Chapter 1

'Megan'

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  Megan McCloud was usually a very happy young girl. She always seemed to have a big bright smile, but not today. It was morning and she was lying on her big bed staring across the blanket towards the bedroom window. Outside the rain had spotted the glass and made everything look wavy like it was melting. Her mother passed the bedroom door with her arms full of laundry. She called out for her to come to breakfast. Megan moved to the edge of the bed and stretched out her feet to touch the cool wooden floor.

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  Her dog Spin was now by her side, his tail slapping her leg. Megan did not seem to notice him at all. Instead, she stared down the long hallway outside her bedroom door. For a moment, she felt sad but did not know why. Then she felt like she was beginning to remember something important maybe something from a dream. Then just as she almost had it, the memory was gone.

 

  Megan slowly shuffled into the kitchen with the dog close behind her. Her brother and father were up early to go fishing and were now long gone. She sat down alone at the big kitchen table. Her mother was at the sink cleaning the breakfast dishes.

 

  Megan still felt tired even after a long night of sleep. She tried again to remember her dreams but could not. She rested her chin on her folded arms and gazed at the cereal bowl in front of her. The Cheerios seemed to float like little rafts on a sea of milk.

 

  She could hear the morning TV news show in the living room. It was mostly bad news as usual. It seemed to get worse each day. Megan began to think that maybe something strange was happening to people to make them so upset. She thought that maybe something everyone needed to be happy was missing.

 

  Her mother was fussing around the kitchen and talking to her. Megan was not listening. She was staring out the kitchen window at white doves playing on her swing set. She began to feel very calm and peaceful. Then suddenly everything seemed very clear to her. She was sure she knew what was wrong with everybody. Megan was sure that everyone had simply stopped dreaming.

 

  She was sure that she had not had a dream in a long time. That had to be the problem. There were no more dreams. There were no more stories to tell about the amazing things she had imagined. There would be no more beautiful fantasies with bright swirling colors and magical sounds. She would never again dream about fairy-tale creatures living in strange places.

 

  The uneaten Cheerios were slowly sinking beneath the milky sea. Her mother noticed her gloomy mood. She came over to the table, and sat down beside her.

 “Megan, what’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”

 “They’re gone Mom,” was all she could say.

 “What’s gone honey?” her mother said while stroking her hair.

 “My dreams, they’re all gone.” She looked up into her mother’s eyes. Megan suddenly began to feel a kind of sadness she never knew before.

 

  Her mother stared at her and said nothing. She then slowly looked around the kitchen as if trying to remember something. She held Megan’s hand a little tighter than usual and said, “Your right honey, I can’t remember my dreams either.”

 

  Together they sat quietly and stared out the rain-streaked window as the white doves flew away. They were both thinking about dreams. They were wondering where dreams came from. More importantly, they wondered where did their dreams go.