Morning of October 11, 1968. Friday.

A group of about four or five unknown men (seemingly with my help at first, before I become a “non-character” in my own dream) trap an Eryops on a deserted, isolated island (possibly near Florida or within the state of Florida in a very large lake) by building a wooden shed around it while it is sleeping. However, when it wakes up, it is easily able to smash through with only a couple movements of its body and tail and escape. I see boards flying out from the outer walls of the small building and feel a sense of imminent danger. I watch the men leaving quickly in a canoe as the creature is escaping but is not yet a threat. There is a sense of awe and unpleasant surprise but I would not call this a nightmare as I seem to only be observing the scene without being fully in-dream when the danger starts and unfolds - even though I seem to be in the canoe at one point, looking back, though possibly not fully in-body.

On one possible level (if “interpretation” is warranted here), this seems to be indicative of seeing myself not wanting to be “kept indoors” during school hours and so I also see myself as a powerful creature so that I may easily escape such a scene. I did not always feel “trapped” in school though I often did not want to be there, either. However, it may also imply the completely different “interpretation” of trying to keep a (potentially aggressive) school teacher in their place and out of my non-school-based night to night family life. The first association here seems a lot more likely to me.

Then again, it may also represent the dreaming process itself, using the metaphorical monster bursting out of the building to reflect the self escaping the confines of my (somewhat limiting) dream’s scene on the isolated “dream island” of the subconscious.