Dream #Sixty-Nine: Maricopa, Come Significa?

[I would like to preface this by saying I did not watch "Lost" last night because of an exam coming up in Italian and, honestly, I was bone-tired and went to bed at 8:30 ... and this is what I get for it]

I'm on The Island with the other castaways of "Lost" and it's very dark --- The Others are coming. "Into the hatch," yells Jack, and we call squirrel in and close the door. The door to the hatch -- and this is the door that goes out into the jungle as opposed to the hatch lid -- has a glass window, and out of the darkness come these hands, pressing and pounding on the window. Jack grabs a large piece of cardboard and I hold it over the window as he goes to find some way of defending out position. It's totally horrifying. I know they're going to get in if they keep pounding.

Suddenly the hatch starts moving and the hands slide from the window as we drive away -- the hatch is a bus! And Jack has found the driver's seat. "Hold on back there," he yells. Sawyer joins him in the passenger seat as the rest of us find seats or hold on to furniture. "I don't know where I'm driving." "Who cares," says Rose. "Just go."

But wait! Stop the bus! There are people!

Jack stops and a group of normal (ie: not The Others) people run up to the door. "Thank God you're here. You have no idea how happy we are to see you." About 20 people get on board and we start off again. "Are you survivors of the plane crash?" asks Kate. "Oh God, yes," replies a man with a heavy English accent. "We've been living over in that stadium for the past ... I don't know how long." And I look out through the hatch door -- sure enough! There's a well-lit football stadium behind us. "We've got a lot of food," a woman says, "but it's mostly hot dogs and peanuts. How long can you live off that?" Phhhft, I think. You should try mangoes and fish. "But," asks Kate, "what flight were you on?" Before they can answer the bus surges forward and throws us around.

"Sorry," says Jack. "Change in the road." We've now left the jungle and are on some kind of weird jungle freeway system. This island appears to be a lot bigger than we all thought. "It's like Texas," says a voice on the red-box PA system. Where in Texas? I ask, but the voice comes back muffled and fuzzy. I look up front: it's Sawyer talking incoherently into the microphone -- something thatJack finds absolutely hilarious. I make my way to the front and hold onto Sawyer's seat to keep from falling [like we used to do as kids when pop was driving the motorhome and you wanted to ask mom for something].

Where in Texas, I ask him. Be specific. (Because I've got a really bad feeling about this.)

"I don't know, sweet pea. Some cheap, crappy apartment house. Same as you've got wherever you come from."

"What was it called?" asks Jack.

"The Maricopa. Why?"

Jack stops the bus and we all look ahead. We've stopped outside of a deserted and run-down apartment complex. On the wall facing us is a crazy early 70's shadow-painting of a happy family wearing crocheted sweaters. Next to the picture is the apartment name: The Maricopa.

We get out of the bus and stare at it. "This is it," says Sawyer. "This is where I used to live."

My heart stops and I grab his hand. Look at the side of the bus, I tell him.

The name of the bus: Maricopa.

[Maricopa (märĭkō'pə, mâr–) , Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Yuman branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). At some time in the past the Maricopa, under pressure from the Yuma, moved up the Gila River in Arizona from the Colorado River. In 1775 they lived near the mouth of the Hassayampa River in S Arizona, numbering some 3,000. The Maricopa were previously sedentary farmers who lived in somewhat permanent villages. In alliance with the Pima, they severely defeated the Yuma in 1857. The Maricopa, numbering close to 800 in 1990, now live with the Pima on the Gila River and the Salt River reservations in Arizona. Some Maricopa also live in Phoenix and Los Angeles. They are known for their excellent pottery.]