I'm leaving some event downtown, I think a movie. As I start to drive, I realize that I left one of my sandals back at the place, where I had taken it off by my chair (*1). I need to go back and get it.

I don't remember whether I went back or not, but then I hit a traffic jam. All the cars come to a complete stop, and I get out to see what is going on, and see if I can help. A few cars ahead is a wreck, and three injured people are out on the ground. One is an old woman who appears to be dead; nobody is around her, and her face is covered up with the hood of her sweater. Another is an old man who may be her husband, and he is coughing and choking, badly injured, and it seems his mouth is halfway in a puddle and he is inhaling water. The third person seems ok. People are tending to them, and the ambulances are coming, so there is nothing I can do.

But somehow my car doors get open and my pets get out. Charlie and Sydney and Milou are running around in the traffic (*2). I see them running into the road on the opposite side, and I see a car swerve to avoid hitting them, and bumping over something. In the road is another cat, an unfamiliar tabby, hit by the car.

I get my car out of the traffic jam and park it around the corner. I find Milou and pick her up, but I can't find my car. I'm carrying her around trying to figure out what to do. I ask some other people if I can put her in their car for a bit, to protect her.

I'm still looking for Sydney and Charlie, who are completely missing by now. There is a sort of quad, like some park blocks going down toward the river, and I can see lots of dogs running around there, one of which is Sydney. I call out to her, and she looks at me as if I'm familiar, and she is confused about what to do. But Charlie isn't with her, and I think that something must have happened to him, or else they would be together.

(*1) I took my shoes off today under the table at dinner. I also heard a story on the radio involving a guy who would walk around in one moccasin.

(*2) The day's travels involved letting the dogs run around near roads; of course they didn't run in the road, but I was watching them nervously all the time.

(*3) I was also observing and commenting on how Sydney and Charlie run around together.