Jamie Jam tried to keep her voice level.

"Fine. But let's say your mother isn't home. And someone knocks on the door." She pantomimed knocking. "Knock, knock." She turned to Ohlm. "What do you say?"

Ohlm shrugged. "I don't say anything." He took another bite of his apple. "I'm not supposed to answer the door when Mom isn't home in case it's a homicidal maniac."

"Yeah, you probably get a lot of those," Jamie said under her breath. Then she steeled herself. "It's not a homicidal maniac, darling," she said through clenched teeth. "It's your old friend Jamie Jam. So you say, 'Who's there.'"

Ohlm nodded. "If I know it's you, why would I say, 'Who's there?'"

Jamie Jam sobbed. Ohlm took another bite of his apple.

#

Olympia and Otis, meanwhile, had split up and were inquiring around Odd Squad headquarters...

#

"Odell! Have you had any odd dreams recently?"

Odell shook her head.

#

"Coach O! Have you had any odd dreams lately?"

"I only have one dream and that's winning the pennant!"

#

"Oskana! Have you had any odd dreams?"

"I work in food service. I have no dreams."

#

"Obfusco! Have you had any odd or unusual dreams recently?"

"Let no esophagus call me Fresca! Yet never has a Christmas tree ornament been so delicious!"

"So... That would be a 'No,' right?"

"Right."

#

"O'Duffy! Have you had any odd dreams lately?"

Inaudible peeping.

"Could you just nod or shake your head?"

#

"O'Painty! Have you had any odd dreams lately?"

"Arr! I be just a painting of a head!"

"Sorry. Wrong show..."

#

"Octavia!"

Octavia shrieked.

"Sorry. Have you had any odd dreams lately?"

"Um... No. Is that wrong? Was I supposed to? I'll do better, I promise..."

"No, no, no," Olympia tried to calm her down. "It's all right. We're just fighting a dream-transferitis epidemic."

"Oh," Octavia smiled. "I had that last year. I'm fine now. The tic's gone and everything."

"YOU CAN GET A TIC FROM DREAM-TRANSFERITIS?"

"You can if you switch dreams with Doctor O." She grimaced. "It was three months before I could eat spaghetti again."

"Spaghetti? Why... Ohhhhh..." Olympia fought a bit of nausea.

"And I looked it up and that's not what a gall bladder looks like at all. You'd think she'd know that..."

"Yeah." She turned to the apparently empty chair at the next desk. "Have you had any odd dreams?"

Very long pause.

Finally, Octavia said, "Uh, that's a chair."

"Oh." Olympia coughed. "Well, um, just trying to be thorough. 'Bye!"

She ran off.

"Why didn't she ask me?" said a voice from behind Octavia's shoulder. "I haven't had any dreams, but if she wants to be thorough..."

"I don't know," Octavia flipped through her paperwork. "They're new here, I guess..."

#

"All right," Jamie Jam set a card table with a number of plastic dolls and a diorama of a small house down in front of Ohlm. "All right. You're going to get this. This has to work." She took a deep breath. "Now... These people..." She indicated the dolls arranged on one side of the door. "Are at home. And this person..." She held up another doll. "WHO IS NOT ME BUT WHOM I WILL BE VOICING FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS DEMONSTRATION, is at the other side of the door. This person has come to visit. But they don't know she's coming. So she knocks on the door..." She moved the doll as if it were knocking on the door. "Knock, knock. These people don't know who it is knocking. They need to find out. So what do they say to the person on the other side of the door?"

Ohlm peered at the plastic dollhouse door. "Can't they just look through that little peephole?"

He took another bite of his apple.

"Um, ma'am? You're gonna hurt your head if you keep doing that..."

He chewed and swallowed.

"Probably not doing the table much good either..."

#

Olympia and Otis rendezvoused in the hall of doors.

"I don't understand it!" Olympia compared hers and Otis' lists. "We must've asked every agent here and nobody else has dream-transferitis!"

"We have to keep trying," Otis answered. "There has to be some..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH!"

The partners jumped. Then they looked at each other. "It came from the pillow room!"

They ran across the corner just in time to see Agent Oren emerge from the pillow room, straightening his glasses. He quickly replaced the panicked look on his face with his usual supercilious smugness.

"Oren!"

"I..." Oren smoothed his rumpled jacket. "What, um, what do you two rookies want?"

"You were napping in the pillow room!"

