I was sixteen years old. Things had not been going well for me all week. I was an "A"student, but had just failed a chemistry test. I had just gotten my license and with my mind on my first "F", I had driven the old police car our family owned, down into our front yard. I had missed the driveway completely and it had been storming all day that Thursday. The yard was a swamp.

When my Dad got home, it started "storming" all over again, believe me. Dad wasn't happy with the deep ruts in the yard. Since the car was stuck, Dad said I had to call some of my friends to help push it onto the driveway.

The following Friday was going along much easier than the day before and my chemistry make-up test turned out a lot better. Knowing I was working at the pool's "Dip and Dance" that night, I was cheering up. I'd gotten a new pink outfit for my birthday so I chucked it on a hanger and into the back seat so I could change later.

Driving to my job at the pool, my mind wandered back to my inability to eat breakfast this morning. I had been up half the night because of an awful dream which had awakened me. My Mom was holding me, telling me I had started screaming, scaring them out of a sound sleep.

I sat on the edge of the bed last night, trying to remember what had caused me to tremble and break out into a cold sweat. Mom stayed with me until I had calmed down. In my dream, I had been dancing and singing at the pool party. My boyfriend had finally gotten there... but with another girl. She was a friend of mine! It was as if my world had ended. My boyfriend tried to apologize but I didn't have the stomach for his lies.

I asked my boss, Mr. Harmon, if I could leave early, and he said I could. Then, in my dream, I was home, and my Mom and Dad and I were huddled in the hallway. I couldn't breathe and my Dad had gotten the old gun from his closet. The next thing I remembered was the police officer sitting in our living room, with Mom and me. Daddy was holding me close, and Mom and I were crying and answering questions. Sometime during the dream, I had gotten scared and started screaming and running down the hallway. That's all I could remember.

I had been at work for an hour. The party was going great with a new band. In those days, we used to have "Battles of the Bands". It was so much fun. It was getting late and the party would be winding down soon. I had counted and sacked the money, ready for the drop-off on the way home. My dream had been forgotten, my boyfriend had come alone, and he had kissed me good-bye with a promise of a phone call later.

About an hour later, I had stopped at the bank, and I now pulled onto my parent's road. I realized I should stop for gasoline. I pulled into the station and ran inside to grab a Coke, as my car's tank was filled by a helpful attendant. Our house was only about five more miles down the road, and I was in a big hurry. "Oh no!"I thought. There were lights shining in my back window and the policeman had his signal on to pull me over. He walked up to my rolled-down window and frowned at me. "Where are you going in such a big hurry?" He asked. I knew I was in trouble so I just said,"home".

For some reason, he found that funny, and after looking at my license, he said,"You've had your license a week?" "Yes", I mumbled. He said, " I should give you a ticket, but I hate to ruin your long, clean record. Slow down and do not let me catch you again, Missy."

I was crying all the way home. I couldn't believe I had been pulled over. I put my turn signal on
when I was near the driveway and was stunned that as I turned, a car that had been behind me with their lights obviously off turned their lights on and sped by. I was wondering about the incident, but had put no great importance on it.

I had told Mom and Daddy about being pulled over and was crying as they grounded me for two weeks.

I went back into my bedroom and saw that my drapes were still open. My windows were high with crank-out frames. The crank was pulled passed where it closed, and I wondered how that had happened. I had kept the windows closed all week because of the rain. I quickly drew the curtains as my new pink Princess phone was ringing.

I knew it was John, so I knew he would let it ring to give me time to find it under the papers on my desk. I ran to the kitchen for a cookie. (first things first). Scooping up the phone upon my return, I said, "Hello!"

I will never forget what I heard next. The deep voice said to stop crying and be quiet. Then he said for me to quietly walk to the end of the driveway. He said,"Don't tell your parents, or we will shoot them!" One of us has a gun pointed at them in their front bedroom, now."

It was too late to do anything. Dad had heard me on the phone and had gone down the hallway to pick up the wall phone. He said to them,"Over my dead body she'll walk out there! The cops can get here in three minutes... We heard the scraping of the ladder falling down from the window, and the police were there in another five minutes. They found the tracks through the yard, and the garden hose reel they had moved up to my window. The police said it was an attempted kidnapping and it was a good thing Dad had heard my anxious voice through the closed door. For two weeks, I was followed by the police and they were never far from my sight. The police knew the men had meant business because there were unspent cartridges under two of the windows. All I could think about was my dream and how close it had been to my reality.

Finally, after three weeks, Officer Connell came over and asked me to look at some pictures. I looked at page after page until I saw a familiar face. He was the gas station attendant.

The police were then able to put the clues together and have enough to arrest them for felony attempted kidnapping. One of them had just gotten out of jail a month before, and they had already abducted a girl about ten miles north of here. She had escaped, and was still in the hospital. Her descriptions were very valuable because she had been under their control for weeks.
I visited with her soon after, and we have become good friends.

I have no idea why my dream was more of a premonition than nightmare, but I keep hoping I never have another.

My Dad put in new windows. My phone number became private, and I kept accusing my poor boyfriend of seeing someone else.(that was the only part of the dream that wasn't true.) Or, he'd better hope so...