I just call it the City.  It is a place that I have dreamed about for many years.   Recently the dreams have increased in frequency.

     It is huge, and the central area is old and decaying with crumbling red brick buildings and dark alleys.  It is always night when I visit the decaying inner area, and the street lights, when present, are dim and yellow, except for some areas which have brilliant green halogen lamps.  I wander the dim streets and pass through the maze of hallways in the buildings, climbing down steep stairways with no rails, past stained walls dripping with moisture.  

    The people in the decaying area are furtive with shadowed faces.  They wander the passageways also on missions of their own.  They rarely speak.  Sometimes I pass dim rooms which are filled with their quiet presences.   I look in but can’t make out exactly what they are doing.  There is always a hint of forboding and danger mixed with a strange expectation.

   There are other more normal areas of the city.  The buildings are well kept and the people appear normal going about their business.  In my dreams I only visit these areas in the daytime.  Last night in my dream,  I was in an expensive looking area with upscale buildings and thick, milling crowds.  There was an amusement area and the crowds seemed in a light mood.  I heard two ladies talking, however, about something so bizarre that it changed the entire atmosphere in my dream…from light to very strange.

    Over the many years that I have been dreaming of this strange city, I have lived in several places, each in different neighborhoods.  I have also had several jobs, and I have attended different universities in the city. 

    I have only recently realized that all these dreams over the years have been about the same place…the same city.  I realized this as the frequency of these dreams increased.  That’s when I began just calling it the City.