Looking For The Doggy
…a Sandman fanfiction by dreamkin…
…characters property of Neil Gaiman…
Looking For The Doggy
She was gone.
Barnabus turned around and stared in every direction, but there was no sign of her. Not a single floating fish or multicoloured hummingbird was in sight.
Oh gods, what do I do now?
They had been headed for the 'Small World' ride, and he had only looked the other way for a second, the briefest of moments ~ the guy was selling hotdogs for chrissakes, what's a canine to do? ~ and now he had lost her. Maybe she had even left the park by now. He felt pretty sure that she had run off after something ~ the chocolate-covered banana his brain supplied ~ she did get distracted easily, but why had she left him? She knew he couldn't follow her unless she took him with her, but maybe she had forgotten, or not looked at that memory for a while. This was Delirium, after all. Nevertheless, Barnabus decided to look around for her anyway.
It had given him quite a shock the first time she had done that – looked at her memories. He had not been prepared for the way they had just poured out of her head, and paraded around in the air in front of her, tiny versions of herself and himself and her family and friends and acquaintances and people she-had-just-met-but-didn't-know-properly-yet and everyone else too. It was quite amusing, because once Delirium had finished watching one memory the tiny people either continued talking amongst themselves or disappeared, either by slowly fading away or in an abrupt puff of talcum powder. Barnabus gave a small doggy grin at the memory.
He resumed his search for Delirium. When they walked around in the world like this usually no-one could see them unless they belonged to her, or she wanted to talk to them specifically to ask them what they would prefer to wear, a rain mac or a hippopotamus, or something like that. Now he was alone Barnabus was unsure as to whether he would be visible again, like he used to be. Foe a second he wondered what it would be like to be a proper pet, with proper owners and a proper home and a proper basket and cats to chase. What it would be like to be normal. But then he remembered – that's not normal. Normal is living rough on the streets, begging for scraps, starving at nights, being picked up and caged in a rescue centre. That was normality, and on the whole, he decided, looking after Delirium was a far better calling. But he had lost her….
Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a flash of multicoloured hair, and quickly ran around to look more closely. Sure enough, a small girl, looking about twelve years old, wearing an oversized bomber jacket and teeny-tiny shorts was picking her way through the crowd in the opposite direction to him. Barking, he ran towards her, but just as soon as he got close enough for her to hear, the air around her swirled and she disappeared, her cranberry outline hanging in the air for a few seconds. Barnabas stopped dead.
Great. Stranded in Disneyland. Just what I always wanted…
Then he noticed the official Disneyland attendant hurrying towards him, brandishing a neck-hoop.
Guess I AM visible without Delirium, then.
The dog made some attempt to run, but really he thought the best idea would be to get caught and thrown out of the park. At least then he would be able to search for Delirium properly, because he knew she wouldn't be returning here for a while.
As Barnabus felt the wire coil encircle his neck, he gave up struggling and let himself be led out of the main park; he dedicated all of his (considerable, for a canine) brainpower onto one thought.
Where CAN she be...?