Dreambringers

When I first woke up, when all I could see was the dim light of the damp, I thought I was home. I was whispering to myself, “What a bizarre dream.” But then I turned over and was face to face with a boy. An unbelievable sense of deja-vu rushed over me as I sat up quickly and patted myself to make sure I had on more than a sheet. I sighed in relief.

“Little jumpy today, are we?” Tom sighed, sitting up as well. “ You slept most of the night, but you were tossing and turning quite a bit, though I don’t know why…” He smiled mischievously.

I realized what he was getting at and gave him a swift punch in the shoulder. “Why are you in my bed?”

“Well, I got tired of sitting on the floor, and I had to get closer the action.” He smiled again while I gave him a look. “Sorry, it’s what I do best. Well, not best…”

I rubbed my eyes and looked around for a clock. There was a small digital one who’s numbers told me it was almost 8:00pm.

“And I’m up at eight because…” I groaned as I stood and walked toward the sink.

“We gotta show you the ropes and put you to work tonight, honey. How else do you expect to earn your dues? You were brought here for a reason, y’know.”

“As I’ve been told many times before.” I rinsed my face with some cold water. “What does a person have to do to get some clothes around here anyway? A shower wouldn’t hurt either.”

“Me.” He grinned. “Just kidding. Just go right in there sweet-stuff.” Tom pointed at the door to my left. So it was a bathroom after all. “I’ll try not to peek. I’ll be out here when you’re done.”

I rolled my eyes and opened the door to the small bathroom. It had a toilet with a fuzzy blue lid, a small table with a cabinet built in, and a large tub with a sky-blue shower curtain to match the toilet.

There was a pile of clothes under a white towel sitting on the table so pushed the towel aside and picked up the clothes to examine them, holding them out in front of me.

“That’s rather anti-climatic,” I said gruffly.

The whole outfit seemed to be made out of the material used in leggings. It was basically a jumpsuit, zipping up from the navel, in a silvery black color. The sleeves went all the way down to the wrists where they blended into fingerless gloves. The legs stopped at a little below the knees. A pair of pirate-like black leather boots (yes, they were knee-length) had fallen out of the pile, with a pair of long black socks stuffed inside. I guess I was expecting some kind of Power Ranger getup, but I was grateful my assumption was incorrect.

I sat the clothes back down, made sure the door was shut and locked, then I undressed and jumped into the shower.

To my great surprise (so great I nearly slipped and fell when I jumped back), the shower turned on by itself and seemed to know the exact temperature I liked. I used the shampoo and soap provided and felt so clean I sighed in relief. Hiding in a dumpster and losing your body weight in sweat is not the best way to smell like roses. I dried off quickly and slipped into the tight uniform that I was given.

I saw my necklace laying on the sink. I decided to slip it on, hoping it wasn’t against the policy or anything. I rubbed the little pink glass horse, remembering the day I got it…

“Are you ready kiddo?” my dad looked up at me on his shoulders. “We’re almost there.”

I looked into the distance, and my hearts sang with excitement. The roller coasters’ loops and curves scared me a little, but I knew daddy would be there with me, and I wanted to show him how much of a big kid I was now.

Daddy turned into the little kid park with miniature coasters that featured pink elephants and yellow duckies, but I protested with a soft bump on the head with my small fist.

“I’m too old for that daddy! I want to go on the big kid rides!”

He turned around and lifted my off his shoulders, sitting me on a bench under a tree. He knelt so that he was eye-level with me.

“Joan, I know you’re a big girl now, but are you sure you want to try the big rides? They won’t stop the ride if you get too scared honey.”

I gave him the most sincere look I could and said sternly, “Who’s birthday is it daddy? I’m sure I’m tall enough.”

Dad looked down, defeated, and helped me up. “Okay honey, but not any that go upside down. I’m pretty sure they won’t let a nine-year old on those.”

We walked over to the nearest coaster, a pretty scary-looking one called, “The Colt.” It went really high and curved a lot, but I was worried about the spinning cars. I gripped my dad’s hand tighter.

When we got up to the front, I almost thought about tugging daddy’s jacket and asking if we could go the kiddy park, but I was determined to prove to daddy how brave I was.

The park worker gave me a look, but he let me in the car, next to my dad and across from some teenage couple. I started to tear up out fear, but I held it back, and took some deep breaths.

“Sure you’ll be okay?” dad whispered.

I nodded and faked a smile. The ride started to climb with a jolt, and my palms were covered with sweat. We got to the top, and I said a silent prayer to the rock gods and goddesses.

