KATIE
I had the weirdest dream!
JAMIE
I believe that!
KATIE
There was this bear in the woods or talking eagle, I think.
JAMIE
Isn’t that the dream you always have when you come to see
Sheila? Where did the eagle take you this time? Nome, Alaska and then let me
guess you flew off to Hatii or Siberia and then you ended back in your cozy bed
wanting more blankets, so you tugged and tugged and all the blankets of the
world were suddenly yours! Because the nice talking eagle bear man said you
deserved them.
KATIE
Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
JAMIE
You and Sheila, you always have these ridiculous long descriptions about your dreams and I never can remember my dreams.
KATIE
You sound angry about it.
JAMIE
Not angry, just irritated.
SHEILA
You sound just like Sutton. He couldn’t remember his dreams
either. Sammy would dream in lists and recite them or want to hear my dream and
Sutton would barely tolerate us. He’d say, “That’s not possible to remember
that much detail. You’re both making that up.” But we weren’t. He didn’t get it
why it was so important to tell each other because if we didn’t, we’d forget and
it sticks in our brains until we can’t rest.
JAMIE
Really?
KATIE
I get what she’s saying. You who don’t dream should not make
fun.
JAMIE
That means I never rest?
KATIE
That’s obviously true!
SHEILA
I dreamt for the first time last night since all of this.
KATIE
Do you want to tell us about it?
JAMIE
It’s okay if you don’t or if it’s too much.
KATIE
You dork, she just said she needs to wipe her brain clean by
telling someone her dreams!
SHEILA
I did? I did. Sure. Okay.
KATIE
Is it super sad? Do we need Kleenex? I think I saw some in
the kitchen. Let me…
JAMIE
Sit! Let the woman speak! Go ahead.
SHEILA
I was listening to Sammy his sing-song noises as he paced the
house, wondering when he was going to go to sleep. He was slowing down, and I
must have dropped off. I never heard that last slam of the door that defines his
giving up to go “pass out,” as he puts it.
JAMIE
I heard the slam of the door believe me, it was around four
this morning!
KATIE
That man hardly sleeps.
SHEILA
Never has slept much. He is like his Papa in that. Sutton would stay up to all hours to get projects done like he was still a college student staying up to study for his exams.
KATIE
How that man could pull all nighters still in his fifties was
beyond me!
SHEILA
Me too.
KATIE
He was determined to do what he had to.
JAMIE
Always.
SHEILA
Yeah, always.
JAMIE
Your dream?
KATIE
It wasn’t Sutton, was it?
SHEILA
No, I dream about anything but him. It seems my dreams can’t
reach him yet.
KATIE
Oh, Sweetie.
SHEILA
It… the dream… he isn’t there… Breath… Starting again. I was
waiting for the sound of Sammy’s door when I fell asleep and began to dream
about a door being opened and closed over and over. I had to get through this
door, but I couldn’t touch it.
JAMIE
Why?
SHEILA
It’s a dream. I just knew I couldn’t because it was too cold
and it would freeze me?
KATIE
Wow.
SHEILA
So, I had to time running through it kind of like a revolving
door.
JAMIE
I love those! You hardly ever see them anymore except on those
big buildings…
(KATIE gives JAMIE a look)
Go on, please.
SHEILA
Somehow, I got through it even though I knew if I didn’t it
would chop me in half and I’d freeze and then shatter. I had to get through it.
It was sharp or I knew it was sharp but I got through without that and I was
relieved. Then I was walking though a mossy forest on a stone path. The path
was slippery and I stumbled. When I slid like I was going to hit the forest
floor a hand shot out and caught me. It was familiar and warm. I looked up at
the face and it was and wasn’t Uncle Barry.
KATIE
No!
SHEILA
Yeah. I hadn’t thought about him for years.
JAMIE
He’s been gone a long time. Did Aunt Bertha appear too?
SHEILA
Yes.
KATIE
Oh wow. She’s been gone, what fifteen years or more?
SHEILA
Both of them gone longer than that. I didn’t seem surprised
to see them in my dream. Uncle Barry picked me up in those big hands of his and
it was like I changed from big adult me to child me in an instant. Aunt Bertha
joined us. She handed me a cup of tea.
KATIE
Of course she did. Did she read your tea leave too?
SHEILA
That’s right! She used to do that, didn’t she?
JAMIE
She did. I was always going to marry some handsome stranger.
KATIE AND SHEILA
Me too!
SHEILA
Oh Gosh, she was funny.
KATIE
In her own way, sure.
JAMIE
Is that what you two call it?
SHEILA
Anyway…we were walking for a long time in this mossy stone
pathed forest talking about everything and nothing. I don’t remember the
specifics but I felt lighter until a bird…
JAMIE
You just can’t get away from those damn birds.
KATIE
It wasn’t a talking eagle, was it?
SHEILA
No. Just an ordinary looking bird. A chickadee or something
small. Yes, Sammy would know.
JAMIE
And the story would stop right there until you identified
that bird in detail, but go on.
SHEILA
This little bird had a balloon in it’s beak. It was a white bird with a white iridescent balloon.
JAMIE
Iridescent? Ooooh, fancy!
(KATIE mouths question about word and JAMIE mouths
shiny back)
SHEILA
I guess. We had iridescent balloons at our wedding reception. Sutton thought they were pretty fancy too. Anyway, this bird was offering me the balloon and Uncle Barry and Aunt Bertha were encouraging me to take it. The bird opens it’s beak to give it to me and the string slipped out of my fingers. It starts floating straight up so fast I can’t catch it. I turned around to see if Uncle Barry or Aunt Bertha could help me and they’re not there. The woods are gone. The green moss is gone. I’m standing on the stone path and the balloon is barely in sight and the bird has hopped on my shoulder and is pecking at it. I start yelling at the bird to go away. It flies up by the balloon. I’m scared it is going to pop it, but instead it grabs the string in it’s mouth…
KATIE
Beak.
SHEILA
Beak and files out of sight. I stand there waiting for it to
come back for the picture to fill back in or the mossy ground and logs or trees
to surround me again but there is nothing but stark white emptiness. I call to
the bird. It doesn’t return. I call and call and call and then I hear the slam
of a distant door and I woke up.
(SHEILA is weepy)
JAMIE
Damn bird.
SHEILA
And balloon.
KATIE
This sounds like you need a cup of tea. Do you have any of
that Russian tea mix that Aunt Bertha used to make?
SHEILA
I might. It’s pretty old. I used to drink some whenever it
would snow.
JAMIE
It doesn’t snow here that often, does it?
SHEILA
No, it doesn’t. Rarely.
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