Dreams
by Silwyna
„Samantha, it's time to go to bed." Elizabeth called for her daughter.
"But Mom, I wanna play a bit more, just a few minutes."
"You know the rules. 7 pm is bedtime. You can stay awake longer when you're older."
"When I'm six?" Samantha asked excited.
"Yes. When you're six you can stay up half an hour longer." Elizabeth assured her daughter.
"When will I be six, mommie?"
"In eight months, sweetheart."
"Is that long?" Samantha asked with wide eyes.
"Only if you don't get enough sleep. Now up to bed."
"Okay. Love you mommie. Good night." Samantha gave her mother a quick kiss and rushed into her bed. Ten minutes later she was deep asleep and dreaming.
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Laughing, Samantha ran over the meadow. She had been chasing a butterfly for several minutes. She loved doing that. She only wished they had so many butterflies in real life. She could spend all day running after them. Well, she only had the nights. But in her dreams she could do everything she wanted.
She was always alone in her dreams. She enjoyed this time. In real life, there were always people around her. Her parents, her brother, the other kids from kindergarten. This was her place where no one was ever mean to her. But sometimes she wished she had someone to share this all with. Because with all her friends from kindergarten, with her brother and with her parents who she loved dearly, she felt alone sometimes. Samantha was so concentrated on chasing the butterfly that she didn't see the little boy running in her direction. He was enchanted by another butterfly himself so he didn't notice her either. The inevitable happened - they ran into each other and rums … they sat on the ground. Surprised they both stared at each other for a while. "Who are you?" Samantha finally asked.
"Who are you? This is my meadow." The boy answered defiantly. "No it's not, I was here first." "Were not." "Were too." "Were not." Angrily they stared at each other, neither of them willing to give in. They continued to stare until the two butterflies flew by them again. Immediately they jumped up and began to run after them. Laughing they ran in circles around each other, following the butterflies, until they were so exhausted that they let themselves fell on the ground. "What's your name?" Samantha asked once she had caught her breath again.
"Lee. What's yours?" "Samantha." "I like that name." "I like yours better. It's short. My name is too long, the younger kids always say it wrong." "What would you like to be called?" Lee asked curiously. She thought about that for a moment. "Sam." "Okay, I'll call you Sam then." "I'd like that." Sam beamed with joy. Maybe she could get everyone else to call her Sam too. "You want to play catch?" "I don't play with girls." Lee replied defiantly.
"Why not?" "They're stupid." "We're not stupid. Boys are stupid." "We're not." "Are too." "No." "Yes. If you weren't stupid than you would play with me. There's no one else here." Lee thought about that for a moment. Maybe his best friend Ben wasn't so right about all girls being stupid after all. This girl was kinda nice. "Okay, let's play catch." He replied grinning.
They played all night until it was time for them to wake up. Lee was the first to suddenly disappear from the meadow. Sam stared surprised at the empty space he had left. She had never thought about what would happen when she woke up. She didn't have much time to think about it though as she woke up only seconds later.
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"Good morning, sweetheart." Elizabeth greeted her youngest daughter. "Did you dream something nice? You had a big smile on your face."
"I had the best dream, mommie. I was playing catch with Lee and we ran after butterflies and he wasn't stupid at all."
"Really." Smiling Elizabeth watched her daughter. "And who is this Lee?"
Sam hesitated a moment before she replied. "Hmm, I don't know. He suddenly appeared on my meadow. I told him it was mine, but he said it was his, but that's not true because I was there first. But we're friends now so I'll just share it with him."
"That's very nice of you, Samantha. It does sound like a nice dream. But now it's time to get up." Elizabeth gently pulled the blanket off her daughter and tickled her on the side.
Laughing Sam squirmed to the side, then she jumped out of bed.
"Can I wear my red shirt today, mommie?"
"Of course, sweetheart." Elizabeth went to the closet, got out her daughter's clothes and placed them on the bed. "Now go wash yourself and don't forget to brush your teeth. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes."
"Okay. Oh, mom? Can everyone call me Sam from now on? I'd like that much better." Sam asked excited.
"But Samantha is such a wonderful name." Elizabeth replied surprised.
"But it's so long."
"Don't you like your name?"
"I do, but …" Sam paused. She could see the disappointment on her mothers face. "I do like my name."
"That's good to know. I was starting to worry that I gave you a wrong name." Lovingly Elizabeth smiled at her daughter. "Now go wash up. I'll be in the kitchen."
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When the evening came and it was time for Elizabeth to bring her daughter to bed, she was surprised at how willing Samantha suddenly was. She didn't ask for another half hour to play, she seemed even happy to go to bed. Elizabeth wondered about that, but she decided to enjoy this for as long as it would last.
And Samantha dreamed again of playing with her new friend.
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Samantha dreamed of playing with Lee every night from then on. They played catch, ran after butterflies, discovered secret places in the wood next to their meadow and enjoyed every single moment together. Sam was convinced that Lee was her best friend in the world. She could tell him everything. Sometimes she even missed him during the day. She wished he would be real so they could go to the same kindergarten and do sports together. Not that she really was into sports. But Lee had taught her this new game and she loved it.
One day she decided to show it to the other kids. She was sure they would like it too and then she could also play it during the day. She started drawing a big triangle on the floor. Then she ran inside the building and carried out a waste basket which she put on top of the triangle.
"What are you doing?" Some of her friends had become curious.
"It's a new game." Sam announced proudly.
All kids were eager to try this new game, so Sam explained them the rules, just like Lee had.
"Okay, the game is called Pyramid. And this …"
"Like in the movie with the mummy?" Rodney, one of the older kids, asked.
"I'm not allowed to watch such movies. Okay, this triangle is the Pyramid and …"
"It doesn't look like a pyramid. A pyramid is much bigger and build from stone." Rodney interrupted her again.
Sam chose to ignore him. "… at the top of the PYRAMID …" She glared defiantly at the older boy." … is the goal. We have to throw the ball in it."
"So it's like basketball with just one basket?" Kevin Miley asked.
"Something like this, but much better. So, you want to play?" Sam asked excitedly.
Everyone wanted to and they spend the rest of the day playing this new game. Mary, the kindergarten teacher, watched them happily. She was glad that Samantha had come up with this new game. The little girl was usually very quiet, too quiet for her age and she hardly ever attended any team games. Mary was actually surprised that Samantha had come up with a game for more than just one person.
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"I didn't invent it, stupid. It's being played everywhere. It's even on TV." Lee laughed. "Well, no one knew it and Ms. Mary thought I imagined it and she was proud and even told my mom and they were both very happy." "Did your mom play it with you too?" "No, my mom doesn't play such games. She's too old for this. Does your mom play it?" "No, my mom never plays anything." "Grown ups are so boring." Suddenly Sam had an idea. If she didn't know Lee's games, than maybe he didn't know hers too. "Do you know baseball?" "No, what's that?" "You're gonna love it." Sam beamed. And then she taught Lee how to play baseball. TBC
"They all loved it and we played it all day. That's a great game you invented." Sam said excitedly.
A.N.: Thanks a lot to Laurie for beta reading :) You're the best.