Alerted by her son's screams, Mrs. Powers burst into his bedroom. "What's the
matter?" she exclaimed.
Alan was sitting up in his bed, breathing and sweating heavily. His complexion was pale, as if he had just witnessed an unspeakable horror.
He glanced around, and was surprised to see that the room was well illuminated by the sunlight streaming through the blinds. It was later in the morning than he was accustomed to waking.
"Are you all right?" asked his mother. "Did you have a bad dream?"
Rather than answer, Alan climbed slowly out of his bed, then stood in front of the dresser mirror. He stared at his own reflection for several seconds, as if relieved to discover that he was still himself. Gradually, his breathing returned to normal.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" came his mother's voice.
Alan turned away from the mirror and groaned pathetically. "Oh, Mom, I just had the worst nightmare ever. No, I wouldn't call it a nightmare. It was more like a psychic invasion."
Mrs. Powers approached him and put her arms around him. "It's all right now. You're awake. Now come to breakfast, and you can tell me all about it."
Seated at the kitchen table, Alan poked glumly at his oatmeal. He could hardly keep his bleary eyes open, as the harrowing dream had prevented him from obtaining any rest.
"So, what did you dream about?" asked his mother, who was reading the newspaper on the other end of the table.
Alan looked at the front page of the newspaper, which bore the headline, MARSALIS THRILLS AT NEW MUSIC HALL, and the subheadline, 9-YEAR-OLD SINGER COVERS WHILE MARSALIS DELAYED. There was a large picture of Marsalis playing his trumpet in front of four other musicians, and a smaller picture of Fern singing into the microphone with Arthur, Alan, and Francine in the background.
Mrs. Powers lowered the paper and noticed that Alan was gazing intently at it. "Don't worry," she reassured him. "They didn't say anything about the kiss. Now, why don't you tell me about your dream?"
"Uh, I'd rather not." The memories of his nightmare were so painful, not to mention potentially embarrassing, that he feared to share them with anyone.
"You look really tired," his mother remarked. "Maybe you should go back to bed and sleep some more."
"No!" cried Alan. Somehow he knew that if he slept again, the horror would resume. "I think I'll just go watch some TV," he said in a calmer voice.
A short while later, Alan was sitting on the couch, watching the beginning of a new episode of Bunny League. In the teaser, the seven League members suddenly found themselves in an eerie dream version of New York City, where there were no other people, and stranger still, no cars.
"Great Scott!" exclaimed Bionic Bunny. "This can't be New York. Look at all the empty parking spaces."
"I think this is all a dream," Dark Bunny rejoined. "The question is, whose dream is it?"
"Wait!" Martian Bunny placed his fingers on his temples. "I'm sensing a presence...a being of pure evil..."
As he related his telepathic findings, the League members heard a sinister laugh that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Hawk Bunny gripped her mace tightly, rose into the air, and began to swing it in all directions.
"Fool!" came a man's voice out of nowhere. "You can't fight what you can't see!"
"Who are you?" Amazon Bunny called out.
"I am Doctor Despair," said the malevolent-sounding voice. "You asked whose dream this is. It is mine, and you are prisoners in it...forever! Muwahahahaha!"
Alan groaned incredulously as the opening credits started. "How many times have I seen this plot before?" he muttered.
----
"I think we should wait until Sue Ellen's arm heals before we record an album," Van recommended. "After all, the quartet was her idea."
Van had gathered at the Read house with his musical comrades, which included Sue Ellen, Fern, Arthur, Francine, and Alan, whose head was drooping.
"That could take a long time," Sue Ellen replied. "It'll be another month before I can get the pins out, and then probably another month or two after that before I get the cast off, and then I'm looking at a month or more of physical therapy, and even then my arm may not work as well as it used to."
"And I thought I had it rough when I broke my arm," said Francine.
"I think we should do a few more concerts before we think about recording anything," said Arthur. "What do you think, Alan? Alan?"
Alan suddenly opened his eyes and raised his head. "Two thousand three hundred and eighty-eight!" he blurted out.
