Difference between revisions of "Log:Dream Trap"

5 March, 2017

Dielle has a very, very nice dream with some disturbing results.

(Note: Lily is Dielle. It's her pre-Taking nickname.) It was a late afternoon mid-June? Warm April? It was warm. Sunny. Not cold. And Dielle pulled up to the row house with the skinny sliver of a driveway next to it. Where was this? Maine? Dorchester? Sacramento? Who cared? She was home. She was tired from work but she didn't have to cook tonight. And looking around noticed there was something going on the lawn of the house four doors down. Oh well. The headlights on the Aztec dimmed on the timer and all of this for whatever reason was completely ordinary... why was this ordinary?

She's not sure why all this is ordinary. She can tell there are memories there, but she's not accessing them. Huh. She must be tired. Oh, well. She gets out of the car, locks the door to it, and heads toward the house, remembering to grab the business-type jacket from the car before she does so. Her blouse and skirt are still neat, as are her pantyhose. It's a good day: no runs. She glances at the lawn four houses down. "I wonder what the Haywards are up to?" she murmurs, as she heads into her own house, with a smile. "I'm hooooome!" she calls out as she walks in, and braces herself for incoming.

There was a gruff and grumbly utterance coming from deep in the house, "Babe? Don't leave the door open. Donna let the hamster get out. We're tryin’ to find it. You don't speak hamster, do ya?"

That said an auburn haired girl of maybe 5 or 6 came barreling down the stairs and launched herself at Dielle. And impact- oof! "Mama, mama, Houdini got out of his ball and we need to find him.”

John was in the back living room on all fours with an adjacent four year old boy using him as a jungle gym whole the poor dude was trying to look under the couch for the errant rodent. Yup. It was a Tuesday.

Dielle hugs the little girl, fiercely, while making sure the door's closed. SuperMom MultiTasking FTW. "I guess we need to find him, then, don't we?" she says warmly, then puts down keys, jacket and purse, to go liberate Jon from the four year old, who she picks up and hugs before putting him down. "You see him, darlin'?" she says to Jon. "Or do we have to put some lettuce and peanut butter on the floor and try to lure him out?" On the one hand, she really has no clue what's going on, because part of her is Dielle Henner. But part of her is still Lily, who's married with kids and a good job and a happy life and that's the part that's responding automatically. She lightly touches Jon's head in greeting, and says, "Mattie, Bethy, go get some lettuce, ok?"

Jon was in gym shorts and a collared shirt. It still has the Boston Univ. logo on it because he was never not a company man. His long ass Viking hair was pulled in a messy low ponytail. A large, meaty hand pushed a few stray hairs running over the top of his head. Mystified he asked, "Oh shit, I thought that was left out for me. Was that what that was for? I figured it a new diet or somethin’." He leaned over and kissed her before furrowing his brow and looking at the bottom corners of the room for that evasive rodent. Distracted, but in earnest he asked, "How was work?" Kissing Jon back, Lily says, "Naw. When I put you on a diet, it'll be something worth eating. Work was...work. I'll tell you about it later." She means when the kids are asleep, apparently there's a story. "Let me go change and I'll come join the search. Did you check that nest he made last time, in the bottom shelf of the bookcase?" She steals another quick kiss, then goes into the bedroom while the kids hunt for the eaten lettuce. She comes back out a few minutes later, wearing jeans and a high school football jersey.

Jon said drily, "Since he wasn't paying rent I forgot we got him his own apartment." Thrilled. Really.

When she got back down Jon was holding Mattie around the waist with one arm like he was carrying a sack of groceries around. Hey, how else was the kid supposed to reach the sink to wash all the peanut butter off his arm? Jon had the same deadpan matter of fact patient tone as ever. "Duder, someday I will get you up to plastic knives. Until then I'm gonna teach you how to get the spoon in the jar so you don't have to spread it around with your hand." Apparently peanut butter application went like this:

1. Grab lettuce leaf. 2. Open jar pf peanut butter. 3. With your hand, wipe the lettuce leaf around the inside of the jar to cover every square inch of the leaf with peanut butter and possibly get the inside of the jar clean at the same time. Equally in dry tones he was addressing their lil girl and, hearing Lily come down the stairs, chose now to ask her, "And did you tell your mother HOW Houdini got out of the ball?"

