Just a dream, or a chapter for my book?

"Is Angie still behind us?" I really didn't need to ask if my sister was still following us because at the same time that I asked the question I was straining to look in the side mirrors to see her car behind us.
"Well, we haven't moved more than 3feet in the last 20min., where else is she going to go." My husband's sarcastic tone told me that he was annoyed with my question. "Besides, she has GPS now if she looses us, she will still find her way there."

People all around us were starting to get out of their cars and slam the doors in anger. Everyone was bumper to bumper and there was no sign in traffic letting up any time soon. Just then the car stalled out. As Heath tried again and again to get it started it was no use. I picked up my phone to call Angie and let her know, but all of our cell phones were dead as well. We looked at each other confused about what was going on. In the side mirror I saw Angie get out of her car and run to ours.

"Mom, what's going on?" Karston and Josiah sat in the back seat, just as confused as the rest of us. Angie opened the back door and slid in next to the boys.

"The battery on my phone is dead and my car just stalled. I can't get it to crank back up. Heath could you look at it for me?" I guess Angie didn't notice that we were all in the same position until Heath threw his hands up and then hit the steering wheel in frustration. "Oh, I guess we are all stuck then."

With a loud sigh Heath said "Let's all get out and see if we can find someone that knows more about what is going on. "

As we all got out of the car we saw several "official looking" people directing others where to go. They had them leaving their cars and boarding busses and trolleys to be redirected around the sudden jam of cars all around us. As a family we all followed Heath to a bus nearby.

"I'm sorry sir, your family will need to board this trolley over here." The lady was directing us to a small train like car with only a few other families climbing up into their seats. "We have saved the last row just for your family."

"Where is that trolley going, is it going to the same place as the busses?" Heath was talking to the official lady, while I was trying to keep the boys from just running off without us. I couldn't help but be grateful at a moment like this that we had left Alyssa back at home with her grandparents. "Alright, let's go and get on the trolley then."

Heath and I sat on the back row with the boys and Angie sat directly in front of us next to a single mom and her daughter, who looked to be about the same age as our boys. I looked up to see that the Trolley was now full and just as instantly we were moving. Being in the back I couldn't see exactly where we were going, so I was very surprised when we went down hill. We seemed to be taking some kind of underground tunnel.

Just as soon as the whole Trolley was emersed into the tunnel we stopped, again. We all sat in silence and confusion. The kids started getting antsy and couldn't sit still. I noticed that one of the kids in the front of the trolley had gotten off and was running around in the small space.

"Mom, can we get off and go play while we are stopped too?" Josiah was always the curious type. It didn't help that the little girl in front of us had also made her way off of the trolley.

"Yes, but stay close by so that you know when it is time to leave." As usual Heath and I let our boys run off without a worry, while Angie kept a concerned eye on them at all times. It is not that we were not concerned, just that we knew that we wouldn't be able to hold them down and make them sit still while all the other kids ran up and down the tunnel playing.

As soon as all the kids were playing together in the tunnel, a side wall opened up revealing an extraordinary scene. The kind of scene that no kid could resist. They all took a glance back at their parents and then cautiously walked over to the new world that had just opened up before them. Each child walked around this new room with intense curiosity and wonder. They tried out every toy and prop that was laying around, finding the one that seemed to speak to them most.

A loud screaching sound echoed in the tunnel as the wall in front of the trolley, that I had not noticed until now, opened up revealing a very different scene. It was a bedroom, and not just any bedroom. This room was very ornate with the four post bed and the heavy fabrics on the bed and used as drapes covering fake windows. The floor was carpeted yet there was still a large, round, thick run laid out in the middle of the room. Across the room from the bed was two large arm chairs flanking either side of the fireplace. Yes, this room brought back a memory, but what was it. I sat starring while other adults got up and walked into the room trying to discover what the meaning of this was. Each person seemed to gravitate towards a different set of props in the room.

It hit me. This was a scene from a book. Not just any book, one of the great classics. So classic in fact it had been turned into a broadway show many years ago and was traveling all over the country. I suddenly recalled each character in this book, and the most annoying character of all was the leading lady. I had to go and investigate this scene myself.


I walked in and went directly to the side of the bed where the nightstand was placed. I picked up the most hideous, eccentric looking jewelry and for some reason felt that I had to try it on. It was like we were each meant to put on the costumes and play this out before we were allowed to move on with our journey underground. On the bed lay a fur shawl and I knew, as I put it on, that I was to play the character of the leading lady, the most annoying and obtuse lady in the whole book.

The shawl had gloves at each end and I slid my fingers in comfortably. At one end it stretched into a point at the longest fingertips, just like a tail. At the other there was the eyes of an animal resting above my knuckles an the longest fingertip formed a nose, while the thumb met came up forming the mouth, just like a puppet. In the original story this character wore an animal around her shoulders and this animal was alive. She treated it as her pet and her very best friend.

Angie came and sat next to me on the bed. She had been watching the boys upstairs until the single mom told her that she should relax. "There is no where for any of the kids to go, and we might as well play this out so that we can move on," she had told her. Somehow this mom had convinced her that the kids were safe and could be left on their own.

"Why did you pick this character to be? Is she your favorite one?" Angie looked at each piece of my jewelry with the same disgust that I had, but had not been drawn to it like me.

"No, I actually can't stand this character. She is very annoying to the point that she is a little crazy. I don't really know why I was drawn to her." I watched Angie walk away like a magnet was pulling her towards the dresser at the foot of the bed.

Angie picked up each prop there and I soon realized that she was becoming the most beloved character of this story. She wore a shoulder length, straight, black wig, simple and tasteful jewelry and held a long white plastic cigarette holder like the women of the twenties used to have. There was no cigarette in the holder because these were only props of course.

As Angie turned around her whole demeaner changed and she was in full character now. I looked around the room to find that all of the adults were now donned in their characters clothes and held the props that went with each one. Heath was wearing a pocket watch and a fake mustache, while another man wore a glass specticle over his eye and leaned on a cane. We all stood around the room in the spots where we had found our props looking at each other not sure why we were there or what we were to do next.

An elderly woman entered the room. It was my great grandmother, Mommo. She was just as beautiful as the last time I had seen her more than fifteen years ago. She had silver hair that had been rolled into curls ontop of her head. She was always very tall and slender and had the most gentle eyes of anyone I had ever known.

No one seemed the least bit surprised to see her there. She walked straight over to me and handed me a small orange envelope. She then spoke with that same loving voice I remembered from my younger days. "We are going to let Charis read the instructions for us. You do still read my letters, don't you?" Without waiting for a response she turned and walked out of the room.

As I started to read the letter there was a loud buzzing sound over and over. I remembered that in the book this scene opened with an alarm clock sounding, but if I were to read any instructions then someone would have to turn it off. I looked and found that Angie was standing next to the alarm clock on the dresser, but was staring at me as though she couldn't hear it and wondered why I was not reading as Mommo had instructed. I got up and walked over and slapped my hand down on the snooze button and...

I woke up.