Chapter 5: The Midnight Conversation



Kevin looked around. He was standing on the dock of a northeastern seaside town. A large ship was unloading passengers onto the dock. Judging from their clothes and accents, they appeared to be Scottish immigrants. Kevin wondered where they were going, when a small boy in front of him tripped and fell. His glasses flew away from him.

"Help! I can't see!" yelled the boy, but his voice was lost in the crowd. Kevin went over to the glasses, but another small boy ran out and grabbed them first. This boy walked up to the first boy. "Here ye go," he said, and gave the glasses to it's owner.

"Thank ye kindly!" said the bespectacled boy, excitedly. "How can I ever repay ye?"

"Well," said the other boy, "How about I give ye this?" He reached into his pocket and gave the boy with the glasses a shiny silver dollar. "Buy your family a loaf of bread with it."

"Nay, sir," answered the bespectacled boy. "I'm going to keep this dollar for the rest of me life. By the way, my name is Williams. Joseph Williams."

"Reginald Baggs," said the other boy, and they shook hands.

As Kevin observed each boy's family run towards them, he heard Reginald say, "My folks are going to live on Baxter Street."

"Really?" asked Joseph. "My folks are going to live there as well!..."



The next thing Kevin knew, he was in a field. In the distance, there lay a very respectable-sized town surrounded by several oil derricks. He whirled around and saw an old man hoeing in the middle of the field. Kevin walked up to him and introduced himself, but the old man took no notice. Suddenly, Kevin saw another old man coming from the direction of the town. The first man put his hoe down.

"Hello there, Joseph. How are ye?" asked the hoeing man.

"Um...just fine, Reginald. How's business?" Kevin didn't like Joseph's tone of voice.

"Dandy! Profits are up, and I just might be made 'STATE Head of Finances' by year's end! I'm just hoeing out here in case I accidently hit another oil vein. Heh heh heh."

Kevin observed Joseph, who was pawing at the ground and fingering something behind his back.

"Remember that old silver dollar you gave me, Reginald? I'm, uh, thinking of keeping it in a town museum, once it's built." As he was talking, Joseph slowly began moving behind Reginald, who was too busy hoeing to notice.

"I think that's a good idea," said Reginald.

Then, to Kevin's horror, Joseph brought his hand out from behind his back, revealing a long dagger being gripped in the hand. As Joseph aimed the dagger towards Reginald's back, Reginald said, "Y'know, I enjoy being so wealthy. It's given me such joy to share a portion of my profits to everyone in town-..."

Kevin whirled around and closed his eyes, but he could still hear the horrible deed being done behind him. When he turned back, he saw the body of Reginald Baggs on the ground with fatal wounds in his back. Joseph breathed heavily, his dagger stained red with blood.

"Yeah, you gave your glorious profits away, Reginald," heaved Joseph. "To everyone but me!"

With that, Joseph threw the knife into the sand next to Reginald and ran off in the direction of Joseph's house...



Kevin blinked his eyes. Now he was in front of a cemetery closer to the rickety town. He slowly walked in and read some of the gravestone's names. Lila Phillis, Doug Mitchelson, and Benton Tarantella, to name a few. Finally, Kevin arrived at a marvelous, new headstone adorned with bouquets of flowers. The headstone read:

REGINALD BAGGS

(1792-1852)

THE FOUNDER OF NOWHERE

R.I.P.



As Kevin left the cemetery, a sign caught his eye. It read: "Future sight of farmyard development. Cemetery to be moved to new location." Kevin knew, in the back of his mind, that the tombstones would be moved, but not the graves themselves! Then, for some reason, Kevin started running toward town. He ran clear through it, straight to the other side...without meeting another person or feeling tired at all! When he finally stopped, it was in front of a rectangular mound of dirt. An unmarked grave! Confused, Kevin looked skyward and saw something written in the sky! It was a bunch of letters, followed by an '@' sign and then a website company followed by a '.com'. It was an e-mail address!...



******



Kevin woke up on Courage's cot, gasping for air in the pitch dark basement. "The same dream," Kevin whispered to himself. This had been going on for several weeks, and this was the longest one yet! He was sweating bullets, and tossed the blanket aside.



A familiar voice whispered his name in the darkness.

"Kevin?" she asked. "Did it happen again?"

"Yeah," Kevin answered. "It won't be long now."

"I wish it would hurry up." the voice continued. Then maybe those dreams of yours will stop."

"Well, I've already figured out most of the dream. I just need to go back to that museum one more time."

"Why? You've been there already!"

"Ssshhh. I know, but I didn't have enough time to go through it all because of my little sister. Our family is in danger, and so is this other family too."

"Courage?"

"Yes, Courage. And Eustace. And Muriel, if I don't figure out what's going on."

There was silence for a while. Then:

"Kevin? Have you figured out what the dream's e-mail address is addressed to?"

"You asked me that last night, remember? Remember my answer?"

"Oh yeah. I remember. Kind of a lucky shot, huh?"

"Yeah. I just need to get some more sleep. Nightmare or no nightmare."



Kevin reached out and pulled the covers back over him.

"Goodnight, Kevin," said the voice in the dark.

"Goodnight, Sandy."



EGAD! Kevin can talk to Sandy! How did this happen?? Keep reading to find out!





Next chapter....Chapter 6: Back to the Museum