Chapter 5

Sally’s cramps returned, this time for real, and she had to take some pills to get relief from the cramps. I was still a little under the weather from my headache, so we played video games and talked for a while longer. Sally’s pills put her to sleep, so I went to sleep, too. That was the way our mothers found us when they came in from the bridge party.

Mom managed to roust me from the bed without waking Sally, and I was pretty groggy when I went out to the car. I went to bed as soon as I got home and slept an hour before supper. For some reason, I was still very groggy when I finished supper, so I went back to bed. Mom was concerned that I was coming down with a bug, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to go back to sleep.

The following morning, Mom came in to wake me for breakfast. “Honey, do you feel like going to school today? It seemed to me that yesterday’s headache turned out to be a bad one.” I said that I did want breakfast, and asked for a Western omelet.

It was when she was leaving that it dawned on me what she had said: “yesterday’s headache.” Oh, no, my remembrance of yesterday was all part of a very long dream. I must be going crazy when I could not tell what was a part of my dream and what was real life! Dammit, maybe I did need a psychiatrist after all, despite my fear of the looney bin.

My brother Jimmy was quite a bit less flighty than Mom, so maybe he was the one I should talk to. I don’t know why I was so reluctant to talk to my father, but I was avoiding him, and I knew it. Maybe it was because he was the hardheaded businessman-type who would say, “If you have a problem, bring in the expert.” Well, he would consider the expert to be a psychiatrist, and I just was not ready for that, yet.

This was a Wednesday, so Jimmy would be home ostensibly working on homework, but more likely looking a porn on the web. He had long ago learned to defeat the curbs put on his viewing options—Dad knew that and didn’t care, but Mom was too naïve to realize that. Thus, everybody was happy.

I knocked on his bedroom door. “Jimmy, it’s me, Judy, and I desperately need your help.” I figured that statement would trigger his protective instincts. He teased me a lot, but he defended me with all of his might whenever I needed his help. Therefore, I figured that he would at least listen to my problem all of the way through.

“Sure, Sis, come on in. What can I do to help you?”

As I expected, he was at his computer looking at porn, so I sat on the edge of his bed. He turned around and had a serious look on his face. That was encouraging, so I launched into my tale of woe. I told him how my dreams had morphed into these terrible nightmares in which I seemed to be on the verge of dying at any minute. I described the recent nightmares in detail, and I explained how I could not tell when I was dreaming and when I was awake.

That statement seemed to affect him deeply. “Sis, I am concerned. You know that I am a SciFi nut, and I have recently read a couple of stories in which the hero had your kind of problem of not knowing when he was awake and when he was dreaming. In both of the stories, the hero ended up badly, and I am afraid that the same thing could happen to you.

“No, I don’t mean that you might suffer the same fate as those heroes, because the problem was caused by aliens, but they drifted into a kind of permanent daze from which they could not escape. I have a suggestion to help you tell the difference. I have a friend, Jack Eskins, who is a whiz at computer programming. I will ask him to write a program where you can call up a statement that could only have come from me.

“If you suspect that you are dreaming and access that program, you can ask for the answer of the day. If you get an answer that is meaningless, then you know that you are still dreaming. If you get an answer that could only have come from me, then you know that you are awake. Every once in a while, I will add new answers to the list and remove the old ones, so there will be no chance of you being fooled by remembering an answer that you had seen before. How does that sound?”

“That’s wonderful, Jimmy. I knew that you would have a workable solution to my problem.”

“You know, Sis, since you and I like those first-person shooter video games, I wish that I could accompany you on one of your trips. However, I would want a BFG of my own and not be helpless the way Sally was.” He laughed, but I could tell that he was serious. Hell, I was sure that I would enjoy the experience if my brother was along to back me up. The problem was, I had no idea how to do that. On the other hand, maybe I could make it happen if it really was my brain cooking all of this stuff up. I was going to try to bring Jimmy in at my next opportunity.

“Sis, something else has just occurred to me. Maybe you have some sort of latent ESP talent that is released by the new pain pills. If you could do that, rest assured that I would not fight you.”

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do. Meanwhile, thanks for the help.” Jimmy was already turning back to his porn video as I walked out of the room and closed the door.

****

The next time I had the migraine and took the pain pill, I remembered to call for Jimmy to join me as soon as I found my BFG. Dammit, Jimmy didn’t show up, despite the fact that I was sure I would sprain a brain muscle the way I was pulling for Jimmy to join me. Okay, it didn’t work this time, but maybe it would work next time.

This nightmare turned out to be a routine affair in which I killed 23 monsters before I woke up. As soon as I could, I made it to my computer and called up Jimmy’s special program he’d had written for me. I typed in the inquiry, and I got back, “Roses are red, violets are blue,” and I knew that I was still trapped in the dream.

I said to myself, “Dammit, I want to break out of this dream. Release me NOW!” There was a hitch and a hop, and I was lying in bed again, and I was about to pee all over myself. I rushed to the bathroom, and when I got out, I headed for the computer.

This time, I got, “Tom Brady is the best quarterback in the NFL!” Okay! Jimmy was a huge fan of the New England Patriots, so I knew that this had come from him. I was not a big sports fan, and I would not have thought of that comment on my own.

I was so excited that I ran to Jimmy’s room and burst in. He was asleep, but I didn’t let that stop me. I jumped on his bed and shook his shoulder to wake him up. “Hi, Sis. Don’t you think that you should put some clothes on before you run around the house, though I will admit that you have very nice looking tits.”

That broke me up, and I had to wait a moment until I quit laughing before I was able to tell him that I had tested his program and what the results were. “Excellent, Sis! I’ll tell Jack that he has another star on his book in Heaven. Now, please let me get back to sleep. Also, be sure that Mom doesn’t see you like that.” He laughed as I went out and slammed his door to tease him.

Later that day, I told Sally about the new computer program. “Wonderful, Judy. I wondered why you were so happy today. I would be, too.”

****

Winter finally arrived with a bang, and it happened. Jimmy was ice skating with his latest fuck buddy when he decided to show off. Naturally, that had dire consequences, and Jimmy suddenly had a broken leg. He spent three days in the hospital because he was a star football player and the coach insisted. Fortunately, the break turned out to be a simple one, but it was very painful. Naturally, he was given Vicodin for the pain.