I'm with August, his family, and my friend Allen. Aug's brother and sister are much younger than in the waking world, and they look different--rounder faces and blonder hair. We are all traveling into the Siskiyou mountains near Shasta, on our way to the wedding of two mountain folk, friends of August's parents. First we stop at the family house and run around playing games with the kids. Then we continue on up the mountain road, the view of the valley below growing progressively better and more panoramic. We arrive at the family's other house and I'm surprised that it looks exactly the same as the first. We play a tag game where those tagged are added to the team of taggers. Both houses have a strange room that is sunken into the ground like a pit in the middle of the house. You can get into it by going downstairs elsewhere and walking down a hallway, or you can just jump down from the floor above. On leaving at last for the wedding, I notice August's brother, Rocky, has rigged an interesting device onto his shoulder to keep him cool in the hot weather: a bottle of water is siphoned slowly into the fabric of his t-shirt.
We arrive at the mountain peak lodge where the marriage will take place. I am introduced to all the mountain people who August and has family have known for years. The situation changes as it appears that the bride (who I haven't seen) is in labor back in the dressing room and going to give birth. While we wait to hear the outcome, I sit on a bench outside, admiring the view. In my mind I watch an internal movie with voiceover showing me who the bride and groom are and their respective life stories. I am surprised to see the bride is an Asian woman since most people in these parts are caucasian. I see the large open wooden building in which she works, a dairy or some kind of animal farm.
The groom is a stereotypical mountain hippie: long hair, long beard, marijuana farmer. I realize that I'd just met him inside the lodge, a real nice guy, but hadn't known he was the groom since he was dressed informally like everyone else. At last the news arrives from the rear of the lodge that the baby was stillborn. I wait around while only people she knows go back to be with her, including August and his family. When August returns, he says it's time to go home.