Trailer-Up-a-Tree Dream, The

Dad
April 7, 2003

—By Father DavidDO 1217July 1980

1. WE WERE HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME TRYING TO FIND OUR WAY THROUGH THESE COUNTRY ROADS, but we finally came to this place where we were all camped out on this beautiful hilly woodsy spot near a lake. Our number was probably two or three hundred. I'm sure this is all symbolic, not necessarily literal, because I can tell you the symbolism later.

2. WE WERE ALL SITTING OUT IN THE WOODS ONE NIGHT WATCHING THIS MOVIE that we were projecting on our projector‚ you know, like for the whole camp. It was a little hard to see the picture through the trees, but the sound was quite loud, & pretty soon I was afraid it was going to disturb the neighbors. So I told them to shut it off, that it was time to go to bed.

3. ABOUT THAT TIME THESE TWO CARS STARTED DRIVING SLOWLY THROUGH THE CAMP, one was a police car, Sheriff's car, & it's funny‚ they both looked kind of dilapidated like the kind country Sheriffs have. Anyhow, the Sheriff's car was leading the way & just drove slowly through the camp & this other car was following it like they were looking around. They didn't stop to talk to anybody‚ only I had a feeling like they were maybe looking for me.

4. SO I TOLD THE CROWD TO SCATTER & everybody take off & get lost, so to speak, & I walked slowly through the woods in the dark. I was wondering what had happened, what had become of the two cars, & I decided I'd better just be cautious & walk in the dark through the woods back to my place, which turned out to be a nice big comfortable luxurious trailer in the top of a tree! (Maria laughs: A trailer in the top of a tree?) Yeah, yeah! What's so funny about that?—Ha! Haven't you ever seen a trailer in the top of a tree? (Maria laughing: No!)

5. SO I CLIMBED UP THE LADDER IN THE DARK TO A SPORT OF LITTLE TREEHOUSE LANDING‚ like a little screened porch just outside the trailer door. I crawled up into it through sort of a trap door & decided I'd better not turn on any lights & attract any attention or anything. I thought I'd just lie down there on the floor to rest a minute & listen to see what had happened before I tried to open the trailer door.

6. AND I WAS JUST LYING THERE RESTING thinking about everything that had happened when all of a sudden I realized there was somebody else lying there too! This fellow looked like an attorney or lawyer, sort of a big fat fellow lying on the floor, & he said, "Hi, I've been looking for you!"

7. HE SAID, "DIDN'T YOU KNOW YOUR BROTHER DIED OF THAT OPERATION?"—And he gave this big long technical medical name for whatever it was, the disease & the operation. I think he said something about "enteritus" or something, but I can't remember the name. And he said, "You know that operation he was going to have?"—and that's when I remembered that I'd heard this before, about him having the operation!

8. I MUST HAVE GOTTEN IT IN A PREVIOUS DREAM & FORGOT IT! But I remember distinctly being told, "Your brother's going to have a very serious operation & he might not live through it!"—somebody told me‚ like an angel or something! Lord forgive me, I don't know whether I prayed very much for him. I remember I thought about him at the time & prayed for him when I was told, but I didn't even remember it after wards, isn't what something? And I thought at the time, "Well, if he dies‚ he's quite an old man & that'll relieve him of all his problems"—of which he had many, including a lot of unpaid debts & whatnot!

9. SO THIS GUY SAYS, "YEAH‚ & YOU'RE THE ONLY REMAINING NEXT OF KIN that can be held responsible for his debts!" I said, "Yes? What about his wife?" He said, "Well, technically‚ legally she divorced him, so neither she nor her children are responsible; & your sister is an indigent on welfare pension so she can't be held responsible. You're the only one that we can go after!"

10. FINALLY I SAID‚ "THAT'S FUNNY! WELL, LET'S GET UP & GO INSIDE, shall we, where it's a little more comfortable." He said‚ "That's find with me!" So I opened the trailer door & we went into this nice living room, very comfortable nice sort of U-shaped salon, cushioned seats & so on, & sat down.

