Heh. his was one of the weirdest dreams ever.
The Tacheles in Berlin is a really really cool, grungy, weird place to be. It is the war ruin of a shopping center, from what I heard, and it was never rebuilt or torn down, but just made mildly habitable.
In my dream, it was a real ruin. Heaps of rubble was lying about, and it was really spooky to climb around in it. When I was a kid, that kinda stuff really freaked me out. Close to where I lived, there was the remainder of an old bridge which had been bombed in WW2. The bridge was in an area that we called The Wilderness - which was just a big stretch of unused hilly land between the train tracks and an apartment complex. It was beautiful in a way that city kids find exciting and adventurous. Especially since our parents forbid us to go there (I have no idea why, really).
The rubble was still lying about, but was all overgrown, among trees and underbrush and grass and flowers. It seemed peaceful and threatening at the same time. We climbed around in there and were convinced we might find a war skeleton under the rubble. Morbidly, we looked for it, but never hard enough, you know. It's that stretch of land, that overgrown rubble, which became the picture of the peace they propagated in East German schools... stressing the flowery peace our big brothers, the Russians (scuse me, the brave soldiers of the Soviet Union) had brought us, but a peace that had grown over the war horrors and dead bodies they showed us in the propaganda movies. Creepy peace, in which, if you were not careful, would unearth something that could turn your hair white with terror.
(On a side note, I just remembered... for some reason, the word Russians was kinda politically incorrect to use when I was a kid. It was like a cuss word... not as bad as the n-word, but getting there.)
Scarred peace, in which you were never allowed to completely push the horror out of your mind.
Anyways, I digress.
The Tacheles was kinda like that... an uninhabited ruin full of rubble and caves and bending tunnels full of spiderwebs, crumbling bricks, ancient dust, lurking memories, history, in which you'd never know what you would encounter around the corner. The Tacheles was a ghost house.
Funny enough, if you managed to get through all the tunnels, you would get to a section which someone had turned into one of those ghost houses they have at amusement parks. Except that this one was real elaborate and well done, mixed with illuminated panels telling you historical facts about the place.
And of course, at the end of that, there would be a gift shop. When I walked into that one, I heard voices. And I realised those voices belonged to two dogs who lived down here.. One was a dirty white vagrant poodle, the other one some furry mutt. Both looked ragged and pitifully starved, and when I pet them, feeling their ribs under their skin and the matted fur, they became my best friends immediately.
"What are you doing down here?" I asked them.
"There is a cafe nearby", said the mutt. "We get some scraps from there."
"Not a lot obviously", I remarked.
"Nah, not really", said the poodle. "We don't have the strength anymore to go out there and hunt around."
"You poor things", I said.
"Yeah", muttered the poodle. Then he looked at me hopefully. "You haven't got anything with ya, do you?"
"No", I said, regretfully. "But I tell you what! I will go out and go shopping and buy lots of dog food for ya."
Both dogs looked up at me hopefully, their little tails a-waggin. "You would do that??"
"Sure", I said. "Then you can put on some weight and build some strength, so that you can take care of yourself."
"That would be awesome!" they said.
The mutt came a bit closer. "Hey", he said, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I know, beggars can't be choosers, but is there a chance you could throw in some yummy, crunchy, golden-baked treat? I so want a treat!"
"Sure, I'll get you some treats!" I smiled.
The mutt did a little hop and wagged his whole bottom.
"I see you in a bit", I said and climbed out.
I did my shopping and bought a huge tin of wet dog food and a huge bag of dry food, and the treats.
I wanted to buy more wet food, but I would have to open it all for them, and I was afraid that it would go bad.
I eventually made it back to the Tacheles, and the gift shop.
"Hello, you there?"
Both dogs immediately emerged from a dark corner. "You did it!", they barked. "Oh my god, FOOD!"
They were so excited, jumping up and all, I could hardly open the tin. I had to break down all the big bits of meat for them, cos they were too weak to chew them, and mixed it with dry food.
Both jumped on it and chowed down.
"Hm," said the mutt, chewing vigorously. "Bit overcooked, that meat. Bit chewy."
"Sorry," I said. "I didn't know."
"That's alright", said poodle. "Still pretty good."
They ate and ate. Finally they turned around and looked at me. "Did you..." started mutt shyly.
"Bring the treat?" I smiled. "Sure did!" I got out the treats and gave them to them.
"Ah, this is the food of the gods", said mutt, chewing on his dog biscuit. "This is amazing. Thank you so much!"
"No problem," I said. I pet them, and said I had to get going, promising to be back.
That's when I woke up.
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