Oren's mouth quivered. "You can't prove that."

"You were napping in the pillow room and you had an odd dream!"

"I... I... I..." He crumbled, grapping Otis' lapels. "Oh, it was horrible! Horrible!" He continued in a hoarse whisper, his eyes shining. "I was at my desk and I was doing paperwork... And it wouldn't END!" He swallowed. "Every time I'd reach the bottom of the pile, more forms would drop out of the sky into my 'In' Basket! And I'd do those too and then MORE papers would appear, and MORE papers, and MORE and MORE and MORE papers..." He choked back a sob. "There's only so much even a brilliant agent like myself can take!"

Olympia's mouth was hanging open in shock. "That's my dream!"

Oren looked at her. "What?"

"In fact, it's my favorite dream!" She grinned, bouncing on her heels. "I love doing paperwork!"

Oren glared at her. "You're sick, you know that?"

"Never mind," Otis interrupted. "Olympia, go ahead."

She touched her forehead to Oren's and heard the 'DING!' of her dream going back into her head. Oren looked from one of them to the other.

"So, that's it, right?"

"Not quite," Otis replied. "Someone else has your dreams. We'll have to add you to the list."

Olympia pulled out the gadget and fired it. The list reappeared.

Otis

Olympia-Otis

Owen-Oona

Ocean-O'Malley

O'Malley-Owen

Oona-Ocean

Oren-Olympia

Oren

"The only people left who aren't paired are you and Oren," Olympia observed. "Is it possible you have his dreams?"

Otis looked at Oren. "I... seriously doubt it..."

Oren returned the look. "So my dreams aren't good enough for you?"

"No, no..." Otis shook his head. "That's not the problem. I just really don't think the dreams I've been having belong to Agent Oren."

"So who do they belong to?" Olympia leaned close. "Maybe if you'd tell us about them..."

"No."

"I won't tell anyone!" She crossed her heart and held up her hand like she was making a pledge. "Look, have I ever embarrassed you before?"

He looked at her steadily.

"I mean on purpose?" She looked around and whispered. "It's... not duck-related, is it?"

"No."

Oren was staring at the ceiling, bored. Olympia thought.

"Maybe if you can remember the details of the dreams, you can figure out on your own who they belong to."

Otis grimaced.

"It's our only hope."

"All right," Otis sighed. "I'll do my best."

Shutting his eyes, Otis forced himself to remember the dreams he'd been trying to forget for days. He remembered the giant, twirling lollipops... The yodeling kittycats in party dresses... The fountains of pink lemonade... The koala bears doing somersaults... The mounds of strawberry cake and heart-shaped cookies... The mountain of whipped cream with little vanilla wafers on skis going up and down... The samba-dancing bunnies... The knee-socks and Mary Jane shoes... The... The singing, dancing plastic dinosaurs...

"Oh no..."

In the distance, he could see Agent Orchid skipping to her desk. She sat down, pulled out an emergency medical form and a crayon, and began drawing little circles all over it.

"It would have to be her."

Olympia smiled anxiously. "You've figured it out?"

He nodded. "Might as well go and get this over with." He took a couple steps, then looked over his shoulder at her. "If I don't come back, you've been a great partner."

Olympia beamed as she watched him walk into the main area. "He said I was a great partner!"

Oren rolled his eyes. "Yippee."

Bracing himself, Otis walked over to Orchid's desk. She looked up at him. "WHAT?"

"Uh, yeah. Excuse me. This will just take a moment..."

Quickly as he could, he leaned over and touched his forehead to hers. He was relieved to hear a 'DING!'.

"Thanks."

Orchid smiled sweetly up at him. "Don't mention it." Then she head-butted his forehead as hard as she could. "And DON'T DO IT AGAIN!"

Rubbing his forehead, Otis returned to the others. "Well, that's taken care of. We'd better get back to the park."

"Wait a minute!" Oren stopped them. "What about my dreams?"

Olympia projected the list again, with the new additions.

Otis-Orchid

Olympia-Otis

Owen-Oona

Ocean-O'Malley

O'Malley-Owen

Oona-Ocean

Oren-Olympia

Oren

Orchid

She looked it over. "Most likely, Orchid's having your dreams."

"So I have to..." Oren made a gesture indicating the forehead-touch.

"Let us know how it turns out," The two partners turned and raced toward the tube room. "We've gotta go!"

Oren stood in the hall, quietly whimpering.

#