11. AND ALL OF A SUDDEN I FELT THAT THE TRAILER WAS MOVING‚ & I looked out & we were rolling along at quite a rapid rate! Some kind of truck had been hitched up to us & was taking off! I said, "What in the world's happening?" "Well," he said, "you know‚ we have to confiscate everything that we can get ahold of to try to help pay his debts, & your trailer is one of the things we were able to find!"—Ha!

12. ISN'T THAT A CRAZY DREAM?! I was so astonished & dumbfounded & just absolutely amazed that here the trailer was rolling rapidly along, seemed to be flying by, with this guy's truck hitched up! And he was just taking it all very calmly as a matter of course & was acting very friendly about it, in fact, sort of like, a "Well,—I'm-sorry,—but-you-know-how-it-is" attitude, a little like "It's just my job‚" you know? And the trailer taking off & starting to roll rapidly evidently woke me up, & I woke up!—Ha!

13. AND I WAS THINKING, WELL, I WAS CERTAINLY INTERESTED TO KNOW MY BROTHER HAD PASSED AWAY & it reminded me that I had heard it before, & I wanted to ask you as soon as you woke up if you had told me that or if you had gotten that in the mail or something that he was going to have an operation? (Maria: No.) Are you sure? (Maria: No, we never heard that before.) Because I was absolutely certain that I'd heard it before, except before I'd been told he was going to have this very serious operation, & he might not live through it. And now this fellow told me he had it & he'd passed away, he didn't survive it. So maybe so.

14. I THOUGHT IT WAS KIND OF FUNNY THEY WERE GOING TO HOLD ME RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS DEBTS. I mean, that could be a legal possibility but of course since there's absolutely nothing in my name, they never could possibly pin it on me, so that doesn't bother me. It was kind of funny. I got to thinking about that first.

15. I THOUGHT, WELL‚ IN SOME WAYS IT'S RATHER SYMBOLIC ABOUT THE FAMILY, how they sort of fled into the wilderness & scattered for fear of the System. And the movie we were showing was sort of like our message—you couldn't see it too clearly for the trees, but the message of it was loud & clear, the sound track was very loud & clear.

16. IT'S ALMOST LIKE THE WAY WE PREACH IT, I don't come out in the open & proclaim it, but from behind the trees & through the bushes. But the words, the sound, was very very clear, although you couldn't see it very clearly. And then when the System came along looking for me, we all melted into the woods, so to speak.

17. AND MY TRAILER BEING UP A TREE WAS SORT OF SYMBOLIC! It's sort of like my hideout, you know‚ I'm sort of up a tree & hiding! But it also shows that it wasn't so much the officers of the law, but if enemies or creditors or debtors or somebody wants to find you, they can find you if they try hard enough, you know? (Maria: Yes, if the Lord allows them.) Even how they were informing me of my brother's death. I thought that part was kind of a warning to stay up the tree, so to speak, & to stay out of sight so they still couldn't find me & hold me responsible for anything.

18. AND THE FACT THAT THE LATE NIGHT MOVIE WAS BOTHERING THE NEIGHBORS WAS A WARNING to watch out that our message doesn't bother the neighbors too much. I guess that would be a good title, huh? Although I certainly wouldn't want to publish it! Anyhow, for the sake of labelling the tape, we can call it "The Trailer up a Tree!"

19. IT'S FUNNY‚ I WAS ALWAYS CRAZY ABOUT TREE HOUSES WHEN I WAS A KID, I liked the feeling of being able to hide up there where nobody knew where I was & I had almost a feeling of superiority! I was above the rest of the World & unseen, hiding out, & they never even knew I was there.

20. IT'S KIND OF SYMBOLIC OF WHAT WE'RE DOING RIGHT NOW! I could see down & watch them & look at them & I could see what they were doing, but they couldn't see what I was doing! I used to be crazy about tree houses, I built several & I'd even sleep up in them overnight. So if Ur up a tree‚ maybe U'd btr stay there?—Ha! GBAKY!