TOGETHER AGAIN
The skies were dark in my dream. Thick storm clouds covered the world like a blanket, all heavy, black, & pendulous.
It was cold in my dream, too. I remember shivering wildly & drawing my purple trenchcoat around myself to keep warm.
"Sophocles..."
I gasped when I heard the mysterious ghostly call of my name. It was the voice of my father!
Had he gotten out of jail? Was someone before me able to bail him out?
Whatever the reason, I was ecstatic. Arms outstretched, I ran towards a pale light that began to take shape...
But before I could embrace the heavenly figure, he had already flown up into the sky, out of my reach.
The dream ended with my tears falling to the ground, & my chest heaving with sobs...
I began to toss & turn in my small bed, moaning & wailing pitifully in my sleep. I didn't notice the actual tears streaming down my cheeks, or my wife Evian trying to shake me awake.
"Soph," my little songbird whispered softly as she touched me, "Sophie, dear, wake up!"
And so I did, breaking free from my helpless situation I imagined I had recently gone through.
I looked around my alley-house, which was quiet & empty in the early morning. I was expecting to see my father...but reality sank in. My old mouse wouldn't get out of jail until I got enough money to bail him out, & that would take forever, since I earned about 29 guineas a month for my public performances, out of the desired 100,000 pounds.
I knew Evian & I had recently received a lot more money than we used to, but it wasn't enough. Father was getting old, & I wanted so desperately to see his face again before he died.
As I fell into a trance, Evian gingerly placed her paw on my shoulder, & asked in concern, "You had the dream again?"
I simply nodded, not really paying attention to my wife.
"Don't worry, dear," she said as she kissed my cheek & hugged me. "We'll get your father out of jail soon. In the meantime, go back to sleep."
I did just that. However, my slumber was still plagued by nightmares of Father...
The iron door creaked as it swung open. A tall stranger in a hooded trenchcoat walked to the front desk of the police's quarters of the London Mouse Jail.
At the desk, a red-haired bobby, McBrusque, was busy playing with a cube puzzle. Too busy to notice the mouse coming in...
"Sir..." said the mouse abruptly, startling Constable McBrusque, who dropped his cube puzzle on the floor as he jumped out of his chair.
As he tried to calm himself down, Constable McBrusque said nervously in his thick Scottish accent, "Yes...how may I help ye?"
The stranger placed a large bag of jingling pounds onto the desk in front of McBrusque. The constable stared wide-eyed at the sack, then at the stranger, whose face was hidden from view.
"Will this be enough," the mouse said, "to bail out a Mr. Socrates Braveheart from prison?"
The still-shocked bobby weakly nodded his head, & said, "Yes..." Then he got out of his chair, & led the stranger in the trenchcoat to the debtors' cells...
Again I dreamt about Father. This time we were flying through the sky, & I desperately tried to catch up with him.
I began to cry again, groping for something I desperately wanted, but I knew I could not have.
"Father...Father," I moaned pitifully as I sobbed in my sleep.
Just then, my shoulder felt warm as someone rested his hand on it. I heard a familiar voice comfort me, "I'm right here, son!"
I immediately opened my eyes & gazed at the mouse who woke me up. Then I rubbed my glazzies & blinked them twice, making sure I still wasn't dreaming.
I wasn't.
I was happy beyond belief. Ecstasy began to swell through me! Could it be? It was!
My tears of sorrow turned to tears of joy as I tightly embraced my father.
Father wiped my tears away & patted my black hair, as he whispered gently into my ear, "It's all right, son...everything's OK. We're together again."
And I thanked my lucky stars for bringing back the one thing in my life that mattered most.
FINI