I'm in the Business Office, watching Bonnie in another room - she's been called to some kind of meeting and someone is talking. There's a lot of other folks there too, and I can't easily slip in and tell her I'm going out to the drugstore for the rest of my lunch hour. (They're not for the most part sitting around a table or anything, she's sort of perched on a desk and a lot of people are standing up.) A storm is coming up outside and I figure it's now or never, so I get up as close as I can and wave at her. She looks around and I quickly stage-whisper. She says okay, and this other guy from the office says he'll go with me (did Bonnie suggest it?). I don't really want him to, he'll only slow me down - I only have 10 minutes left, and I've been getting antsy about it. [Note: I'm aware in the dream that I really can't make it in 10 minutes, but- I ignore it and try to pretend.] As we're putting our coats on, the storm is increasing, huge claps of thunder and incredible winds. It's pretty stupid to go out there but I'm determined to get away. We're putting on big trench coats like big-business city people - and we're in an office that has old-style metal desks and file cabinets, blinds on the windows, it's a fairly small place. There are swinging doors up at the head - that's where Bonnie went through to the meeting. We're on bicycles now, and we're not going to a drugstore after all, but an antique-restoration place. There's four of us: me, Jenny, Heather, and the guy - unless he's a totally different guy, he's more of a pal now, and he's black now. Tall. We're in the antique place. It's cramped in this little room, with a high yellow light and a cluttered counter. The repairman is middleaged, got some white hair, friendly but quiet. Jenny has brought a piece to him, it's brass or bronze, has pieces [maybe it's a clock]. He examines it, thinking, nods his head, takes it into an adjacent workroom. We chat while we wait, and Heather is looking at something she has with her, a thing with pieces, some of which are pressed glass, a light blue. I take a piece of it to look at, and it's cracked, which surprises me. [This thing may be some kind of lantern.] I say this guy might be able to repair it - there's some other damage - why don't you ask him? She says she might, and I'm thinking of the time too - we need to get back to work. Now we're all back on our bikes, going back a different way than we came, and I'm concerned about it - I hope we don't get lost, or it doesn't take twice as long. We're going down residential streets, very nice, tall trees on each side, mostly shaded from the branches overhead, nice houses. We chat as we ride along, we're having a good time. We come to some stores and/or a restaurant. We ride by the side of one, on the sidewalk, and I'm carefully going around the corner when I see a little boy on a little bike, he's just starting off with a sister and Mom (I'm not sure if Mom's on a bike), and as I go right by him he starts to fall over. He reaches out in a bit of panic, and I grab him just as he's going forward and the bike can't be stopped. [He's probably about 7 - shorts, flowered short-sleeved shirt, sneakers, blonde hair, nice-looking.] I've got his arm, and even though I can't prevent him falling down, I'm easing him down so he doesn't go splat. The bike falls on him, on his rear, but it's not heavy, so it's not doing any damage. I pluck it off of him with my other hand (I'm still straddling my bike) and set it off to the side, then I give him support to stand up. He seems a little surprised, but none the worse for wear. Relieved. His mother says he should thank me, which he does nicely, and I say I'm glad I could help (or some such thing), very cheery, and we pedal on. The incident is reminding me of something, and suddenly I remember we're not wearing helmets. I point this out to the others, saying we might to be careful. (Of course, none of us thought to wear a helmet because we don't care about them, but they did pass that city ordinance. Now I'm self-conscious.)
We're still in the neighborhood, and we come to a corner where a group of people are outside, all dressed up in costumes - mostly fanciful, like SCA or fantasy - one girl seems to be Morticia Addams-like. There's something like a garage sale going on [though I think it's more than that], and we know a few of these people somewhat, so we stop and talk to them. Inside, Jenny's met up with somebody she knows well, and she's hitching a lift back with him. (It seems to be Mel Torme - he's here, but she hasn't said it was him.) [There are big tables in here, piled with big things like maybe carpet rolls or something. It's a bit musty and there's a yellow light, as from a single bulb. Warm.] I say, "You don't want to ride with us on such a nice day?" - I've been teasing her for some time about keeping up the pace, are we going too fast for you?, etc. She says, "I'm a needy smoker - I've got to have a cigarette". We all laugh, tease a little more, we plan our next route.