More Than a Dream
It was a nice and peaceful evening in Jollywood, and the 7D were just finishing up their work in the mine.
"Good work, fellas!" Doc said as he was finishing his work inspecting the gems. "About time for us to head home, just as soon as I finish up here…"
Dopey and Bashful were admiring some of the brilliant, sparkling jewels they had found. Dopey was especially proud of the exceptionally large specimen he had discovered earlier, and had been (silently) bragging about it the whole day.
"It sure is pretty, Dopey." Bashful said.
He picked it up and whistled in a pleased tone, nodding.
Grumpy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we get it!" he said, annoyed by Dopey's boastfulness. "You found a gem, big whoop."
"C'mon, give him a break, Grumpy," Happy chimed in, "After all, it's the biggest one he's ever found!" The angry dwarf just grumbled and went to put away his pickaxe.
"Hey," Sneezy cut in, "Has anybody seen Sleepy?" He looked around concernedly.
Doc looked up from his last gem and notice he couldn't see their drowsy friend either. "Hmm, that's funny...why don't you see if you can find him, Sneezy?"
The sneezer nodded in agreement. "You can count on me!" He scampered off to the nearest tunnel where he last saw his friend. "Sleepy?" he called out, being careful not to be too loud. "Where are you?" After a short while, he saw a pickaxe lying on the ground. He ran closer, hoping he'd find its owner. Sure enough, once he turned the corner next to it, there was Sleepy, leaning against a wall, sound asleep.
"There you are, buddy!" he said, obviously not expecting him to respond. "You scared me for a second there." He was beginning to pick him up and go back to the others when he felt a sneeze coming on. "Uh oh." he said to himself, putting Sleepy back down and attempting to turn away first. "Ahh…aahh...AAHH-CHOOO!" The blast of wind shot him back against a wall. "Ow!" He usually tried to avoid sneezing inside the mine for this reason. "Aw, beezers! Now I've got a headache…" He said, rubbing his head.
"Aw, I'm sorry Sneeze-man."
Sneezy jumped, not knowing his friend had awoken. "Oh, Sleepy. You're awake?"
"Your sneeze woke me up." He shrugged, but didn't really look annoyed at him. He helped his friend off the ground and they began walking back to the others.
"Wait a minute." Sleepy said, stopping not too far ahead. He felt the top of his hat for a moment. "I forgot something! I'll be right back!" He ran back to where they just were, and Sneezy thought he could hear him talking softly before he returned. "Alright, let's go." They began walking again, and the younger dwarf was getting curious. "So, what did you forget?"
He looked slightly embarrassed. "Heheh…" he muttered, and lifted his hat to reveal Mr. Hicklepips sitting on his head.
"Ahh, I see." He smiled.
"There you guys are!" Grumpy shouted when they returned "We've all been waitin' for ya!"
Doc turned around and smiled. "Oh, good, you found him."
"Just in time, too!" Happy added, "Sun's starting to set."
"Come on, fellers!" said the leader, and they all answered in unison, "Hi ho!" and began marching and singing their way out of the mine.
A while after they got back home, they were all sitting at the table after dinner.
Making sure there were no silences, Happy always was the first to start a conversation. "I'm kinda glad the queen didn't need our help today. It's good to have a normal day once in awhile, y'now?" The others nodded.
Once the dishes were done, they all got ready for bed (except, of course, Sleepy, who crawled into his bed and was already sleeping). After exchanging their goodnights, the 7D promptly went to sleep. Sneezy, however, was having some trouble entering dreamland due to his headache. He tossed and turned for a while, then decided to get up for a glass of water (which was really just an excuse to get out of bed.) He made his way downstairs in the dark, waiting for his eyes to adjust. When he arrived, to his surprise, he saw none other than Sleepy, who was sleepwalking in search of a midnight snack.
"How weird," thought Sneezy, "I didn't even hear him leave the room."
