An account

I am on the west side of Barton Springs Pool and it is late...or early.not really sure but the surroundings are dark. The normal fences that encompass the pool do not seem to be effective barriers any longer as I watch a police car drive along the edges of the pool, patrolling the area for vandals and hooligans. I happen to know someone is across the pool from where I am standing and I wonder if the officer will notice and what he may try to do to stop the person. As I am thinking this he turns on his spotlight and shines it across the way. Unfortunately his bean does not illuminate the person I can see and the officer eventually gives up his search. While his light is on I can see his face and I recognize the officer as a man I know, a police officer in real life. I do not often get to see him in uniform and he appears more...sturdy, than I am used to seeing him. As he begins to drive off I turn on my small but powerful LED flashlight and point it across the pool. It is beam is far brighter than the officer's spotlight, I note with a mix of pride and sadness, and I can clearly see every detail, including the man lurking across the pool. He is dissheveled, tall and thin, and wearing a light grey casual business suit. His facial hair suggests he has not seen a mirror in quite some time and I suspect he in on the run from someone or something, a feeling which grows as I see him protectively clutching an object to his chest as though he feared its loss. Out of kindness or pity I turn my light off but I can still see the man, the darkness which previously seemed pervasive now replaced by an odd twilight effect. I know this cannot be real but I do not seem to be bothered by it all that much. I wake up and the dream is replaced by the sound of traffic and construction equipment operating half-a-block away. Just a tiny dream.