I’ve had some variation of this dream about 3 or 4 times over the years. The small details are always different, but the setting is always exactly the same.
Some dream friends and I are stuck in terrible traffic on top of a bridge. The bridge, which is a vital means of transportation for thousands of people, is in the process of having a middle section repaired. The whole section needs to
as unclear a diagram as they come
be replaced, so there is a large gap between one side of the bridge and the other. Rather than closing the bridge and using one lane on the other bridge for the traffic, the highway officials opted for a much more complicated and dangerous way of managing the commute; moving each car individually across the empty space via a sheet of metal suspended by a floating crane. The commuters are largely left to their own wits to get across the bridge – except for the operation of the crane by a worker below, every driver must drive their own car onto the sheet of metal and ensure that the car is perfectly set on the sheet so that there is no danger of the car sliding off into the water.
Eventually it becomes our turn to cross the gap. None of us have ever crossed the bridge using the lift before, so we have no idea what to do. As the crane swings the lift back over to our side of the bridge, I notice that there no obvious way to secure the car to the lift. Not a single strap, just a sheet of metal and the cables supporting it. I slowly drive the car onto the lift and we all get out and stand on the lift, holding onto the cables so we don’t slip.
The cran begins to move us, and almost immediately the lift begins to wobble. About 10 feet from our side of the bridge, the lift shifts backwards, tossing the car, my friends and myself into the water below.
After the sheer terror of falling, we all surface and catch our breath. We swim over to the beam supporting the bridge and pull ourselves up on it.
this might be a little better than the other one
Looking up through the hole in the bridge above us I see that there is no one left on the bridge. The crane operator is gone as well. There isn’t a boat in sight. And the water goes on for what seems like forever – not a spot of visible land.
I start to think of ways to get back up the bridge, but there is no way short of climbing the concrete pillar, which is impossible. I give up on planning and retract into isolation, just hoping that someone will come by and rescue us. It’s a feeling of total hopelessness that I’ve only ever felt in a dream. I suppose I could look upon that as a good thing.
Tags: car accident, construction, dreams, old dreams
