I had a very strange dream last night. Somehow, my house key was discovered to work with a lock at two locations other than my home - the first place a 1-story building (resembling a small warehouse) that contained an item that I strongly desired (in the dream, anyway) - A Project A-Ko JAMMA board. The second was across the street - a very wide street, maybe 8-10 lanes, a larger 2-3 story building, with a door that seemingly went nowhere. The strange thing was that in order to open the small building's door, I had to first turn the key in the lock of the door of the larger building. I would then have a very small window (about 10-20 seconds) to get across the street and use the same key to open that lock. Otherwise, the lock wouldn't open - similar to needing 2 keys and 2 people to launch a nuclear missile.

I remember making several attempts to unlock the door, running back and forth across the street, and missing the window each time - because of traffic. However, as night approached, traffic started to thin out, and I almost made it across - just missing the time window.

Night had fallen quickly. It was already dark, and the streetlights were starting to turn on. I could, however, see traces of light from the setting sun just beyond the horizon. I was either disoriented, or on another world, as the sun seemed to be setting in the east. After some thought, I discovered that I was just disoriented.

I had noticed that a police car just parked down the block from the small warehouse-like building. I got nervous, but then realized that even though it was not my building; I had a key, and was not breaking and entering. I had nothing to worry about, aside from looking like a lunatic running back and forth across the street. I finally was able to open the door after running across the street once more, because the traffic had finally let up.

As I opened the door and went inside, I noticed that the time of day had changed. Sunlight was pouring in as it does in the early morning or just before noon. I was actually in some sort of courtyard, a walled area surrounding what appeared to be a loading dock. There was a small body of stagnant water, which must have been quite deep, because there was actually a small bridge spanning the water. There were old fallen leaves all over, floating on the water, covering the bridge, and a large pile of leaves in the center of the bridge. There were also some small dogs roaming about.

One of the dogs, a scruffy looking dirty white dog, approached me. It was still a puppy, and seemed friendly, so I reached out to pet it. The dog seemed happy to have my attention. I also started hearing a voice, telling me that someone had fallen into a cold sleep. I got the urge to look at the pile of leaves. I approached the leaves at the center of the bridge, moved some of them, and found a dead gray dog. It seemed to have died of old age, from the looks of it. It also must have died recently, since there was no foul odor. I assumed that this old dog had taken care of the others, until its death.

I suddenly remembered why I came here in the first place, and I entered the main warehouse-like structure. I had been there before, in search of the Project A-Ko JAMMA board, but I couldn't remember when or how - only that it had been dark, and that I couldn't pull out the board from its place under some construction debris, that I was too weak to move the debris, and that I had to leave quickly. But it was different now. There was intense sunlight everywhere - even inside the building! It was like the building had no roof! I returned to the spot where the JAMMA board was, under the construction debris. I still couldn't get it out, because the board was trapped by the debris.

I tried to move the debris, and I was actually able to this time! I cleared a path to pull out the board, and as I pulled it out, the sunlight inside the building quickly faded. After my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I barely made out the words "Project A-Ko" on a sticker on the board. I felt like I hit the jackpot, even though I knew that the board had little monetary value. I returned to the courtyard where the sun still shone brightly, put the board in my backpack, and made to leave the area altogether. I tried to see if the police car was still down the block through a window in the entrance wall, but the window was too dirty to see through.

The dirty white puppy ran to me, and pretty much clung to me, so I pet the puppy some more. I could tell that the puppy wanted to come with me, while the other puppies roaming the area seemed indifferent. My heart went out to the puppy - I wanted to take it with me as well, but couldn't. I had no way or means of taking care of the puppy. I told the puppy this, and it looked sad. As I resumed my exit, I started feeling guilty for taking the JAMMA board.

Even though I had come specifically for the board, I suddenly felt like I was stealing it. I opened my bag, removed the board, and placed it on the ground. Things started to get fuzzy, like the sun started shining brighter. I was probably waking up. I made my way to the door which I originally entered from, and my dream ended as I exited through the door.