I'm in Edmonton with the daughter and some other fellow I don't recognize or know, but I know him in the dream...he's small, dark, nondescript, irrelevant...
...we are downtown, he wants to go to this costume shop, and so the daughter and I decide to go along...they, her and him. are going to sit in the front of the bus, I'm a bit behind them and when I get on the bus I can see them further back, the seat by the driver is empty so I sit down...
...the driver, he has a friend standing behind him, a large, blousy woman...or not...she's helping him to change into drag, he's in various stages of undress, getting into his ballgown...I can understand why they moved to the back of the bus...
...meanwhile the bus is crossing the High Level Bridge, the costume shop, it's somewhere along Whyte Avenue, the driver and his friend, they're talking excitedly about the party they're going to, an event of some sort, and I'm generously trying to imagine that the driver is just costuming himself in women's clothing when he says some rather forward things to me that confirm my growing suspicions...
I look around the bus, everyone is dressed up, one, a black extended nose and spots on his cheek, made up like a cute dog, others...a cosplay or drag convention? I can't tell, my daughter is getting into a fight now with some of the other passengers, one comes to tell me, an oversized raggedy ann...doesn't matter, it's our stop, time to get off...
...Off the bus, a dead end road, nothing is around, nighttime, the dark haired man is leading us off into the dark to find the costume shop...where are all the other passengers going? there's nothing around...I'm wondering now about getting back, getting the daughter back to school, Qatar, a couple of days at least before we're back in Calgary...
A school gymnasium, doors burst open, lights, brightly colored real cheerleaders, and I'm thinking damn the costume shop, I wanna go to this party...