42 Dreams of Arizona Bay

I’ve had tornado dreams ever since I was a child. They’re not recurring dreams, in that they’re not the same one, with the same tornado.
The circumstances of the tornado are always different. I’m almost never afraid, but always curious. Often, there are multiple tornadoes, sometimes in all directions. Sometimes I can hear them, and always compare them to the sound that they’re said to make.
In my dream, I usually will say to someone, see, I knew those tornado dreams meant something.

As I’ve had these dreams for more than 20 years, that becomes less and less believable with time. Sometimes I even almost wake myself up, or say it with half a laugh, as if on some level I recognize that this is just a dream too. And apparently, if you realize you’re dreaming, you’re supposed to wake up. Or, if you’ve got enough control, you can change it to lucid dreaming, and take charge of your dream.
Othertimes, the dreams seem so real, that I know that finally, I’ve seen what my dreams have always wanted to see: a tornado. I’ve been near a number of tornadoes in real life, I think, but have always failed to see the funnel cloud. The best one that I missed was in 1998, and I woke my dad up, to which he responded, go back to bed, you’re dreaming again. I didn’t have my glasses on and I couldn’t see, and anyway, it was pitch dark as the tornado ripped through our neighborhood.
Last night, I had a tornado dream, or at least part of my dream had a tornado in it.
I was in the downtown of a big city, somewhere like Chicago. I was with my brother and a friend. The clouds were looking ominous, swirling, and I looked at them thinking they were going to form a tornado.
As I watched, they did, and pointed them out. Two or three small funnel clouds formed, and people started running, panicking, trying to find shelter.
I would’ve been content to watch. In this dream, I was convinced it was real, as I often am. My brother and friend are trying to get me to leave, and eventually I do, because it’s dangerous, and we don’t want to be caught outside. I tell them, of course, that this means my tornado dreams meant something. And this time when I say it, I believe it.
But the big brownstone building that we’re staying in/living in doesn’t have a basement, so we go running, following the crowd, trying to find somewhere that does.
We end up at a nearby theater. That’s where the people were all going, anyway. But nearby, we spot an alleyway with a set of stairs leading into what looks like it might be a school play auditorium. So we stand outside the door, and wait for someone to notice us.
A woman lets us in, and is very nice about us being there. But she doesn’t think more people will come.
Another part of the dream is going into the nearby theater, where a bunch of people are trapped for the long-haul. It seems like the outside is uninhabitable, and they’re waiting to be saved.
People are starting to get mercenary with each other. A group of women are being duped by an unseen being that only speaks to them from above, who is showering them with gifts. Anyone who does not believe in the unseen being is ostracized by these women.
They are getting food, but also lavish jewelry with sparkly blue stones. I look at the latest shower of jewelry — the women aren’t there right now, and I try ring after another on. Some are hideous. Some are pretty. Miraculously, most of them actually fit my fat fingers. But I don’t want any of them, and I don’t want any part of the unseen being, because I know there is some ulterior, evil motive.
There’s also a part where cast members from the original Star Trek are there. I don’t remember much more than that, other than Chekov and Sulu getting a little too friendly.
In yet another part of the dream, I’m looking through the window of the building we were staying in. But I’m trapped and can’t get out. My face is pressed up against the glass. Now, I’m with an almost cartoonlike superhero, and we need to get outside to get our power. But we can’t get out of the building, and without the power from outside, we might die. And I know if we do get out, we can fly.