Rats in the Harvest Room

[Elyse]

I really wish I could remember more of this dream because it was just SO bazaar. (Well... I guess most of my dreams are though...) The part I DO remember, however, was that I was in this place that seemed really retro (as if I was back in the 50's or something)... I was at a sort of Mini Mall... and it had a place that was like a drive through theater right next to a restaurant and a few other small buildings. Anyway, I was walking up a dusty gravel road to this place and noticed this MONSTER rat. I had to be the size of a medium dog or something. I felt like this thing was BAD and if it got away it might destroy something, so I pulled a giant snow shovel out of thin air and went to kill it. Anyway, as I ran up to it with this snow shovel, it sort of started glitching and running in place. Maybe like something would in a video game or program? The whole time I'm using every ounce of energy I have to try and kill it and then suddenly it shrinks down to the size of a regular rat... (still a rather large rat though)... and I actually land a hit on it with the shovel and feel kinda bad about it, like its just overkill and sorta mean. So, I end up stunning it and I bend over and pick up this rat which has shrunk again. Now its just a little brown mouse. And as I hold it I'm looking at it squirm a bit and am a little scared it could bite me and have some sort of disease. But it doesn't bite me, it just squirms as its trying to get out of my hand.

Anyway, I still have the feeling that this isn't a good thing, so I ask around about what I'm supposed to do with it since it seemed obvious I shouldn't let it go, it seemed like if I did it would grow again and this little town I was in would have something bad happen to it. I find out that there are five rats in this town and that no one would go out of their way to try and capture them, either for fear of being bitten or because they just didn't want to spend time doing it. I also find out that I am supposed to put this thing in a Harvest room. I DO remember the word "Harvest" being used, but there was another word used for the room. I run around all over trying to find this room before finally asking someone where this place is, and they point to a big steel door not far from where I was standing, near the restaurant and drive through. I open the steel door and it is a grimy bathroom... which is shocking to me, considering the word "Harvest" was used to describe it. I was expecting a clean kitchen or food storage area, I guess. Not really sure what to do, I look at the mouse in my hand which is now white and kinda cute. I didn't want to hurt it, but when I opened the door to this room it really started to freak out which scared me a bit. I didn't see a container or anything for this mouse, so I just sorta tossed him in the room and slammed shut the door. But I noticed as I slammed shut the door, I had accidentally tossed it into the toilet, which made me feel a bit bad. I was a little worried it might drown, but remembered that this was a BAD thing, even though it LOOKED cute.

I guess seeing that grimy bathroom made me feel like I had to go to the restroom myself, and so I asked around to find the nearest restroom. (One that wasn't all grimy and used to store rats). I was directed to this place that was just filthy with dirty clothes piled up the walls. I waded through the clothes to find the potty was right there in the middle of what seemed to be a living room and decided I would just have to hold it because that was weird... TOO weird for me, even in a dream. But while I was in there, I noticed some movement in the clothes and found another mouse. This time a little black mouse. Unnaturally black even. It was easy to catch and as I held it, I took note that it struggled like the other mouse, but did not bite. Then I thought about how easily I had found these two rats that were endangering this town and wondered if it was just coincidence or if it was just a big, dangerous problem that was easy to solve, but no one wanted to face head on.

[Goldengirl]

Hi Elyse! Glad you found us again! Love your Audrey Hepburn quote.

[twiceblessed9]

What an interesting dream Elyse. We have had a few dreams recently that invoke classic cars , like from the 1950's. Interesting overlap.

[ThePaladin]

Instead of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, you had the 5 rats.

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Rats are generally considered "unclean" and "vermin". They were the vectors that carried the Black Death during the Middle Ages(this is from memory. I could be wrong).

I think this overlaps with Akwyldeflwr's dream in referencing some sort of plague/pandemic: http://nationaldreamcenter.com/forum18/Thread-Gang-of-7

Then there's the aspect of a person of questionable ethical actions being called a "rat" or someone who tells/gives up information about someone else, "rats" them out(but this possibility doesn't resonate with me). Given how the rats in the dream shapeshifted from appearing dangerous to cute and innocuous implies that whatever the rats represented will be very dangerous for people yet seem harmless on the surface. That could range from people to whatever might carry a disease.

[twiceblessed9]

Instead of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, you had the 5 rats.

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Rats are generally considered "unclean" and "vermin". They were the vectors that carried the Black Death during the Middle Ages(this is from memory. I could be wrong).

I think this overlaps with Akwyldeflwr's dream in referencing some sort of plague/pandemic:  http://nationaldreamcenter.com/forum18/Thread-Gang-of-7

Then there's the aspect of a person of questionable ethical actions being called a "rat" or someone who tells/gives up information about someone else, "rats" them out(but this possibility doesn't resonate with me). Given how the rats in the dream shapeshifted from appearing dangerous to cute and innocuous implies that whatever the rats represented will be very dangerous for people yet seem harmless on the surface. That could range from people to whatever might carry a disease.

Concur about the overlap. I was just going to post about the plague/ rat tie. It is interesting to note that the Third Plague Pandemic was considered inactive in 1959 (think 50's theme going on). Also, what would cause the military ( other dreams) to take over and with little debate? A pandemic. Think how quickly California voted to mandate vaccinations after last year's measles outbreak. Who would benefit from a pandemic? Drug companies. Also, I was SHOCKED at how nasty people were on social media regarding people who chose NOT to vaccinate their children. They were basically calling them murderers. So, I wonder if this is what we are seeing and if so, how it will play out. Why am I thinking a little of Jim Jones?

I hope you don't feel we are hijacking your thread Elyse. If so, we can move the conversation somewhere else.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_(disease)

[Elyse]

Thank you, Goldengirl! I am very glad to be back! I really missed the Dream Center.

Well, I certainly didn't expect this kind of overlap, and I don't feel like you guys have hijacked this at all. It is always VERY interesting to find overlap like this! I had the thought that the rats may likely represent disease by how worried I was that I could get something if they were to bite me. What bothered me most, I think, was storing the rats in the "Harvest" room.  I'm not sure what to make of that... in the dream it seemed like it should have been a clean room for storing food... and the LAST place to put a bunch of dangerous and possibly diseased rodents. Hmm...

I also had the thought that it could have to do with politics. That came to mind when I thought about how none of the people in the town wanted to pursue the rats, even though they knew the rats were there and even how many were there.  Their faces were pretty blank, so I couldn't tell if they were scared or just didn't care about the rats... though they seemed to know what to do about them when asked.

I thought the 50's theme was pretty strange too, but didn't think a lot of it. But now that there is overlap, I am thinking a lot about what TwiceBlessed wrote about the Third Plague Pandemic. I can't say I know a lot about that, so I guess I'll be off the the land of Google to learn something!  

Thank you for taking the time to read over this dream and teaching me a thing or two. Lol, interpretation has never been my strong point.  You guys are awesome!

[Maysea]

Hmmm...
Happy New Year...2020...year of the Rat
Coincidently...
China novel corona virus 2019
Millions in quarantine