Time for some truth. I believe that most nightmares are caused by events that occurred during our waking hours. Situations such as job loss and long term unemployment create mental wounds, and for many of us, those wounds are manifested in nightmares. Sometimes nightmares are a collage of unresolved items that happened during our waking hours. After I wrote Part 3 of Nightmare….Again, I thought about what event could have caused that type of nightmare.

I did not have to think very hard. In 2007, I went on a business trip to Minneapolis. At that time the company I was working for was in danger of losing a major account. The purpose of that trip was to prevent the loss of that account. Shortly before our visit, there was a major disaster in that city. The Interstate 35W Bridge had collapsed, resulting in several deaths. As fate would have it, the hotel we booked was about six blocks away from that bridge, and the room I occupied had a birds eye view of the damaged bridge. The trip ended up a disaster: we lost the account, and perhaps it planted the seeds that eventually caused the downsizing of the company and my subsequent unemployment. Continue reading for Part III…

A few years earlier, I was visiting family in Virginia. During that trip I drove through a hurricane. The hardest part was driving over one of the bridges. It felt like the wind was going to pull the car off the road. Perhaps my mind merged those two events to create the nightmare described in my writing below.

I was beginning to wonder if these nightmares would ever end. Fortunately for me, they did. Below, is the third installment of Nightmare…Again. The Nightmare saga will conclude next week. Enjoy!

-Howard K. Young

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Part 3

I vaguely remember receiving a phone call earlier in the day where I was told that I would not be getting an offer from an employer who considered me a “top candidate.” It was just another part of my life which was not making sense. From the moment I hung up the phone, I knew that this event was going to trigger another series of nightmares. So far, in this set of strange dreams, I was unsuccessful as a butcher’s assistant. Now I am finding myself driving somewhere with a man who seemed to take a great deal of joy in belittling my abilities.

I had nearly collided with another car during a dizzy spell which placed me in this situation. As I drove I found my mind started to clear. I was beginning to get a sense of where I was, and who was in the car with me.

I was in the car with Carl Penderman; executive VP to the Chairman of the Board. We were returning from a very long meeting that did not go well. We both had different ways of looking at a problem, however someone at top management had a great idea that if I was moved into the position of Senior Manager under his leadership that we could, if we worked together, come up with an unbeatable business strategy. The problem is that we ended up fighting all the time. We ended up spending more time trying to sabotage each other than helping the company with a mutually beneficial business plan. I knew it was a matter of time before one of us would end up in a termination meeting. Right now it looked as if I did not have the upper hand.

The topography began to look familiar. We were somewhere in Maryland. I knew we were near the Key Bridge. This Bridge was built at a fairly high altitude. I would not recommend traveling on it if you had a fear of heights.

“Perhaps it would be a good idea if we switched and you drove for a while, Carl”, I stated, trying to change the subject. Just as I mentioned his name, I realize I had made a critical error.

“How many times must I tell you that you are never to address me by my first name!!!” Carl Penderman was clearly agitated. “You are to address me as Mr. Penderman if you want to get through this trip alive! Is that understood???”

“Yes sir”, I replied. I was not going to give him the satisfaction of addressing him as a Mister. “As a result of your inferior driving abilities, I have decided to take the wheel”, announced Mr. Pendermen. “Pull over to that rest stop. We will stop just long enough to change drivers.”

I began to feel very nervous as we pulled over to switch. I knew we were going over the Key Bridge. Although I did not have a fear of heights, I had a very bad feeling about what was to occur. One of the things I remember about the bridge, aside from its high altitude is that you could not see the pavement as you neared the bridge due to a steep incline in the road. In this case, however there was a good reason why you could not see the pavement. It was because there was none!

My fears were confirmed when I noticed a detour sign, that should have blocked the path to the bridge. For some reason it was taken down. Maybe it was someone’s clever idea of a prank, however I did not find it funny. Carl Penderman drove past the sign and it was clear to me that he did not see it. We were already traveling about 20 miles an hour over the 65 MPH speed limit.

“Damn it!” Mr Penderman exclaimed, “We are 20 minutes behind schedule and it is because of YOUR incompetent driving!” He stepped on the gas as we sped towards the bridge. I could no longer contain my fear. I did not care about losing my job. I stared ahead and I was sure that I saw a gaping hole where the pavement should be.

“CARL Penderman”, I tried to put some authority in my voice to hide the fear I was feeling,”Didn’t you see the sign detouring traffic away from the bridge?”

“Damn you!” he exclaimed, how many times must I tell you that you must address me as “MR Penderman! I will only tell you this once. I will not have any cowards working for me! When we get back to the office, you can consider yourself fired! We are going to be late for this meeting and lateness is something I Will Not tolerate. Do not even think of asking me to stop this car again!”

We were about to enter the bridge, and I was considering whether it would be safer to jump out of the car now or hope that we could somehow make it across the bridge. I heard a voice in my head saying “let your boss take this ride alone” but I could not move. Fear kept me in my seat. Mr. Penderman kept on driving straight ahead on to the ramp of the bridge. So far so good, the pavement is still below us. For a minute I had hoped that I was seeing a mirage and that the bridge was, in reality undamaged. My false sense of security was broken as I noticed we were driving straight towards a gaping hole! Mr. Penderman kept on driving as if it were not there! I needed to do something now!

“CARL!” I did not care whether he complained about how I addressed him. I glanced quickly at the speedometer and we were going over 120 miles per hour. I could not finish my sentence. At that moment we fell right through the hole in the road and descended towards the water below. I remember trying to scream: “Open the window before the engine conks out!” as we were falling into the river. The words, however, wood not come out. It was if I suddenly came down with laryngitis. Again and again I tried to yell, but no sound came out of my mouth. Finally, in an enormous effort, I managed to get the words out just as we hit the water…

I woke with a start and realized that the reason why the words finally came out of my mouth. It was because I was actually speaking them as I tried to wake myself from the nightmare. Fortunately, I did not wake my wife, who was sleeping soundly. I went down to the kitchen to get a glass of water. “This is beginning to become a regular occurrence” I thought. I did not know if I wanted to try to go back to sleep again, however I did not want to wake up my wife or my daughter. I could almost hear my wife saying “Howard, this has to stop!”

I decided to turn on the TV and found myself switching between the Game Show Network and the Syfy channel. The Game Show channel was broadcasting an old rerun of “What’s my line.” From the look of the show, I guessed that it was taped in 1957. The kinescope did not do the show justice. Watching the show was surreal; almost like going through a time warp. I looked at the host, John Daly, and wondered if bow-ties would ever become popular again. In some way I had hoped not. I switched back to the Syfy Channel. They were showing a Twilight Zone marathon. I had vaguely remembered the plot. It was about a criminal, who, as punishment for some crime he committed was sentenced to be the sole inhabitant of some far-away planet. A sympathetic “warden” provided him with a female android for company. I thought the actress who played the android was Anne Francis, as I had noticed the mole on the side of her lip. Although both shows were quite different, it almost seemed to make sense to watch them at this late hour.

As I sat watching TV, I wondered if these strange dreams would ever end, I struggled to find some logic as to the meaning of the strange dreams.

Next: The conclusion: What does it all mean?

Good Hunting to all.

-By Howard K. Young, Contributing Writer & Member of The 405 Club.

View all of Howard’s posts here.