Dream Journal: The Medieval Christmas Carol (December 9, 2009)

Forward: 

You are about to commence a five-part dream reenactment. This is only the first part of five! Although I have only dreamed two of the parts so far, I am pretty confident that I can force myself to finish the story.  I can tell, this is going to be a REALLY good one, possibly my best, most-meaningful dream ever!  The cast incorporates many of my family and readers of this blog, so hope it will be exciting for you to read about yourselves.  The dream will be fantastic and still be grounded in moralistic lessons throughout.

It will take a lot of time to write and probably to read, but I hope you will find it  a Christmas message worth reading.

Image Source

The Medieval Christmas Carol, Part I:

• All my siblings and their families flew into Seattle to be with my parents for Christmas and my sister's subsequent wedding.
• Mom got our family tickets to a theater performance called, "A Medieval Christmas Carol."  It was a $7 show, so it was probably going to be lame, but at least we would experience it together.
  
• Mom and Stef and I entered the theater late and sat on near the back on metal chairs.  (Metal chairs. Really? This show must really be low budget; they could have at least sprung for some decent seating.)
  
• My cousin and Stef's close friend, Sarah Ford, was sent by Heather and Noelle and their families to tell us that they had saved us seats on the front row.
  
• I stood up to move forward, but my Mom stayed back to wait for our friends, the Hiltons, who she had also invited to the production.  (There weren't enough seats on the front row for both clans.)
• Noelle ushered me to the best seat in the house—front row, middle.  "That was kind of her to reserve it especially for me," I thought, as I smiled.
  
• The curtains opened and was saw a projection screen playing an old, VHS-quality image of a wintry, country crossroads; the kind established as a trading ground and interconnection for villages.
• The production was turning out to be way beneath my expectations.  It was like they weren't even trying.  As we sat respectfully, we were startled by a voice that rang out from the center of the small auditorium.  A man dressed as medieval Santa Clause, with a crown,  shouted greetings to all in attendance and with a twinkle in his eye, cautioned us that we got more than we imagined for our money.  (I doubted it, but went along anyway.  At least it has become interactive.  Plus, not many plays break the "fourth-wall" these days.)
• "Stand up, and lend me your attention please," called the regal-looking Santa-King.
  
• This change in set was kind of like a Narnia experience, in that, there was a displaced, medieval prop—a giant, wooden crossroads marker--in the center of the auditorium, when it should have been in the scene we were being shown on the screen.  The Santa-King climbed on a raised platform directly next to the road marker.
• The road marker indicated directions and distances to five kingdoms, each represented by a different color:
• Blue - 2 miles
• Green - 1 mile
• Yellow - 1-5 miles?
• Red - 1 miles
• White - 1-7 miles?
• The Santa-King explained that we would be divided into teams and sent off to "experience Christmas as kings" in various castles & keeps throughout the land.  Nobels would be chosen to act as leaders for their keep and would be sent off first to inhabit their selected castles.  Following their departure, the rest of the audience would be assigned to one of the five teams and play the roles of family members, knights, men-at-arms, servants, courtesans and friends to their noble.
  
• We were then told the incentive for the activity: that, as members of the keep, we would be able to equally divide and keep whatever land and valuables we end up with during our time in the medieval land.
• We were warned that, like "the Prisoner's Dilemma," some nobility will be inclined to cheat you, steal from you and even go to war over your possessions, while others will try to live in synergistic harmony.
  
• (I was excited that the Tanclan [the Tanner family] represented a large portion of the small auditorium.)  While the King continued explaining the scenario, we quickly talked amongst ourselves and decided that we wanted to break up  instead of all living in the same castle.  While we talked, it started to lightly snow inside the auditorium, covering the ground and realistically meshing the auditorium set with the setting we saw moments ago on the screen.  But now, the screen projection was gone and replaced with a surreal, ultra-realistic physical set of a 3-D, medieval land.  We could hear the sea in the distance and make out one or two castles through the falling snow.
  
• The Great King then called for volunteers to serve as nobles, leaders for each keep.  Not wanting to be assigned as a toilet-fixing servant and strategically hoping that if I were picked first, there would be a greater chance for one of my family members to be picked later, I shot up my hand.
  
• "Which castle would you like, Sire?"  (WHOA?! I got picked AND I got to CHOOSE which castle I wanted? AWESOME!)  I looked at the road marker and then at the winding road that led down to the castle at the sea.  "Blue," I responded.
• "You may go, then.  And have a merry Christmas"
• I froze, waiting for some impetus to move me down the path, but nothing came.  The audience stared.  The Santa-King continued calling nobles.  Some middle-aged guy standing on the other side of the cross-roads was called to be the nobleman of the Green Castle. He came over to me with a group of cohorts.  "Looks like we're going to be neighbors.  Better lock your windows and doors," he whispered to me privately with a sinister smile.
• He was right. I was now a noble, responsible for the welfare of my entire realm. My heart raced at the thought. I ran off, stage right, chasing after the sound of the sea air...