I'm just pulling up to a day-care center that's in a large house, in a nice neighborhood, probably Central area. It's got a big double (or triple) driveway and a high brick wall - not too high, maybe 6 feet, but enough I can't see what's going on beyond it. Several vehicles are parked here, and I pull up behind a car on the left, where I can see through the gate. There's a large garage or other outbuilding straight ahead. I see some men (presumed) with hoods on, and guns - 4 of them, I think, and one of them is towing a kid with him, maybe 8, 9, 7? Shorts, brown shoes, striped T-shirt, dark hair. Clearly this is a kidnapping, and I'm about to be right in the middle of it. Looking around as casual as I can be, I back out of the driveway, trying to be ever so quiet. [Notwithstanding that a car always makes the same amount of noise.] They don't notice me. They're very occupied, and I'm being careful not to draw attention to myself. I figure I'd better go call the police. Once on the street again, I see there are a couple of other people - they look like "punks", dressed very colorful, punk-rock cliche, orange Mohawk on one, etc. They're standing further down the street, as if they were lookouts, and in fact they accost another car that's driven down the street and stopped at the Stop sign. They threaten, then start beating on the car with these heavy sticks they're carrying. (They don't have guns.) I pause, wondering what to do next. The guys with the guns will be out soon, I've got to get away. I wonder why the person in the car doesn't just drive off. [I also have the impression that the driver is on the right-hand side of the car.] That's what I figure I'd do. The masked guys come out on the street now, and I poke around in the car as if I've lost something; anything to keep them from thinking I've seen them. So I drive on down the street and avoid the punks, and now I've got to call the cops. I think, maybe I should just drive to a police station - where is one? The only one I can think of is the substation on Northwest Highway - that's too far. Just find a phone. For some reason I'd rather phone from somebody's house, and rather than stop at a pay phone maybe I should go to Dan & Lynn's house - is it closer than mine? No, not really, better go home. (These thoughts are being thunk near the corner of Central & Mockingbird, where the Eckerd and La Madeleine are.) So I get home. I live in a really nice house on a really nice street, west of Central, in the Townships. Green street, lots of tall green trees, thick grass, big bushes. It's not bright sunlight here like it was before, it's overcast, been raining, trees are dripping. (My house is gray brick or stone, with a dark green, low roof - lots of weathering but in excellent condition.) I pull into the driveway and notice something's wrong. My word, there's a whole new house on my lawn! It's smaller than my house, but no little cabin. It faces my house, it's set back next to the sidewalk and a tall bush/tree-thing is near its front door. It looks like stone; not a match for my house (except in color), but a nice fit in terms of style. It looks as if someone meant it to look like a manor house in the woods, out of the Middle Ages. But how could it have been built so fast? It wasn't here yesterday, I've got no idea how it got here. This is ridiculous. I get out of the car, figuring I'll take a look at it, but I hesitate. Those masked kidnappers may have followed me, you know - this whole thing is very suspicious, it could be a trap. I go up to the door very carefully - the door is open, and I'll take a peek inside. There's a mailbox next to the door, I can see now, and there's a white corner of something showing in it. Will this explain something? I can see through the door that there's a pool in the whole visible end of the front room - a sort of landscape affair, I guess you can bathe or relax in it, but I think really it's meant to suggest a sylvan glade with a nice pool, for the look and sound of it. Now that I'm close enough to see, it's not stone at all, or any such thing - it's inflated! This whole house is some sort of portable, temporary structure. How bizarre. But it looks perfect. The "stone"-look isn't like big stones, but more like shale; layered rock, and I feel it, it feels molded. Geez this thing must have been expensive. I take the envelope out of the mailbox - there's a card in it, and it's from Dan, Lynn, Peggy, James, Lloyd, Vince, and several of my friends. This is a present from them! [For my birthday? Not specified.] They all wanted to get together and get me something nice, they knew I'd love this. (Boy they're right!) I'm not going in, though. Not till I talk to the police and check things out - the bad guys could be lurking in there. So I go on in my front door, and wait while Rouse and Tree (who were with me in the car) take their own sweet time getting in the house. Rouse comes in once, then goes back out before I can get Tree to come in. Alleycat (who didn't go with us) waits by the door with me. He's not sure he wants to go out.