick. Violated. Disgusting. And tired. I looked at the clock. It was 5:30am. My daughter is the only one allowed to wake me up that early. Not to mention I was just about to get engaged and now I will never know how Rick was going to propose. "We have to find it!" I jumped off the bed so I could watch the whole room as Rick moved the bed to see what he could find. He shifted the bed and there it ran… in a split second it went from under the bed to under the desk 3 feet away. It was dark. Too dark to be a roach. Those are normally reddish brown. But it was SO fast. Too fast to be just any type of beetle. My anxiety grew as the image of that dark creature creeping next to my head kept pushing itself into my mind. I just had to know what it was. I put Rick on watch guard as I ran to get our sticky traps. We had run out last week and had just received a new pack in the mail yesterday. Glad they were so fast getting them to me. I grabbed a trap and put it by the edge of the desk so Rick could explore from the other side and hopefully scare it out. I took watch position and before Rick moved the dark spot shot across the opening where the chair sits. It seemed much smaller this time. Maybe it's because it wasn't next to my head. I was worried it was going to get away without us seeing it, so I hurried and shifted the trap to where he had just run and added a new one at the other opening where he might run. Rick shifted some things around and out it darted… it headed towards our door and saw Rick, pausing just long enough for me to see that it was clearly a mouse. What?!? A mouse? Then what was that sound? And why was it moving so slow? And WHY was it on my bed?!? He darted out the room and we stood there with our jaws open. He had totally fooled us. And I was totally relieved. A mouse was so much better than a roach. And he was the smallest mouse we have ever had in our house. We weren't sure if he had gone into our utility room or kitchen but I assumed he had gone into the closest door. So I lined the doorway with my typical trap set up that had yet to fail. My anxiety was almost completely gone. We'll get him. We always do. As soon as my traps were ready I sent Rick in to see if he could scare him out. He hadn't been in there 5 seconds when the mouse came flying towards the trap…. and right over it. He disappeared back into our bedroom. Once again my jaw dropped. "He jumped right over the trap! How on earth did he miss it?!?" Rick chimed in, "He's lucky. That's what he is." It's like he literally flew over the trap. We must have really scared him or he is a new breed of flying mouse. I quickly shifted the traps to the bedroom door. Rick had to get ready for work but I was content. He was trapped in our room because surely, he wouldn't get over the trap a second time. I headed to the kitchen to start my day. I was hopeful he would land on the trap before Rick left so I didn't have to dispose of him, but I knew that was unlikely. And I was right.
Rick said goodbye and headed out the door. As soon as the car started I heard "Squeak, squeak, squeak." He had wasted no time. We had caught him! I walked across the room and peeked into the hallway. "Squeak, Squeak, Squeak." There he was stuck on the trap. He couldn't fly quite far enough this time, but I was impressed with his attempt. I grabbed a bag, folded the trap on top of him, shoved him in the bag and took him to the porch to end his misery. "I'm sure glad it's garbage day." I thought to myself as I walked back inside.