The ride descended down the first hill, not spinning quite yet, and I thought to myself, This isn’t so bad. That’s when the first curve came, and the jerks and whirling view of the park sent me screaming the rest of the ride.

As we stepped off the ride, I shook intensely and wouldn’t let go of my dad. He dragged me off to the gift shop dedicated to the ride. He told me close my eyes, and when I opened them, the most beautiful necklace was in my hands.

It was the size of a thimble, a horse in mid-gallop, pink and glass. I screeched with delight and hugged my dad tightly.

“For the bravest little girl I know.” he pulled away and kissed my forehead. “You didn’t have to ride that to prove it to me. I know you’re a big girl now, but you’ll always be my little girl.”

I hugged him again and never wanted to let go.

Pink stopped being my favorite color two years later, but I had worn that necklace everyday since, and it has since then been my lucky charm. Now it was a souvenir from my old life…

I stepped out of the bathroom, wiping tears from my eyes, and was just about to ask where I could find a hairbrush, but I immediately replaced it with an articulate, “Whoah…”

It was like I was home again; almost. My black Fender Strat electric guitar and amp were leaning against the foot of the bed; some of my drawings were hanging above the bed; my pet rat, Ophelia, was sitting on the dresser which no doubt held my clothes; and all my beauty things were sitting by the mirror. I ran towards my bed and did a flying leap onto the familiar red and orange bedspread.

“I’m guessing you like it.” Tom grinned from beside the TV. “I didn’t realize you’d have such an interesting DVD selection.” He held up my Monty Python box set.

“Respect the classics,” I said as I swiped it from him. “These are easily some of the funniest films ever made. Well, these and Mel Brooks’.” I set them down with the pile of DVDs in front of the TV and DVD player. “I don’t know how you did it, but this is amazing.” I gave him a genuine smile.

“Would you like to know?” Tom raised an eyebrow.

“You’re going to tell me anyway , so spit it out.”

“Standard two hour time-stop,” he shrugged. “Just bombarded your old house with some agents and stole all your stuff. It was confusing your dad anyway.”

“Confusing my dad,” I thought aloud.

“Someone down in memory wipes didn’t do their job.” he explained. “They should have gotten all your stuff after your dad’s memory wipe but they didn’t, so we had to infiltrate your old house with a time-stop so we wouldn’t have to confuse your dad with his no-longer-existent daughter’s stuff.” He broke into a smile. “I especially enjoyed gathering you garments.”

I stood in front of my dresser protectively even though I knew that he knew what exactly it held. “I think you have a bit of a problem there, Tom. Maybe you should go get that checked out.”

He raised an eyebrow. “It’d be kind of hard to change who I am. Besides, you can check me out fine from right there.”

“ Yeah, sure right. Now when do we need to leave?”

He glanced at the clock. “Oh crap. We’re late.”

I felt his hand slip into mine and he pulled me out the door. I tried to pull away, but his hold was gently firm. We ran by all the rooms, going the opposite way we came before. Running in the pirate boots was very awkward. We raced into a closing elevator, and the lady already inside of it gave us a funny look at first, but then gave Tom a bright smile. I guessed she knew him.

“Late again, Tom?” Her voice was airy and light, maybe considered seductive by men. She brushed away her blonde hair and revealed sparkling blue eyes. She looked at me and smirked. “Who’s the geeky girl?”

Used to but aggravated at this term, ignored it, turning away from her. What Tom said next surprised me.

“That geeky girl you’re talking about is the new Predictor so you’d better watch your tongue.” He put his arm around me and glared at the girl. “She’d be a better girlfriend than you any day, Betty.”

Her jaw dropped open and the elevator dinged, indicating her stop, floor 9. She stuck her nose in the air and walked off, taking care to move her behind from side to side as she stalked off. Tom removed his arm from my shoulder and pressed the floor number 12.

“Um… I’m not sure what to say about that…” I murmured. “Thanks for sticking up for me I guess…”

“No problem. That snob needs to get over me and get on with her life. Thought she might need a little wake up call. She’s the one who dumped me.” He turned to me. “And I meant what I said.”

The elevator doors opened and I thanked the rock gods and goddesses for the dim light of floor 12 to cover my blush. It was shortly after getting off the elevator that I realized that no one else was wearing the uniform I was given. Tom saw the look on my face.

“Sorry, it’s an old tradition.”

