I was flying to Florida with a group of scientists and explorers, all dressed like they had just jumped off the set of one of the Jurassic Park movies. We were going to investigate a large, ancient burial ground that had been found near the Florida Everglades, which had started to dry up due to some severe drought. The plane was packed, and the flight was long. Even though it should only have been an hour long flight, we kept flying back and forth across the US, only landing to fuel up. None of us knew why, and the flight staff and captain never told us anything about it.
Finally, we landed, and we were st, what looked like the Grand Canyon. We were confused, but the captain assured us that we were in Florida and that the drought had been so severe, that it completely dried up the swampy waters, and revealed underwater canyons that were nearly a mile deep. We were skeptical but went along with it.
There was a stand when we got off the plane that had rental quads, and we each got our own. My four-year-old son was suddenly beside me, and I went to put him on my quad but was told everyone had to have their own. They rented him a small one, and we lagged behind everyone else, as I held onto his quad with one of my hands so he wouldn’t go driving off the canyon.
We kept going higher and higher, as though climbing a mountain, as opposed to going down into the canyon, and the terrain was very rocky and difficult. Finally, we reached a large plateau, where a large, square, stone building sat. The guide who had been leading us told us that we were going to take a break, and we all followed him inside the building, which was actually a Target store. He handed each of us a $100 bill and told us to buy whatever we needed.
I held my son’s hand, and walked through the store, accompanied by another woman, and her teenage son, who were both wearing khaki-colored Australia Zoo shirts. I asked them if they knew the Irwins, and they looked at me weirdly and said they had never heard of them. They then walked away. I filled my basket with snacks and small toys for Liam. When we went back toward the front of the store, I couldn’t find the others that we had come with. I even had them paged, but no one ever came.
I talked to the manager of the store, and she was in the process of telling me there was a helicopter coming to transport some people, and we were welcome to hitch a ride to wherever we needed to go, but there was also a storm coming, and it might be dangerous…
And then, I woke up.
My Life as Jan 