"No," says Lily dryly, trying not to laugh at Mattie's antics with the peanut butter, even if it does mean she's going to have to do some serious laundry. "Wait." She puts one hand to her head, closing her eyes. "Someone opened it up to try to give him an illicit treat of some chocolate, and forgot that hamsters aren't supposed to eat chocolate. And got caught. And jumped, and Houdini took off, the way hamsters do when they're scared." Because this TOTALLY wasn't how it happened the last three times. Lily automatically goes to wet down a paper towel and start wiping peanut butter off Mattie's arm into the sink, so maybe possibly she won't have to wash Jon's shirt, too. Well, she will, but maybe there won't be peanut butter on it. "How'd I do?"

Mattie was DEFINIATELY an Ihrck, and more than for certain taking after his namesake. At her interrogation Jon arched an eyebrow giving the little girl that unmoving, unbudging, obstinate flat look. "Not quite."

Turning red in the ears, their daughter averted her eyes and fidgeted a LOT and said, "Well it was hot and Daaaaad said to check his water because of de-hydrangeas aaaaaand so I tried to make him a swimming pool."

The meat mountain(tm) looked at his wifey in his jersey and said clarifying, "She tried to fill the hamster ball with water. But the water ran out and it was a soggy hamster in a ball so she tried to dry him off with paper towel. Wonder who she learned that from." Asks he of the woman trying to clean her son who was trying to hug her with peanut butter arms finding this very funny.

Dielle facepalms a bit. "Hey, the drying off with a paper towel just makes sense, Houdini woulda pooped in a regular towel and then someone woulda forgotten to put the hamster poopy towel in the laundry and SOMEONE woulda had to take a second shower because of drying off with a hamster poopy towel." It's the height of logic, but it's making kids giggle because of the sheer number of times she's repeating "hamster poop." Kids are easy to amuse. "Mattie, I will hug you AFTER the peanut butter's off, I promise, now hold still. Bethy, that's dehydration, hydrangeas are particularly alien lookin' flowers. But hamsters can't swim, so if the water hadn't run out, he coulda drowned, so don't do that ag...where did this happen?"

Jon rubbed his temple with two fingers. OH Lily knew that face. That was the “Lawdy give me patience” look. Calmly he said answering, "Hon, how we feel like family camping night in the backyard?" Fun. Not a comforting response, but fun. Wait, did she pass three fans in their room when she went to change? Were those for something other than circulating air in the upper floor cause it was hot out? Watching her process all that and he said, bless ‘em, with a straight face, "She made the hamster wet the bed." More giggles from the kids.

Dielle says, quietly, "Our bed." Uh-oh. Mom got quiet. That's never a good sign. "Bethy?" she says. It's a dangerous sound. That's the sound of an imminent grounding or something. Like she's waiting for the girl to tell the truth. Lily hands the peanut-buttery paper towel to Jon, and turns to face the girl head-on. Bethy hangs her head, and mumbles something about how it's the biggest flat space or some such suitably silly reason that made sense at the time. Lily takes a few breaths. And in an even more ominous move, after those few breaths, she says, calmly, "I'll go check his nest." It's a sure sign that Mom's about to lose her temper and needs to Not Be Around People for a few minutes. She'll see the humor in it later. Much later. For now, she's torked. And as she walks into the living room, she's muttering something about gypsies and prices.

Jon sighed and offered trying to be helpful and de-escalate the situation. "We can't trade her for a hamster being as we just lost the last one." A hand palmed Bethy's hair and he muttered to her something that sounded like gravel being poured out of a bucket. She nodded and shuffled over to scary quiet mom and she said "I'm sorry. I didn't want him to get hurt if he fell out." He watched the exchange and caught lil Mattie by the pants as he was going to run in there. "Mattie, stop helpin." With that he lifted him up and slung him over his shoulder. That was tall. Kids loved being in tall places. Wheeee Super Mattie! Now peanut butter free and with woosh action!