"You okay, Alan?" Fern asked him.
Alan shook his head vigorously, struggling to remain conscious. "I...had a really bad nightmare and didn't get any sleep," he responded.
"That happened to me once," said Arthur. "I dreamed I was six inches tall, and D.W. took me and dressed me up in her doll clothes."
"What was it about, Alan?" Francine asked.
"I'd rather not talk about it," said Alan, closing his eyes again.
"Hey, maybe if you tell Prunella about it, she can interpret it for you," Sue Ellen suggested.
"I don't want to tell anybody about it," said Alan groggily. "It's too embarrassing."
Francine grinned. "Oh, come on. You can tell us. We're your friends. We haven't made fun of you and Fern for kissing, have we?"
"Although we probably should," Arthur remarked.
Alan opened his eyes and gritted his teeth.
"Tell us, Alan," Van insisted.
"Just let me get my courage up." Alan took several deep breaths and let them out. The other kids fell silent and listened curiously.
"In my dream...there was me and this girl," he began. "We were in love."
"Was it Fern?" Sue Ellen asked.
Alan ignored her question. "We lived in a place near the ocean where there was nothing but fields of flowers everywhere. We did everything together. We ran through the flowers together, we had picnics on the beach, we swam in the ocean together, and we kissed each other."
"Was it Fern?" Francine inquired.
"Quiet," said Fern. "It's his dream, let him tell it."
"Then one day," Alan went on, "I told this girl that I didn't really love her, that I had met someone better, and that our love could never be. She was utterly heartbroken. She cried and cried."
Sue Ellen started to sniffle. Fern was staring at Alan, her eyes seeming to grow wider with every word he spoke.
"Is that it?" asked Arthur.
"No, there's more," said Alan. He appeared to be suffering physical pain from the recollection. "The girl was so devastated that she...she...she jumped off a cliff into the ocean and drowned."
Fern began to choke. Her friends watched in surprise as she placed her hands over her throat and struggled for breath.
"You all right, Fern?" asked Francine. She jumped from her chair and wrapped her arms around Fern's midsection, preparing to administer the Heimlich maneuver if it became necessary.
"I...I...I'm fine," sputtered Fern, though her expression of shock indicated that she was anything but fine. She breathed with difficulty for a few seconds, then seemed to recover. Francine withdrew her arms and returned to her chair.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Arthur asked Fern.
"Yes," Fern replied. "I...just got a little carried away. Alan's dream was so tragic. That poor girl."
"Hmm," said Francine pensively. "I can see how that would be unpleasant for the girl, but why was it a nightmare for you? All you did was dump her for someone else."
"I haven't told you the worst part of it," said Alan.
The kids became so quiet that it was almost possible to hear their hearts beating.
Alan's voice quivered. "Have you ever had a dream where you're not yourself, but somebody else?"
"Uh, yeah," Arthur answered. "I had a dream once where I was Bionic Bunny."
"That's never happened to me," said Francine. "In my dreams, I'm always me."
Sue Ellen's mouth fell open. "You...you were the girl?"
Alan nodded. "I experienced the whole dream from the girl's point of view."
"That must have been strange," Van remarked.
"It was like I became another person," Alan continued. "I was thinking her thoughts and feeling her feelings. I knew in the back of my mind that I wasn't supposed to be her, but I couldn't control it."
"So when you broke her heart and she jumped into the ocean," Francine observed, "you felt all of it as if you were her. Weird."
"It was very realistic," said Alan. "When I woke up and looked in the mirror, I was afraid I would see Fer..."
He stopped himself in mid-word, and grimaced in shame. His friends stared at him and wondered what he had intended to say.
"Fern?" asked Arthur.
"Or Francine," Sue Ellen suggested.
Fern, more visibly shaken than ever, jumped from her chair. "I need to go," she said in an unnaturally squeaky voice. She then hurried from the living room, nearly knocked over the coat rack while grabbing her overcoat, and exited through the front door.
She threw on her coat and walked briskly along the street, her mind spinning in confused circles. "There's no way he could have known about it," she repeated to herself again and again.
