For some reason Allen and I have a pet tiger. It seems perfectly normal to me, except when the tiger kills a man or otherwise comes across human flesh and starts eating it. Then I tell Allen that we need to set it back loose in the wild. We are reluctant to do so but eventually decide to set it free in the woods. Allen drives me and the tiger up near a ski resort (there is a lot of snow on the ground) and drops us off and drives away. (I don’t know why I’m left with the man-eating tiger but it made sense that I would be in the dream).

For some reason, we let the tiger keep the person (or parts of the person) he killed so he is lying on a snowbank, partway off the road chewing on this and I’m standing on the side of the road, getting ready to leave. Suddenly, I see that the tiger is looking at me–not outright, but that he has noticed me as potential prey (this is a scary thing–we were once at this place called “The Grizzly Discovery Center”–it’s not a zoo–I loathe zoos–rather is it rescue and education center for wolves and grizzlies that cannot go back in the wild because they are a danger to humans. Anyway, they had a pack of wolves behind a fence and you could climb up on these platforms and look down on them. The wolves mostly ignored the people but when a small child would move quickly, their eyes would be right on it. It was chilling. Sorry for the digression).

I am terrified and scan the road for cars. None are coming. The tiger moves a bit closer. I start to walk. I walk, stupidly, down the hill (stupid because the last thing you want is for a big cat to believe it’s bigger than you are–although who isn’t smaller than a tiger? Or to give it the advantage of being above you) but there is nowhere else for me to go.

The tiger charges. I run.

Just then a car comes along, the driver sees what’s happening and comes to a stop between me and the tiger. I get in and we drive away. I tell the woman about the tiger as we move into a snowy valley. We pass some sort of large museum/shop for ropes and knots (!?!?!). She’s very interested in this place so she drops me at a honky-tonk so that she can go back there. We say goodbye.

When I enter the bar I’m with my friend A. (she and I were best friends through grade and high school). I’m desperate to call Allen. The bar is filled with men and they are all ignoring us. I do not tell anyone–except for A. who seems to know all of the details–about the tiger. First I want to call Allen. I have to slide my credit card through a strip in order to make a phone call on the pay phone. I keep doing it incorreclty in my nervousness. Finally, I get through but reach an answering machine. I do not leave a message.

Just as I realize that I should call his cell phone, a man comes along to use the phone. He says I have all day but he needs to get through now. He says something about nightfall and I realize that if people are outside at nightfall they’ll be killed by the tiger, a nocturnal hunter. The man has one of those big, long old-lady wallets and it’s filled with pictures of his kids. He shows the photos to me. I’m worried that he’s going to get killed by the tiger. I don’t want him to but I still don’t say anything.

When he is making his phone call, I see a flash of orange in the parking lot. The orange thing is the tiger, I think, and I watch as it latches onto the neck of a goat. There are a dozen children dressed as shepherds and other farm animals around. I yell, “There it is!” Everyone looks at me like I’m crazy. Just then I notice that it isn’t the tiger but a person in a fox custome. The goat is fine. They are all part of some pagent.

I pretend like nothing is happening and do not mention the tiger. The phone is free. Just as I am making the phone call to Allen’s cell, I wake up.

What do you make of that????