To my left sat a man in a grecian sort of robe. His face showed signs of age but his eyes sparkled in a way that made you feel like he could see right through to your past and most inner desires. Only upon closer inspection did I see that he was in fact Harry, the blind beggar. Hearing a noise to my right, I turned to see what looked like a mother and a father. Upon closer inspection...I still didn't recognize them. Although, there was something familiar about the woman's smile. Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she gazed at the cooing baby in her arms. But with a sudden pop, the father began to fade...growing fuzzy at the edges like if you adjusted the magnification of a pair of binoculars so that everything looked like it had been smudged with a bad eraser. The mother reached out for her husband and as she touched him, the couple popped out. Disappeared. Gone. Leaving just a little boy, the color of chocolate, and gazing at the sky.
I looked up, following his gaze. The sky was blue, sun was shining, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky.
Wait a second..where was I? The weather was never this good in real life..
Giving me no time to question any further, I suddenly fell through the ground.
This definitely wasn't real. My fall lasted forever- similar to the seemingly never ending fall that Alice makes down the rabbit hole. Except instead of landing in a room, I landed..in the dark. I couldn't see anything, not even my hands. I had to constantly remind myself that I was still in fact corporeal. If you could even be corporeal in a dream..
At a loss for what to do at this point, I just began walking. I could hear water..but it didn't stink like I expected it would in a sewer. The surface beneath my bare feet was either packed earth or really worn wood. In the distance I saw a column of light. Hesitating, I slowly moved towards it. In a sudden woosh, I was pulled off of my feet and upwards towards the hole the light beamed out of.
No. I wasn't ready to die. Although it was only slightly comforting that I was designated for heaven, I backpedalled my feet. My descent didn't slow. My life flashed before my eyes, I always thought I would die in my sleep. But what about the orphanage? Who knew how to take care of everything better than I did? I felt sorry for the poor soul that would find me. I prayed to God that it wouldn't be one of the children- they'd already gone through enough in their lives. Huh. Maybe I can tell God myself in a second.
As I neared the source of the light, saw a familiar cracked porcelain..getting closer I began to see the familiar pink tile that covered the floor of the orphanage's girls bathroom. So..Heaven is a bathroom? In the blink of an eye I appeared on the right side of things. Feet firmly planted then immediately scrunched up against sting of the cold tile, I surveyed my surroundings. It was the girl's bathroom alright. I noticed a grate under the sink that i'd never noticed before. Guess that's where I came "out". Bending down, I noticed that the grate had been moved aside, caught on one of the bars was a necklace with a golden dolphin charm hanging on it. In rapid sudden succession, the fire alarm began to blare, the sprinklers sputtered on, my clothes became immediately doused...and I woke up.
Assessing my surroundings I realized that my forehead was wet. Upon closer inspection I realized that it was from a leaky pipe above my head...great. My radio alarm played ELO's Mr. Blue Sky which explained both the cheerful weather in my dream and the fire alarm.
-----
Securing the orphanage for the next few hours after Annie arrived, I headed out to get some tools for repairing the pipe in my room. If there were any errands to be done, I always tried to do them in the morning. Morning people were usually the happiest. Once traffic gets bad with all late-sleepers hurrying to get to work, the air gets clogged with a cloud of annoyance and smog. Yet this morning, H Street seemed only crowded with cars. Walking farther I noticed that a bus had broken down. The bus driver appeared to be unconcerned so I assumed that help was on the way already. Walking even farther I anticipated the smell of freshly brewed coffee- another perk of walking the mornings. All the coffee addicts satisfy their cravings as if they couldn't wait another second for caffeine.
----
Later in the afternoon, after fixing up the broken pipe, I sat with Annie who babbled on recounting something about her kids. I had long since learned that when women began to tell stories, they generally just wanted someone to talk at. They weren't really looking for you to share your own stories and they certainly didn't need any advice. A knock on the door gave me an excuse to leave Annie to her thoughts for at least a couple minutes. The knocker looked to be a middle aged chinese man. In his hands he held a crinkled poster of a girl with a fake smile and braces. She looked to be related to the man and by her age must be his daughter. Still slightly zoned out from my "conversation" with Annie, I only caught that his name was Renshu and he needed to borrow the copier. From his crinkled shirt, calloused hands, and concerned expression I decided that this man was sincere and showed him to the copier. Taking one of the freshly printed sheets from the paper tray, I examined the picture of the girl. Renshu asked if I had seen her recently since she volunteered here recently. Taking out the volunteer logs I scanned for the name Xiu Li. Ah, I remember, she was that girl that came with the swim team. Relaying this information to Renshu relaxed the wrinkles in his forehead only slightly.
--
Attempting to make a dent in somewhat organizing my office space, my gaze wandered to a copy of the "lost girl" posters that must have left behind. I hoped that Xiu Li was ok. She'd seemed truly eager to help out when she volunteered, unlike some of the students that were only here for the community service hours. Looking closer at the picture I noticed that Xiu Li was wearing a gold necklace...if I could just remember where had I seen that dolphin before..
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