(To be continued...)
Alan was sitting up in his bed, breathing and sweating heavily. His complexion was pale, as if he had just witnessed an unspeakable horror.
He glanced around, and was surprised to see that the room was well illuminated by the sunlight streaming through the blinds. It was later in the morning than he was accustomed to waking.
"Are you all right?" asked his mother. "Did you have a bad dream?"
Rather than answer, Alan climbed slowly out of his bed, then stood in front of the dresser mirror. He stared at his own reflection for several seconds, as if relieved to discover that he was still himself. Gradually, his breathing returned to normal.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" came his mother's voice.
Alan turned away from the mirror and groaned pathetically. "Oh, Mom, I just had the worst nightmare ever. No, I wouldn't call it a nightmare. It was more like a psychic invasion."
Mrs. Powers approached him and put her arms around him. "It's all right now. You're awake. Now come to breakfast, and you can tell me all about it."
Seated at the kitchen table, Alan poked glumly at his oatmeal. He could hardly keep his bleary eyes open, as the harrowing dream had prevented him from obtaining any rest.
"So, what did you dream about?" asked his mother, who was reading the newspaper on the other end of the table.
Alan looked at the front page of the newspaper, which bore the headline, MARSALIS THRILLS AT NEW MUSIC HALL, and the subheadline, 9-YEAR-OLD SINGER COVERS WHILE MARSALIS DELAYED. There was a large picture of Marsalis playing his trumpet in front of four other musicians, and a smaller picture of Fern singing into the microphone with Arthur, Alan, and Francine in the background.
Mrs. Powers lowered the paper and noticed that Alan was gazing intently at it. "Don't worry," she reassured him. "They didn't say anything about the kiss. Now, why don't you tell me about your dream?"
"Uh, I'd rather not." The memories of his nightmare were so painful, not to mention potentially embarrassing, that he feared to share them with anyone.
"You look really tired," his mother remarked. "Maybe you should go back to bed and sleep some more."
"No!" cried Alan. Somehow he knew that if he slept again, the horror would resume. "I think I'll just go watch some TV," he said in a calmer voice.
A short while later, Alan was sitting on the couch, watching the beginning of a new episode of Bunny League. In the teaser, the seven League members suddenly found themselves in an eerie dream version of New York City, where there were no other people, and stranger still, no cars.
"Great Scott!" exclaimed Bionic Bunny. "This can't be New York. Look at all the empty parking spaces."
"I think this is all a dream," Dark Bunny rejoined. "The question is, whose dream is it?"
"Wait!" Martian Bunny placed his fingers on his temples. "I'm sensing a presence...a being of pure evil..."
As he related his telepathic findings, the League members heard a sinister laugh that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Hawk Bunny gripped her mace tightly, rose into the air, and began to swing it in all directions.
"Fool!" came a man's voice out of nowhere. "You can't fight what you can't see!"
"Who are you?" Amazon Bunny called out.
"I am Doctor Despair," said the malevolent-sounding voice. "You asked whose dream this is. It is mine, and you are prisoners in it...forever! Muwahahahaha!"
Alan groaned incredulously as the opening credits started. "How many times have I seen this plot before?" he muttered.
----
"I think we should wait until Sue Ellen's arm heals before we record an album," Van recommended. "After all, the quartet was her idea."
Van had gathered at the Read house with his musical comrades, which included Sue Ellen, Fern, Arthur, Francine, and Alan, whose head was drooping.
"That could take a long time," Sue Ellen replied. "It'll be another month before I can get the pins out, and then probably another month or two after that before I get the cast off, and then I'm looking at a month or more of physical therapy, and even then my arm may not work as well as it used to."
"And I thought I had it rough when I broke my arm," said Francine.
"I think we should do a few more concerts before we think about recording anything," said Arthur. "What do you think, Alan? Alan?"
Alan suddenly opened his eyes and raised his head. "Two thousand three hundred and eighty-eight!" he blurted out.
"You okay, Alan?" Fern asked him.
