Tragedy and Injustice

I’m in a motel. I look out my window, I see a plane about to crash into a hotel/house next door. I’m on the phone with Hope? Or someone else? And I freak out over the phone. “Have you SEEN this? You will see this on the news in one second.”

I gather with the other motel people, after just staring out my window for a long time, trying to guess if we have to evacuate or if we’re okay where we are. I ask people about it, ask if we can stay, etc. I’m think, I should move my car. I see it in the middle of the parking lot alone, so I go move it to the other end of the parking lot, away from the crash.

Then I’m at Aunt Elaine’s or maybe in the hotel with Aunt Elaine and extended family. There are other people there, maybe relatives from Uncle Mark’s side? They walk in the door, and I see a baby who's soooo cute. I ask to hold her. But then I look down and see she has an extra leg. I’m so so sad for this baby--I realize then that her parents don’t take good care of her. If they did, they would’ve removed this extra leg by now. So I hold this baby (although she's more like a 9-month or year-old baby) the whole time these relatives are over, cuz I want to make sure the baby feels loved.

Later … or earlier. I’m at a McDonald’s in the hotel and I order a hamburger happy meal. I feel like the guy kinda judges me for getting a happy meal but he puts the order in anyway. I wait a little bit, then the guy puts a bowl of soup (it’s like, a really good-looking bowl of soup. Not something McDonalds would do. It’s like a cheesy, thick something that looked really good, in a clay bowl) and a salad on the tray. I say, umm that looks good but I ordered a happy meal. The guy says, I’m sorry … but he doesn’t correct it right away. He says, we have to wait on these people in line now. If you go to the end of the line you can place your order again. I’m like THAT’S CRAP--it’s your fault you messed it up, why should I have to go to the end of the line? Then I see Melody, in line for McDonald’s? Or maybe in line for another restaurant? Or maybe just in the food court area at the hotel? I think YAY I haven’t seen Mel for awhile, and now I have a great outrageous story to tell her. I say, “Mel, I just experienced an INJUSTICE. You need to hear my story!” She was on her way to some important conference or meeting or something, but she wanted to hear this story. So we walked to another section of the hotel, toward her meeting, and as we walked I told her the McDonald’s story. And she had her great Melody reaction: "That IS an injustice. They can’t get away with that!!"

Then she has to go, I say bye, I look at this other room where people are meeting. (It was more like a retreat center than a hotel now. It’s cozy and cute with old couches, like in a cabin.) I notice that it’s Giles, Deb, Karin, and like eight Spanish kids. I immediately hug Giles, Deb, and Karin, and I then I remember they were going to be there for only a day. “I’m like oh right, I’m sad you’re only here for a day, but I’m glad I got to see you.” And then I meet some of the Spanish kids.