The dream

Thanks to my editors for editing, especially my over use of commas.  However once again I couldn't keep my hands off the finished product and made some further changes.  All errors are and will continue to be, mine.  Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments if you wish.

Madelyn Wheeler woke with a start.  When she sat up, her husband Matthew stirred against her.

"What's the matter, Maddy darling? Did the baby's kicking wake you up?"

"No, Matt.  I just had the strangest dream. It was one of those dreams that you hope you dream again so you can learn more. 

You and I were in a waiting room."

Matthew sat up against the headboard and pulled Maddy to lean against him. He cradled their beloved baby bump in the palm of his hands.

"Was it a bad dream? Maybe if you tell me about it. you will be able to go back to sleep. Was it a doctor’s waiting room?"

"No.  It wasn’t a bad dream exactly.  The room wasn’t like any other waiting room I have ever seen.  It was big and spacious, almost like a big park or preserve with birds singing and horses whinnying and stomping their hooves.  We were sitting there, watching people come and go while we were waiting to be called ourselves. At the time I wasn’t sure what we were waiting for.     

A secretary or receptionist would come to the door every so often and call the next person on the list.  The first people she called were  a couple with two young boys.  The woman was also pregnant.  She had blonde hair and the bluest eyes I have ever seen.  Her husband was tall and dark with black curly hair. The younger boy was little more than a toddler himself and looked very much like his mother. The older boy was about three and looked like a mini-me of his Daddy. “

Maddy laughed, “It looked like the toddler was just learning to walk, and his older brother kept busy following him around trying to keep him out of trouble.  When they were called, they picked up a suitcase, very much like the one we have packed for the hospital, and went through the door.

Maddy  paused and took a slow breath.  “And you know, they are were the only ones who never came back into the room.

The next one called was a Mr. Lytell.  He was a tall, skinny older man with gray hair.  As he walked up to the door I heard him say, "Maybe now I will find out what this is all about.  I have to get back to the store and stock that strawberry pop."  When he came back out, he was grumpy and muttering about a harum scarum troublesome girl.

After Lytell, they called a dark, stoop shouldered man named Jonesy.  He smelled awful, like stale cigarettes.  He shuffled out of the room while looking over his shoulder, like someone was chasing him.  When he came back out, he looked really angry and said something like, “I'm going to get what's mine.”

Next, Matt, was your old college roommate, Win Frayne, his wife Katie, and a cute little boy.  The little boy had red hair and the greenest eyes that I have ever seen,  The quail must be his favorite bird because he kept whistling, ‘Bob-bob-white”

They called a Sergeant Molinson, a Principal Stratton, another expectant couple by the name of Lynch, a soldier and his wife and son by the name of Mangan, and then they called us.

We went in to the next room. It was large with a beautiful mosaic ceiling and the walls had beautifully painted scenes. There was an old classic wooden mansion that looked like it had seen better times, and a white two story farmhouse down in a glen. There was a weather-vane grasshopper on top of a town hall.  Then there was a lake surrounded by a large white house and a stable with horses.  

There was a circular ramp that ascended the room up at least three stories.

As we walked up the ramp, the scenes changed. All the scenes had teenagers in them.  There were four boys and three girls and it looked like they were all having so much fun. Sometimes they were bright and full of sunshine and other times they were dark and scary. There was one scene that was on a map and it was labeled “Missouri” with the Mississippi river and pictures of caves and guns.  That scene made chills go up my back, although I have no idea why.  

When we got to the top of the ramp, there was an old gentleman with a unicycle and he smelled like Hunter's stew. I felt like I should know him but I had never seen before. He said his name was Maypenny and he was there with a message for all the visitors to the room.  He said, “You may not realize it for several years but after today, your life will never be the same.”

‘Trixie Belden was born today.’”

Honey's Misdirection

A magician uses the art of misdirection.  An author may use the double entendre to tantalize the reader with one or two phrases that are actually perfectly innocent.  Move along, there is not anything here that actually needs any ratings warning.

"Oh. My. Gawd!"  The wrinkled hand holding the framed photograph was shaking. But was it anger? Embarrassment?

"What is your hundred dollar manicure holding?  And what are those balls?"

Honey carefully set the tray on the coffee table, glad to get rid of her burden before she dropped the fine china cups all over the floor.

"Those aren't balls, Grandmother, they are bobbers.  You press on the button and a tiny stiff wire sort of like a needle comes out of the bottom.  Oh, never mind the details; you use the bobber to know when you have a fish on the hook.  The fish grabs the bait, gets hooked and the bobber sinks under water and you know you have a fish.

"And that hundred dollar manicure is holding the first fish that I ever caught and took off the hook all by myself."