dying trees

I’m in the lobby of a lodge-type place. Or maybe it’s a lounge in the bar of the lodge. There’s a bunch of people sitting at round tables. Each table would comfortably seat four people but most tables only have two or three people. I’m alone at my table and don’t know anybody. The other people around me are older (which in dream terms would probably mean they’re my age because in dreams i’m always my inside age, not my chronological age). There’s an L-shaped ‘panel’ of seats set up behind long tables and there are even older men sitting in the chairs. There’s three seated at one table and four seated at the other table. I think there’s going to be some live music and i’m curious about the type of music that they’ll make. The man sitting in the corner of the table with four asks the audience “who likes The Beatles?” and several people in the ‘audience’ raise a hand. I get excited and jump out of my chair and go up to the table and begin to tell the men about how just the other night i was jamming with some people and we were doing nothing but Beatle’s songs. Behind me, at the three people table, a new man joins the panel. He seems very down and sad. As he’s welcomed by the group, the main talking man in the corner says something about how sorry he is that the man’s father has just recently died. I realize i know this new man - it’s Hilton Lamm. I think how awful it is for him to lose his dad when he just lost his wife not so long ago. I turn towards him and give him a hug. I can tell he doesn’t recognize me and i say to him “It’s me! Lois’ sister” but he still doesn’t seem to comprehend. I say “Lois Miller! You were a second family to her…” and he hugs me back but i don’t think he really remember me or even Lois and i feel bad for him feeling so bad.

Now i’m outside on the grounds of the lodge, riding in a small vehicle like a golf cart or a “gator” with a loud redneck woman driving. She’s giving me a tour of the property. It’s historic. The trees on the property are ancient oaks but there’s something wrong with them. They have odd bulges distorting them like giant tumors. Some of the tree tumors are the size of Volkswagen beetles. Occasionally the woman will point out little oddities hidden among the trees. She points out a tree that has had the top has been sheared off to leave a flat table top. At the top are two King Kong apes carved out of wood. They’re fighting each other. I ask the woman what animates them but she doesn’t understand my question. I ask her specifically if they run on batteries or electricity or something like that and she, understanding me now, says “electricity”. I see many moving ‘things’ up in the trees and wonder how large of an electric bill the lodge must have to keep all those things moving. We continue on the tour. The path we’re on is kind of muddy and roots from the trees make the path bumpy. The great old trees make me think of my great-grandparents farm and i tell the lady that her trees are going to die of old age soon. She vehemently denies this. I tell her again that all trees eventually die of old age even if they live for hundreds of years. She doesn’t believe that. I explain that the trees on the property are probably 200 years old and don’t have much time left (not even mentioning the blight that’s obviously affecting them). She is very upset and refuses to believe what i’m saying can be true. She’s upset but so am i because i’m remembering how great the old farm was when i was a kid but how sad it was when all the trees died and the new owner bull-dozed everything down and used the cleared land to grow corn. Just as i’m about to start crying, the tour ends back at the lodge.

I’m walking through the lodge looking for my room. I have no idea which room i’m in. I walk through an empty ?dining room and enter through a door-way with wooden stairs going up. There’s a line of people but i walk right past them. The stairway is narrow and kind of dank and dark. I round the last corner and see it’s a public bathroom with a row of seats that are also toilets all around the room. There are some “privacy” curtains between some of the seats but mostly it’s just wide open and there are all different ages of men and women seated and doing their business. I don’t want to sit down with all those people and walk back out and pass all the people in line again. I’m back in the dining room and choose another door-way. It’s got the same kind of stairs as the last place. I’m thinking it’ll get me to the second floor. As i turn the last corner in this hall a naked man passes me going the other way. He’s makes some crack about me being a woman and i realize he’s just left the shower and i don’t need to go any further. I turn around and go back to the empty dining room. I’m beginning to feel a sense of panic because i can’t figure out how to get to the upper floors where the guest rooms are. I look up and can see there are four floors and doors to the rooms open up onto the open dining room which i now notice is a “great” room. Typical lodge with a large stone fireplace at one end. I still have no idea what my room number is but notice i have a key like you used to get at old motor lodges. It’s a brass key attached to a semi-diamond shaped piece of turquoise colored plastic with a number on it. I’m on the fourth floor but I don’t know how to get to it. Just then Scott appears and asks me where i’ve been and indicates i should follow him. I follow him through another doorway as i tell him about the tour and the trees and how the tour woman wouldn’t believe me that trees die of old age.

We’ve entered a kind of room of staircases. Each staircase apparently takes you to one of the three upper floors, depending on which staircase you choose. Scott looks at my key and chooses the staircase to get to the fourth floor. Once we get on the fourth floor we go towards rooms that are away from the ones that overlook the dining room. My room is at the end of a cul-de-sac on a room facing the outside of the property where the King Kong carvings are fighting and i tell Scott to look at them because they’re cool.

That’s all i remember.