Floor 12 was filled with computer-looking devices, all in front of young people, my age to early twenties I was guessing. Almost everybody had a cup of coffee in hand, sitting in a swivel chair waiting to receive orders on what to do. Everyone belonged to a little group, each group consisting of 10 or so computers. The whole floor seemed to be just this one big room, as I saw no more doors leading other ways out. Tom stopped with me next to a group of three computers, where a young man in his twenties sat along with a boy and a girl maybe a year older or two. I saw Eli and I waved. He gave me a sheepish smile and turned to face Sylvie, who was standing on a platform directly opposite the elevator.
“Ah, there she is. Everyone, this is Joan. She’s our new Predictor. Joan, this everyone on the Conjurers floor.”

“Hi Joan,” They all replied brightly in unison.

“Erm…hi.”

Sylvie clapped her hands together. “Okay then people, you know what to do. Get to work.”

Wow, what a introduction.

Tom turned to the three people around what I was guessing was where I was going to work and smiled. “She’s all yours folks.”

He winked at me, laughing, and walked over to a group of people across the room. I found it strange that most of them were boys. Most people would think girls were more romantically inclined.

“Hello Joan,” I turned and looked up at the man. He had five o’clock shadow, and he was wearing a loose fitting AC/DC shirt over plain blue jeans. I could tell him and I were going to get along just fine. “My name’s Gerald, and this is Rosanna and Mark.”

Rosanna and Mark waved their hands in one quick gesture, the cool thing to do.

“You are so lucky,” Rosanna chirped. “My first-day outfit was bright pink. I HATE pink.”

“Don’t you remember mine?” Mark said. “It had hearts on it.”

I laughed warmly with the group and turned to Gerald. “When do I get to work, boss.”

“As soon as possible,” he sighed. “I’m ready to retire.”

“Retire?”

“You get to leave when you’re 25.” Rosanna informed.

“What about Sylvie?” I pondered.

“You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to.” Gerald added. “I’m just fed up with this place. I want to see my friends and family again.”

“I know what you mean.” I huffed. “I guess I don’t feel as bad now that I know I’ll see them again.”

“Anyway, your taking my place, and this will probably be the only time I see you, so let’s get down to business.” He pointed to the three computers. “This is our work station, work station 4, just for Predictors. We are in charge of creating dreams that have deep meanings. True, most of our work goes to the dogs, but occasionally, someone will be inquisitive enough to figure out what it means. These people are usually friends or family of old fortune tellers or have grandmas that dawdle in magic, and that’s where the research comes in.

“There’s a little switch on the left side of your console, there,” He indicated. “And the switch needs to be all the way to the front for you to be able to access our patients files. You get a list of people everyday in your mailbox, you see that small thing right there?” I nodded, looking at the mailbox with my name already in bold print located next to my “consol”.

“You get about 25 people a day, about half of everyone else around here, and we work 9pm to 12:30pm, but if you get done early, you can go home. Now, let me take you through a job, step by step because the rest of the process should probably be explained with visuals of what you’re actually supposed to be doing.”

He opened my mailbox and picked up a thin slip of orange paper. It had a list of 10 people, so I looked at Gerald confusedly.

“I guess they’re going easy on you, kid.” he punched my chin playfully. “So here’s a demonstration. You type in the name, like so,” the name Doris Richland showed up on the screen, and it appeared to flip through a bunch of files, till it landed on the profile of a 32 year old single mother of three. It told that she was located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He touched the screen and brought up a list of relatives and acquaintances, all having some kind of supernatural experiences or another. Her mother liked reading the fortunes of the neighbors and family, while the aunt on her dad’s side believed in dream interpretation. I automatically knew this was our best bet, and I commended myself for realizing that this was the next profile Gerald was going to look at.

He touched her picture, tapping a heading under her profile reading, “Experience and Belief.” As he did this, I got a strange tingling in the back of my head. I kind of tickled, but didn’t hurt. It was like my brain was mumbling something to me, but I couldn’t quite make it out. It was the same feeling I got in the grocery store. Something, some unknown force, made me raise my hand to stop Gerald, and I closed my eyes, trying to listen inside...
*****
I could see Doris’s aunt, Aunt Darlene, surrounded by her three nieces. Doris was among them, barely in her teens, listening intently with the others.

“Now little Nat here says she saw a big elk in her dream, jumping up and down on the roof.”

The kids laughed, and a little girl about 7 blushed intensely. Darlene shushed them promptly.

“This isn’t a joke folks, this is a serious dream. My uncle Clyde had the same one as a kid, and the day after he had it, he met the love of his life. No joke! High school sweethearts and been happily married for 20 years!”

The kids tittered, but Darlene leaned over and whispered into Nat’s ear, “Don’t you listen to them hon, I know what I say is true, and I know you know it too.” She smiled and gave the tiny crying girl a hug.
*****