This dream is set entirely in the grounds and buildings of Torquay Boys Grammar School. This is where I gained my dubious secondary education until I left in 1996. Also throughout the dream I am accompanied by my friend Jason, although he doesn't actually feature in the dream in any way other than I just know he's there.
At the front of the main school building is a grassy area with the odd tree - it's called 'the paddock' since it was originally adjoined to the stables of Shiphay Manor which is now another school building - and it is here that my dream begins.
I am standing there talking to a female friend (noone I know in real-life although in the dream there is a feeling of a romantic connection between us. It's her birthday and so I give her a birthday card I'd bought for her. She then introduces me to her mother who is standing behind her and tells me it's her birthday too, then the school bell rings and we part to go to our respective schools - the girls grammar school is on the other side of the paddock (in real-life and the dream!).
Me and Jason enter the school through the main door into the foyer. Unlike in real-life, there is a lift in the foyer which we get to the first floor corridor. I notice, however, that on the control panel of the lift there is a picture of the birthday card I had just given. I find this a bit odd, but we carry on to our lesson.
When we get to the lesson, we're surprised to notice that the teacher is wearing a nazi-type uniform, but we think better of saying anything about it. We're also struck by the spooky good behaviour of the usually high spirited pupils; if you read 'The Demon Headmaster by Gillian Cross as I kid you'll know what I mean!
All this time I keep thinking about the birthday card in the lift, wondering why it's there, and a niggling thought keeps occurring that something was wrong with it, but I couldn't quite work out what.
The strange nazi thing continues throughout the day; all the teachers are wearing uniforms, and as time goes on the students start wearing them too and start spending their break times formation marching in the playgrounds. Slowly we become aware that we're more-or-less the only non-nazis left and it gets to the point where they're burning books outside the school and we become quite understandably nervous for our wellbeing.
I'm still aware that something's gone wrong and that it has to do with the card in the lift and then it all hits me at once. I run back to the girl from the start and get the card back... it says this on the front:
The letter 'B' has gone missing from the alphabet. Through a strange jump in logic I realise that this is because someone has been time travelling and messing with history. An unfortunate side-effect of this has been the events of 1930s Germany enroaching on the present at my school. I also know what to do. The time travel device is the lift, so I take the card, run to the lift, go back in time and run out the the paddock again.
I am utterly astonished to find my friend from the start of the dream standing there. She explains that this is her time, and the person I thought was her mother was her in my time. It was her doing the time travelling (explaining why they have the same birthday).
The details of the end of the dream are a bit sketchy too, but basically I give her the card which fixes the history problems, and travel back to my own time (which is back to normal).
Phew! I have seriously never had a dream that was that coherent before. I mean it even had links in the plot between the start and the end. It almost makes sense! I just had to node it and I hope I have more dreams this cool!