Reunion Dream

I dreamt of Noel Singidas. It went like this.

After another superhero dream, I dreamt I was in our kitchen, where I noticed a stack of old pamphlets, about one foot high. I don't know why I did, but I started scanning the pamphlets looking for "Singidas". An inch from the top of the stack, I got a glimpse of the name. Shock.

Suddenly, I was in a place that looked like Glorietta's Activity Center. People swarmed the place. I was approaching a bench, where a group of people where exchanging earphones. Among them was Noel Singidas.

Non-chalantly, I sat beside him, but we hardly talked. He was talking with his companions, and I noticed that, while the others had portable CD players and small MP3 players, Noel was clutching -- you wouldn't guess this -- a VHS tape. Someone I didn't quite recognize but surely was a common friend, pointed at the VHS. Noel said that it contained MP3s, converted. I silently chuckled, thinking of ways to help him improve his portable audio situation.

I almost interrupted him when I said that I remember the time when we had to edit VHS tapes manually, when we had to snip the tape and put it back together with Scotch tape. He just had a blank stare. I said that we were groupmates back in first-year high school with Selwyn Bantang. Then he smiled. He said that he did remember that. I felt relieved. (That didn't actually happen, the part where we snipped VHS tapes)

We were now lying down on the length of the bench, and we had a clear view of the people going down an escalator. I recognized PAL and Joshua Trocino and I called out, waved at them and pointed at Noel beside me. They didn't react until they were almost at the foot of the escalator, and I saw PAL's eyes shoot wide open. It was a great effort to keep myself from crying.

It seemed like a reunion, when I looked around. I could see almost every clique from high school. Batchmates kept coming to see Noel. Edsel Uy even gave him a big, big hug.

Out of nowhere, Noel caught a basketball in his hands. I looked around to see where it came from, and I noticed that we were by some beach. Puzzling.

Then, I woke up.

...