Nightmare: Crash and Guilt

I was climbing on a heavily forested mountain wearing converses. The rest of my family was with me but I was in the back. The soles of my shoes were wearing thin and rocks were poking through into my feet. I was afraid I would twist an ankle and hit myself for not wearing hiking boots.

Another family was also hiking - they were five minutes behind us - and we stopped about halfway up the mountain so they could catch up. There was a shack that looked like a bus stop from Far Cry 2, and parked outside it was a white '56 Cadillac Convertible. My father told me to drive on ahead. This seemed inadvisable considering the narrowness and steepness of the trail but I agreed. I climbed in; my father and Cody showed me how to use a stick shift. I don't actually know how; here's how it worked in the dream.

There were three pedals; from left to right there were clutch, brake, and accelerator. Just under the steering wheel was a cord with a handle attached, like the cord you pull to start a lawnmower. I pushed the clutch petal and put the car in 1st gear, then yanked the cord and tapped the accelerator to start.

I drove around the bend tentatively, trying to get the feel of a stick shift and excited to be driving such a classy car. Just over the hill, the road turned into what was basically a roller coaster. There were 30 degree inclines; I tromped the brakes but they didn't do enough. I tried to swerve left and right to slow the car a bit but it kept gaining speed; whizzing by trees on every side. I went all the way down the mountain and out into a meadowy area.

The road curved left and I went past a farm house that reminded me of one near where I go contra dancing in Placerville. Then the road ended abruptly up ahead in a massive one-story chicken coop which was in poor condition but full of chickens. I swerved left but the car skidded sideways and I broadsided the coop, sending boards flying. I heard birds clucking disapprovingly inside but I couldn't see any.

The engine had died; I frantically restarted it and started driving away. The car was dented on the outside and the accelerator pedal was shredded, but the coop had taken the worst of it. I drove up the mountain and a crushing sense of guilt came over me; I wanted so badly to go back and confess and make things right but I was just driving away (with much more control now). I passed two men walking down off the mountain. We didn't say anything but I knew they owned the coop. They might be able to put two and two together and know I had done it. But I drove on and the guilt became overwhelming - and that is why it became a nightmare.

I got to the top of the mountain. The other family hadn't arrived yet. Cody saw the damage and asked what had happened. Then I awoke, and spent the next hour wondering why I hadn't thought to apply the hand brake.