The Secret Book
The words appearing in parentheses with a question mark (xxx?) are not to be taken literally, but have the correct atmosphere to fit the entities in the dream.
Begin: The first remembered sequence in this dream involved a (dog?) sled and another man. We were both dressed for cold and were talking about the risk of takeover by the (Russians?). I said that more than them I was concerned with the (Mormon?) Church. My companion agreed. The Church had increased its membership to something in the order of 1/4 of the population, and was powerfully influencing political events in accordance with its own rather conservative views.
Later I found myself talking to another young man outside a large church compound at night. The exact contents of the conversation I do not remember, but it turned out that this person knew a way to get into the compound, which we did. We then went up a long concrete stairway to a building which was glass faced on the front side. It was divided into little rooms with chairs and a table such as might be used for interviewing. All were clean and vacant, but lighted.
In one room we saw a book on the table, and decided to steal it. We went in through the door, looked at the book, and were quite surprised: it was one of four copies of a legendary secret book. Each was known by an American Indian name it had been given when it was signed by (Joseph Smith?). This was the second of the four copies and the name started with a "C", but I do not remember exactly what it was. Realizing that such a treasure would only be left unattended for a few moments due to extraordinary circumstances, we high tailed out of there.
The next sequence was in a large library, apparently belonging to a small private school. Every (Mormon?) in town had been alerted to search for this book within hours of its disappearance, and it was my intention to bury it in a large library for a while where it probably wouldn't be noticed, since I might be suspected of being involved in its disappearance. This was probably not a good idea, as the (Mormons?) seemed to have gotten the idea that the book was coveted by an avid book collector and would end up in some private library. Before I could bury the book a swarm of searchers came in. I slid it under a sofa where some other books and papers had gathered, and sat down over it.
While others looked at the shelves, one woman started questioning me. A movement of the sofa showed it to be on wheels, and she asked to see what was under it. I moved the sofa a bit and scooted some books out from under it for her to see. Then I picked up a pile of old school papers, grasping the book with them so it was covered, and slid the sofa the rest of the way off the debris for her to examine. I then took my departure, with my old papers.
The key to this escape and the next sequence seems to have been that the book was so secret that those who were looking for it had no idea what it looked like. Its fame caused them to visualize it as much larger and fancier than its actual 6-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 2 inches in a drab brown binding with a crumbling old paper dust jacket over it.
In the next sequence I entered the apartment of a friend who was having a party. The apartments here were somewhat large, being about the size of a small house inside, but were part of a large structure. Clutching the book, I worked my way through the party where the host joined me and we went off to the library corner. We were looking for a book with a dust jacket that would fit the purloined one,so we could put it on and hide the book on the shelf.
We had not yet found the right one when the party was crashed by a group of (Mormons?) who knew there was a private library in this apartment. The book we just dropped on a shelf with a couple of other books partly covering it. The (Mormons?) looked right at it but didn't suspect it of being what they were looking for. My friend gently evicted them before they could make a thorough search. Since the party people all seemed to be non members of the Church, they left, reluctantly but without hassle.
In the final scene we have given the book a last examination before packing it carefully to send anonymously back to its proper owners. In the front of the book is a large signature of (Joseph Smith?) and the Indian name of this copy in the same handwriting. The paper was of high quality and the binding was good, and the normal sort for this kind of book. The pages were all printed by hand as a medieval manuscript would be, but with no ornamentation - very 19th century in style.
I do not know at all what the book said, but I have the feeling it was about the inner workings of the Church, its purpose, and explained its desire for expansion and complete control. The mailing of the book was timed so it would arrive at its destination about the same day a very carefully done facsimile edition would hit the bookstores.
We had done a superb job with the facsimile. It had an introduction including photographs of the book, a modified story of its acquisition, and various proofs of its authenticity. The facsimile pages were nicely done with wide borders. The book in general was impressive enough that it might have been recognized as what they were looking for by the searchers, had the real book looked like it did. We were very satisfied with our work and eagerly anticipated its effect on the public and the Church.
End.
An interesting aspect of this dream was that I awoke several times to check the time, then returned to it. The sequences, while fairly long and elaborate, appeared to take practically no time in physical terms. One well remembered time check showed only seconds between the next time check, with an elaborate sequence in between.