I was with my friend Ian on a trip and we were traveling in his large 16-wheel tractor-trailer.
We stopped to take a break in the English countryside and I walked around to the driver's side of the truck and looked into the cab and noticed the engine was running and music coming from the sleeping compartment. I had the feeling there was someone inside, perhaps a female passenger that Ian had picked up on the highway and didn't tell me about.
We walked away from the truck and started down a country road as the sun set behind the hills. After walking for a while, Ian suggested we headed back to the truck before it got too dark and there was a chance we might lose our way.
At one point, Ian and I became separated but I kept walking down the country lane until it became a road in a small village.
By then, there was no sign of Ian and I soon encountered swarms of flying insects that at first I thought may have been bees or wasps, but I realized they were harmless though annoying as they were everywhere and swarming around the people that were out walking about the village.
Eventually, after nightfall, I started looking for somewhere to get something to eat and realized I had left all of my things back in Ian's truck and had no phone or wallet, only my Apple Watch, which was rendered all but useless without my phone nearby.
The swarms of insects finally subsided and I crossed the high street and noticed a pub so I walked in to see if I could use the toilet where I could clean up and take a drink from the faucet to ease my thirst.
As I entered the pub, I sat down on top of a long wooden table. Not realizing I was sitting on one of the patron's jackets––a man who was playing billiards nearby––the man approached and trying to take his his jacket noticed I was sitting on it and asked me politely to move. I got up off the table and apologized to the man.
Just then, I noticed a familiar looking man sitting at a small table in the corner drinking beer and talking to two black men.
I soon realized the familiar looking man was the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
A soon as the two black men left the table, other men began sitting down to talk to Rutte. It looked like he was giving advice to the local people who seemed to be lining up with the intention of talking to the Prime Minister.
At one point I was going to leave the pub to try to find Ian, but as I walked to the door to leave, I noticed a group of small wild animals walking in front of the pub and soon realized they were being chased by a jackal who soon appeared.
The jackal was soon approached by a small leopard, and soon after that, a large tiger appeared and began to maul the leopard in a frenzy, quickly killing it, leaving its entrails in the middle of the street.
As a group of patrons were about to leave, I warned them of what was going on with the wild animals out in front of the pub. They opened the door and saw that the animals had left so they went outside and closed the door behind them, thanking me for my concern.
Seeing it was late, Mark Rutte was now sitting alone at the table and saw my opportunity to talk to him. I walked over with the intention of telling him my story and seeing if he could help me somehow as I had no money or food or a way back to the Netherlands.
I went over to Rutte's table, introduced myself, and we shook hands as I began telling him of my woes.
He pounded on the table and insisted I sat down with him and I continued telling him the story of how we had met once and how we had some common friends, mentioning Andrew‘s name as an example. He was quite impressed that I was friends with Andrew, whom he held in high esteem.
I also mentioned we had seen each other once at a Jewish event in The Hague, which he remembered being in attendance at.
Then I started telling him my life story, about my education and having been a teacher.
After having talked for quite some time, I looked at my watch to see it was 1:51 in the morning. More surprising, when looking over at my watch (which was oddly placed on my left wrist and not on the right wrist where I always wore it) I noticed my youngest daughter sitting with us at the table and seemed to have forgotten she was there (though I didn't remember her even being with me!).
She looked exhausted and could barely keep her eyes open and I was concerned that maybe she was feeling unwell, but she said she was just tired and hungry.
I told Rutte that I was going to take my daughter to the toilet and he said he would order some sandwiches and drinks for us.
As we were coming out of the toilet, Mark Rutte was coming out of the other toilet and we all went back and sat down at the table where a platter of food was waiting.
Just then, a large group of party goers came into the pub and asked if we wouldn't mind moving to a table near the door so they could use our table to accommodate their large group. We obliged and Rutte picked up the tray and drinks and we moved to the other tabel.
Once we sat down, I told Rutte about my predicament and that I had been separated from my friend and that I had no wallet, money or phone.
He told me not to worry that he would help me sort things out and get me and my daughter safely back to The Hague.
I took a sandwich off the tray and opened it up to see it had only cheese and butter and thanked Rutte for getting us some vegetarian sandwiches. He said that he too was a vegetarian and asked me to keep that information to myself as no one knew and he was concerned that if people found out he didn't eat meat, they would think he was soft and incompetent of leading a nation.
Then I woke up.
Σχόλια