It was quite interesting to watch his friend sleepwalk, opening cabinets and grabbing food without even being aware of it. He reached into one of the cupboards and pulled out a delicious-looking wheel of cheese. "Uh-oh…Grumpy's gonna be mad if he eats that whole thing." He carefully approached his unconscious friend and attempted to gently remove the food from his hands. When he tugged on it, Sleepy's grip tightened a bit. He pulled just the smallest bit harder, but to no prevail. He thought for a moment, and then walked over to the kitchen drawer and pulled out a small knife. "Maybe he won't mind just a piece missing…" He tiptoed over and sliced off a small serving of the cheese. With a very worried "I sure hope this works" sort of expression, he quickly and suddenly pulled the object out of the sleeping dwarf's hands, instantly replacing it with the slice he had cut. He paused for a second, making sure he had not woken him. When he saw that he had been successful, he smiled and walked back to the cabinet to put the food away. However, just as he did, he felt his stomach growl. It seems the lovely aroma coming from the cheese had gotten to him. He bit his lip. "If Grumpy complains," he told himself, "I'll tell him it was me who took both pieces." He didn't want to get Sleepy in trouble. He sighed and cut off another, slightly smaller, helping of the wheel and quickly returned it to the cupboard. He smiled at the snoozer, who was nearly finished with his snack, and munched on his as well. He began thinking out loud, still making sure to be quiet as a mouse.
"I wonder what's going on in your head," he whispered to his friend, "You must have some pretty great dreams when you sleep as much as you do. Can you control what happens in them?" He thought about this idea, imagining the possibilities it arose. "That sure would be neat…" he said almost inaudibly, realizing that his headache had vanished and he was now quite tired. "See ya tomorrow, buddy."
As he started upstairs, he stopped for a moment when he could've sworn that he had heard Sleepy murmur a soft "Goodnight." But when he looked back, he was still asleep. He couldn't help but smile as he continued back up to his bed, followed seconds later by the sleeping dwarf. Sneezy almost immediately fell into a blissful sleep.
The following afternoon, the 7D's work was interrupted by the ringing of the Bing-Bong Bell. They rushed to the castle to see what was up. They arrived and reported into Queen Delightful's throne room. "The 7D, reporting for duty!" they exclaimed in unison.
The queen, looking worried, began to explain the situation. I've just received an emergency message from a carrier pigeon. It's from the man delivering a large shipment of pickles to Jollywood, and it says:
"Your majesty, I was on my way to Jollywood when the horse pulling my cart was spooked, and I am now stuck on the edge of a cliff in the jewel mountains! Please send help as soon as you can, I am in quite a pickle here!"
"So, you see," the queen said, "I need you to go rescue the delivery man! And the pickles if possible."
The 7D saluted. "We're on it, Queen Delightful!" proclaimed Doc. They ran out of the castle and home, where they had a mine cart that could take them to said mountains. They jumped in and Doc pulled the lever on the front almost all the way back, causing the vehicle to almost immediately speed away into the mine. They traveled underground until they came to a turn in the track. "Hold on!" Doc shouted back to them and again shifted the lever, and they made a sharp left turn. The others held onto the cart for dear life, and it went above the ground to reveal the mountains directly ahead. After another minute or so, they were in the mountains. The leader dwarf forcefully yanked the brakes, bringing the contraption to a hard stop and sending the others tumbling out. Grumpy seemed quite steamed from the sudden halt. "Slow down next time, will ya, Doc!? Yer gonna hurt somebody!" he yelled.
"I did tell you to hold on." He answered with a slight smile, and Grumpy just groaned. Happy cut in. "Alright, guys! Time to find that delivery man!" He said, and they ran off in groups of two, Sneezy by himself. They searched high and low. Bashful and Dopey peeking around rocks, Doc and Sleepy scanning the edges of cliffs, all of them occasionally calling out for the man. Finally, they heard Sneezy call from one side of the mountain, "Guys! C'mere, I found him!" They gathered to where he was to find a cart with one wheel over the edge of the cliff, and another dwarf inside.
"Help! If I move the cart'll fall!" he cried. The 7D looked down over the cliff. It was easily a hundred foot drop.
"Hold on!" Sleepy said louder than usual, "We'll save you!"
