The Glassless Tank

Albino dolphins. Why are they so pale? They don't have red eyes but rather human eyes, as though the rest of them were once normal too. I'm in a car full of strangers yet somehow I know them. I'm in the passenger's seat and I'm busy trying to convince the driver (male) that going in is not a good idea. We're going down what appears to be a water slide and wet, rubbery bodies are squeaking against the car as we muscle our way through. The car is in no condition to go any further--the engine should have stalled by now but it keeps going against my protest. I'm in the middle of explaining the dangers when we are face to face with a miniature shark. The head is icepick shaped and it's ominously close to our from window. 

  Now we're in an airy room with a large tank. I realize that it's the dolphin show tank and find an audience is already gathered and watching the show above me. I walk around the perimeter of the tank and spot yet another tank on the side. The dolphin inside is forlorn and falling apart like an overused sponge. As I slowly climb up a flight of stone steps, the scene changes above water, revealing a penguin show. The penguins are lined up with their trainer. She's in a royal blue polo shirt with a whistle in her mouth. I look above her; there is a curious polar bear, pacing his cage. He jumps and the hill shifts. The bear comes rolling down the hill to join the penguins at their master. No one moves. I'm taking shallow breathes waiting to see what happens next. The bear noticed that there is an escape--the side panel of his new environment is missing and he is inexplicably free. Unfortunately, the open side is nearest me and the bear soon spots dinner--me. I panic and start climbing frantically up the large stairs that turn into a slope of boulders. I'm slowing down and the panic within heightens; the bear is closer than ever despite in manic attempts to escape it. I stand up looking around for a way out. The audience remains seated and watches the chase as though it were a part of the show. I look down and notice a hallway. It looks like a lab.

  I wake up with the distinct memory of having had jumped. It takes me a moment to process the dream but when I do I realize that what I had just imagined was the prequel to my original dolphin dream. I'm torn between relief, awe and fright as I realize that my mind has played out an entire nightmare from start to end in a non-chronological order. Like a Quintin Tarentino film. Creative yet creepy. It's 5a and I can't go to sleep after this thought crosses my mind.