Alan shook his head vigorously, struggling to remain conscious. "I...had a really bad nightmare and didn't get any sleep," he responded.
"That happened to me once," said Arthur. "I dreamed I was six inches tall, and D.W. took me and dressed me up in her doll clothes."
"What was it about, Alan?" Francine asked.
"I'd rather not talk about it," said Alan, closing his eyes again.
"Hey, maybe if you tell Prunella about it, she can interpret it for you," Sue Ellen suggested.
"I don't want to tell anybody about it," said Alan groggily. "It's too embarrassing."
Francine grinned. "Oh, come on. You can tell us. We're your friends. We haven't made fun of you and Fern for kissing, have we?"
"Although we probably should," Arthur remarked.
Alan opened his eyes and gritted his teeth.
"Tell us, Alan," Van insisted.
"Just let me get my courage up." Alan took several deep breaths and let them out. The other kids fell silent and listened curiously.
"In my dream...there was me and this girl," he began. "We were in love."
"Was it Fern?" Sue Ellen asked.
Alan ignored her question. "We lived in a place near the ocean where there was nothing but fields of flowers everywhere. We did everything together. We ran through the flowers together, we had picnics on the beach, we swam in the ocean together, and we kissed each other."
"Was it Fern?" Francine inquired.
"Quiet," said Fern. "It's his dream, let him tell it."
"Then one day," Alan went on, "I told this girl that I didn't really love her, that I had met someone better, and that our love could never be. She was utterly heartbroken. She cried and cried."
Sue Ellen started to sniffle. Fern was staring at Alan, her eyes seeming to grow wider with every word he spoke.
"Is that it?" asked Arthur.
"No, there's more," said Alan. He appeared to be suffering physical pain from the recollection. "The girl was so devastated that she...she...she jumped off a cliff into the ocean and drowned."
Fern began to choke. Her friends watched in surprise as she placed her hands over her throat and struggled for breath.
"You all right, Fern?" asked Francine. She jumped from her chair and wrapped her arms around Fern's midsection, preparing to administer the Heimlich maneuver if it became necessary.
"I...I...I'm fine," sputtered Fern, though her expression of shock indicated that she was anything but fine. She breathed with difficulty for a few seconds, then seemed to recover. Francine withdrew her arms and returned to her chair.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Arthur asked Fern.
"Yes," Fern replied. "I...just got a little carried away. Alan's dream was so tragic. That poor girl."
"Hmm," said Francine pensively. "I can see how that would be unpleasant for the girl, but why was it a nightmare for you? All you did was dump her for someone else."
"I haven't told you the worst part of it," said Alan.
The kids became so quiet that it was almost possible to hear their hearts beating.
Alan's voice quivered. "Have you ever had a dream where you're not yourself, but somebody else?"
"Uh, yeah," Arthur answered. "I had a dream once where I was Bionic Bunny."
"That's never happened to me," said Francine. "In my dreams, I'm always me."
Sue Ellen's mouth fell open. "You...you were the girl?"
Alan nodded. "I experienced the whole dream from the girl's point of view."
"That must have been strange," Van remarked.
"It was like I became another person," Alan continued. "I was thinking her thoughts and feeling her feelings. I knew in the back of my mind that I wasn't supposed to be her, but I couldn't control it."
"So when you broke her heart and she jumped into the ocean," Francine observed, "you felt all of it as if you were her. Weird."
"It was very realistic," said Alan. "When I woke up and looked in the mirror, I was afraid I would see Fer..."
He stopped himself in mid-word, and grimaced in shame. His friends stared at him and wondered what he had intended to say.
"Fern?" asked Arthur.
"Or Francine," Sue Ellen suggested.
Fern, more visibly shaken than ever, jumped from her chair. "I need to go," she said in an unnaturally squeaky voice. She then hurried from the living room, nearly knocked over the coat rack while grabbing her overcoat, and exited through the front door.
She threw on her coat and walked briskly along the street, her mind spinning in confused circles. "There's no way he could have known about it," she repeated to herself again and again.
(To be continued...)