They grabbed hold of the sides and back of the cart and began pulling. With each heave, they moved the poor driver further from the danger. On the last pull, however, Sneezy was near the front of the cart, pulling from there, when he tripped on a small rock and fell, head first, over the edge. He screamed, but had enough sense to grab onto a branch growing out from the side of the mountain. Heart pounding, he tried to catch his breath. The others, having hastily pulled the cart to safety, ran to the edge, terrified. "SNEEZY!" They yelled.
"Hold on, Sneeze-man!" Sleepy said not so sleepily. Sneezy out of instinct, looked over his shoulder to the ground below. He screamed again, gripping the branch tighter. He looked back up at his friends.
"Help me!" he exclaimed in fear. They were trying desperately to reach him, and Sneezy noticed something the worried him greatly. There was no sign of Sleepy. He was too far down for the others to reach with their human rope. He looked for Sleepy as he held on tight, and tears came into his eyes. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of his friend. He ran up, said something to the others, and then, to Sneezy's horror, they all ran off with him.
"Guys!? Where are you!?" he yelled, without an answer. He felt the branch move a little, and the tears escaped his eyes. As he cried, having lost most of his hope, the branch sunk lower. He couldn't manage to yell anymore.
"Please help…" he said through sobs in a futile attempt to be heard.
The branch finally snapped, sending him falling off the cliff. He yelped in fear as he fell, unable to scream through his tears. He was turned away from the bottom of the drop, bracing himself into a ball. At the moment he expected to hit the hard rock ground, he hit something, but it was not hard. Sneezy slowly uncurled his body, to find that he was alright. He looked up to see the other 6D huddled together, holding him. They had…caught him? Still scared to death, he began to cry more, half out of fear and half out of happiness. He hugged his friends tight as he was surrounded by them. As the group hug dispersed, he continued to grasp Sleepy around his shoulders and sob, and Sleepy did the same.
"There, there. You're alright now." He said, trying hard (but not succeeding) to sound less utterly shaken than he was. The two embraced each other for awhile until their tears finally stopped, and they all went back up to help out the delivery dwarf. Most of the pickles were salvaged, and Dopey found the horse that pulled the cart roaming not too far off. They sent him off and went back to the mine cart. Doc drove it back at a much slower speed than when they had arrived. He figured they'd had enough excitement for one day. Sneezy went on thanking the others a thousand times. At one point he even told them, "I'm sorry for being so clumsy, fellas. This would've been a much quicker mission if it wasn't for me-" He was cut off by Grumpy.
"You're sorry for fallin' off a cliff!? We saved ya, Sneezy! Don't apologize!" He tried to sound more annoyed at the sneezer to mask how worried he had been.
"Don't try to act so mad about it," Happy said, smirking. "I saw you crying in that hug, Grumpy." The dwarf crossed his arms and mumbled incoherently, clearly embarrassed.
Bashful put a hand on Sneezy's shoulder. "There's no need to feel sorry, Sneezy," he said kindly, "We're just glad you're safe." Dopey whistled, nodding and hugging him with one oversized sleeve. "Thanks, you guys," replied the sneeze-man. "That means a lo…a lo-haAAA-CHOO!" His sneeze propelled the mine cart, making them go quite a bit faster (though not as fast as Doc usually drove).
The 7D returned to the castle around the same time the pickle delivery arrived. Delightful cheerfully greeted them.
"You did it!" she said with a large smile, holding a pickle jar. "Thank you, 7D! Here, take a jar of pickles or two as a reward." The queen's dog joined in in excitement. "Yip, yip!"
They explained to the queen what had happened, and she looked to Sneezy worriedly. "Oh, my! Are you alright, Sneezy? Do you need anything?" The sneezing dwarf shook his head and smiled. "Oh, no, your majesty, I'm fine." he said.
Once they were home, they had a quick dinner and went to bed, all of them exhausted. As Sneezy was lying down in his bed, he was startled by the snoozer walking up behind him.
"Sorry, sneeze-man. Didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to say goodnight." He smiled and held his arms open, inviting his friend into another hug. He happily accepted the offer and wrapped his arms around the tired dwarf. He felt so privileged to have a friend like Sleepy. He smiled, closing his eyes and whispered softly to his friend,
"Thank you."