Dielle reaches out with one arm, and hugs Bethy, and says, "At least you had a good reason for makin' sure I sleep on rocks tonight." She sighs and peeks, and says, "Get ready, Bethy, I found him, he's there, alright. And with one of my earrings, the little sh...thief!" She moves a book and Houdini darts out, right into Bethy's hands. "Quick, get him in his cage before he..." Nope. Too late. Bethy's got wet hands. Scared hamsters pee. "Too late. Well, don't drop him." She relieves the girl of the hamster and says, "Go wash up, Bethy. Jon, think the hammock's been reinforced enough to hold us both?"

Jon watched Bethy take the poor rat-thing back to its cage. He said offhandedly, "Not a chance in hell. But we can always put up the pop tent and move the futon mattress from the patio to that and drop a blanket out it." Mattie hugged Jon's head being up there on his shoulder; hand partly pulling on his cheek for balance. "Marshmallows?" He thought about it and nodded. "Yeah we can do s’mores. Since mommy didn't put daddy on a lettuce and peanut butter diet, yeah? S’mores might be back on the menu." He leaned over and bit Lily's forehead. "Lil, we got our hands full." He looked back to the stairs with a deadpan bemusement, "That one is -definitely- yours."

"Ok. We'll figure it out." Lily tries not to sigh and instead, nips at Jon's chin while he's biting her forehead. It's cute, how they still feel the need to be five, most of the time. "Well, they're BOTH mine, when you put it that way. I know, I was there. Both times!" She grins at Jon, and says, "Wait. You want to light a fire in /this/ heat?" Bad enough they have to sleep outside and not in lovely, air-conditioned coolness. After all, they only visit Texas in winter for a reason! Oh, well, she can always sneak in and crash on the couch, once Jon's asleep.

Jon cracked a faint grin and said "Wuss." He gave her a half hug and headed for the back yard, kiddo still over his shoulder. "C'mon, Duder. We have to find some sticks if we're doin’ marshmallows. None of this barbecue fork nonsense. A man needs a strong immune system and that means germs. How else are you gonna get cooties to scare girls with? Now. Where is the best place to look for a stick? The roof?" Mattie laughed and shook his head. Jon furrowed his brow, "No? Not the roof huh. In the car?" He turned and pointed him that way. Mattie laughed "NO!!!!" "No? Man you're making finding sticks hard. Where are we gonna find a stick?" "The treeeeeeeees!" "Trees? Trees have sticks?" "Daddy they's made of sticks and bugs." He considered the simple logic and cracked a wry grin. "Yeah, I suppose they are." He looked back to Lily. "Yup. Mine."

Lily says, VERY dryly, "I hope so, otherwise the milkman looks just like you." She shakes her head again and says, "What's for dinner, anyway? Do NOT tell me hot dogs over the fire, I always end up burning one side and the other side is cold." Bethy comes back, wiping clean hands on her jeans and says, "But that's how they taste best!" She heads towards the back yard, grabbing Lily's hand and dragging her along, even while Lily's VERY reluctant to leave the air conditioning and promptly pulls a Nani. "OH NO! Gravity's collapsing!" And as she says that, she starts collapsing to the floor, pulling Bethy with her. "Everything's too heavy! Can't...stand...upright!"

Lily laughed and collapsed in the heap with her mom covering her head. It was a comfort. There was laughter. It quieted and the air-conditioning was nice only something had her by the waist. An arm? The shirt was brushed aside only it was a bedsheet. That wasn't air conditioning so much as a Jotun quietly cutting logs into a swatting unicorn who was now lying awake in the dark of their room... just as it was before. Oh. This is normal. Damn.

Dielle just stares into the darkness, suddenly almost as cold now as she'd been warm in the dream. She's trying not to cry, she wants to go back into that dream so badly that it hurts. She wants that life, in spite of the wet bed and the overly creative children. She's not supposed to want that life anymore, it's forever out of her reach and she knows it. She manages to roll over so that she's pressing her cheek against the cold chest. For the rest of the night, she lies awake, trying to chase sleep in vain, trying to get back to that dream.