Showdown at the toystore, and Radical Christians Dreams

I was in a mall. Actually, this one started out like Back to the Future 2, but was every bit as confusing as that movie, so I'm just going to skip to the mall. I was either a police officer, or watching one. There were a lot of police officers in this particular mall. And it's a good thing, because there was a man with a gun, and he started freaking out, waving it around and (possibly) shooting at people.

I remember hitting the ground behind one of those big potted plants to avoid being hit. I remember thinking, "less surface area, less chance of being hit." I didn't leave, though (all the shoppers were out of there pretty quick) because I was either a police officer, or watching one.

The crazy guy ended up in the toy store (I think it was Kay-Bee). The other police officers and I followed him in. Someone pulled down the little gate thingie (that they put down when the store closes) so the guy wouldn't be able to get out. But then I thought, "That's kind of dumb. Now if he really goes crazy, we can't get out, either." So someone put in the key and opened the gate back up.

I went to the back of the room to see if the guy was hiding there. All I found was this girl; she reminded me of a bunch of different people, but mostly Eliza Dushku (sp?). She motioned to me that the guy was hiding there. But she was just talking to him, since he didn't know we were there, keeping him calm. And then I guess the other police officers went in and got him.

The whole thing was kind of scary, but not as much as you might think.

***

I was watching a special on TV, and then ended up being inside it (which often happens). It was about one of those radical Christian families, you know the kind with like 15 kids who are all home-schooled and not really allowed to interact with society (I'm going to attribute this one to the fact that I saw a clip of Oprah talking to the mothers from one of those cults in Texas or wherever; also, the mom looked like the mom from 15 Kids and Counting, which I've seen a lot of commercials for while I watch What Not to Wear).

So I was suddenly visiting the family. One of the sons was only allowed to eat pomegranate seeds (?!) because they were supposed to keep him away from the Devil.

Some of the kids were playing football in the yard, but they had to imagine they were receiving the ball from someone else because they didn't have anyone else to play with.

I went for a ride with one of the boys and his dad in their truck. We were driving through the forest. We saw all kinds of animals, and they were all really big. Specifically, I remember seeing some coyotes and a giant anteater.

I went back to the house and one of the sons offered me some cookies (they weren't allowed to eat Cheetos, but they were allowed to eat chocolate cookies). I think I took about 3 cookies. The mom seemed kind of shocked by this, but I told her it was okay, because I don't have cookies that often. Then the son took one of my cookies and fed it to his dog. I told him that chocolate isn't good for dogs, and also it isn't very polite to offer someone a cookie and then take it away.

Then they started doing a TV interview. One of my professors (N) called in to the show and was clearly very disturbed by the way these people lived (I don't know N's thoughts on religion, but I would not be surprised if he acted like this in real life). He was trying to explain to them the merits of science, to show them that all the things they explain by religion can be explained by science. But I think he got kind of carried away (he was mad) and wasn't that effective in communicating with them. So I decided to take a different approach.

I sat down with the mom and tried to talk to her. First I asked her what evidence she had that the things she believed were true, but she managed to side step that question. All I got from her was that she had been "lost," and then she met (I wasn't sure if it was her husband or God) and wasn't lost anymore. I noticed that she and I were wearing similar nail polish.

My friend J was there suddenly, and he asked them if they thought they were going to all get on a spaceship and fly away. I told him that these people weren't like that; that was a whole other cult thing.

I explained to the mom that my family was doing just fine, despite the fact that we were allowed to eat Cheetos. I told her how all 3 of the kids in my family had gone to college, how we are all doing really well. She seemed pretty amenable to what I was saying. Then I woke up.