The taste of his life back in Oldworld hit Josh hard. He left Oliver’s and went back to his room. That night he dreamed of home again. It was not an innervision thing this time—just a simple dream of home, of friends, of fishing trips with his dad, of talking with his mother while she fixed supper. He had often dreamed of these things, but now the innervision trip had made this dream as sharp and clear as reality itself.
All the next day Josh remained close to his room. He couldn’t clear his mind of thoughts of home. He had a tremendous desire to rush over to Oliver’s and find his way through whatever miracle Oliver had discovered and be back on planet Earth as it was during the golden days of his childhood. He restrained himself, saying sternly, “Josh, you’ve got to talk to the others. You’ve got to convince them that going back is the right thing to do.”
Still, it was difficult for him, and he waited impatiently for nightfall. As soon as dusk came, he found his way through the city to an old abandoned house outside of town. Reb had taken up residence there, camping out more or less, for the roof leaked badly when it rained.
The other Sleepers were already there, and he saw that Reb had made a fire in the fireplace. The cheerful blaze was welcome, although it was not cold outside.
Josh grinned, marching over to the fireplace and holding his hands out to the leaping yellow-and-red flames. “I always liked a fire. Wish we had some marshmallows and weiners. Remember those? Did all of you go on marshmallow roasts?”
“Sure did.” Wash grinned back at him. “And I always set mine on fire. Turned out to be nothing but a black cinder on the end of a coat hanger.”
Everyone laughed, and Abbey said wistfully, “Every kid in America did that. We’d always take marshmallows and weinies and buns, make hot dogs, and sit around the fire and sing.”
“I guess we all remember some of those good times,” Dave said. He was sitting on an upturned box, leaning against the wall, and his strong, tanned face caught the reflection of the fire as he turned to say, “Well, Josh, I guess we’ve got a decision to make, but some of us still aren’t too convinced about Oliver’s newfangled invention.”
Immediately Josh began to explain all the advantages of returning home to life as it was. He was usually not eloquent—indeed, he was rather shy at times. Now, however, he was overflowing with words, and he spoke with excitement. The firelight’s flicker was reflected in his blue eyes as he spoke. He ended his appeal by saying, “So, you see, we won’t really be losing anything. All of us are tired of this struggle on Nuworld. Well, we don’t have to do it anymore.”
A silence fell across the room.
It was Wash who spoke up. “I see what you’re talking about, Josh—but I just can’t buy it.”
Josh knew that Wash was the leader of the resistance against the idea of going home. Wash had never been in favor of the Dream Maker. For an instant, resentment filled Josh. Why can’t he just go along with the rest of us? he thought. But he was wise enough not to show his irritation. “Look, Wash, I know you’ve had some second thoughts about all this, but I don’t understand them. Do you like it here with all the hard times we’ve been having?”
“Well, I had some hard times back in Oldworld. Some of you didn’t grow up like I did. My idea of a big meal was a moon pie and a Diet Coke. I can still remember some of the places we lived in,” he said slowly, his eyes thoughtful. “There was a lot of us in one little room. And we wasn’t there alone, either.” He shuddered. “There was rats there too. One of them bit my baby sister once.” Wash looked around and saw that the others were watching him intently. That seemed to embarrass him, and he said, “I didn’t mean to tell all that, but I think some of the rest of you might remember some hard times too.”
“You’re right about that, Wash,” Jake said. “It wasn’t a bed of roses for me on the lower East Side of New York. There were gangs there. They caught me one time and beat me so bad I couldn’t walk for a week. I had to have six stitches taken right here.” He touched his forehead where a faint scar traced over his right eyebrow. He frowned. “I wouldn’t want to go back to that again.”
Josh saw that he had to do something. “Well, sure, we all remember hard times, but you’re forgetting one thing.”
“What’s that?” Jake asked, raising his eyebrows.
“We know each other now,” Josh said. “I mean—look, Wash, I could get some money from my parents and send it to you if we’re living our lives again back in that time. You could do that too, Dave—give Jake a hand. Couldn’t you? We could help each other.” He went on quickly explaining how they would still be the Seven Sleepers although they wouldn’t have slept in the time capsules. “We can stay close to each other. We can meet, and as we grow older, why, we’ll be closer than ever.” He spoke again with great fervor, and finally he said, “I think we all ought to be together on this.”
“Give us a day or two to think about it, Josh,” Wash said.
“Why, sure. I think that’s only right. It’s a big decision.” Josh was disappointed for he wished to make the decision now, but he saw that they were not ready. “We’ll meet here again—day after tomorrow, say. That’ll give us forty-eight hours. By that time we can all have thought it over.”
The others agreed, and Josh thought Wash looked much relieved.
When they left Reb’s place, Josh and Sarah walked along the streets together, since the room that she had was close to the one that Josh rented at the inn. The stars were shining, and Josh looked up once, saying, “I wish I knew all their names.”
“You suppose there’d be different stars in that parallel universe?” Sarah asked. “I wouldn’t like it if there weren’t a Big Dipper.” She pointed at it. “That’s the only constellation I really know.”
“Well, I don’t know many myself, but there’ll be stars there. Maybe the Dipper would be turned the other way, or maybe it will be a big dinner platter.” The two laughed together at that, and Josh took her hand. “Sarah, I feel so good about all this! You know, you’d be back at our house like you were, and we could go skating again down at the rink. You remember that?”
“How could I not remember that? You kept falling and pulling me down with you.”
“Well, I needed something to cushion my fall.” Josh grinned. “You were always pretty skinny for that, but a fellow does the best he can.”
“You’re awful, Josh.” Sarah pouted.
“Well, you’re not skinny anymore,” Josh said. “You’ve fattened up pretty nicely.”
“I’m not fat!” she exclaimed indignantly.
“Well, I didn’t mean that exactly. I mean you’re . . . well . . . you’re real nice,” he said lamely. “Just like a girl ought to be. But wouldn’t that be great, doing all those things together again? And there wouldn’t be any war this time.”
The two walked on slowly. When they got to Sarah’s door, there was a moment’s silence. Josh said, “I feel like we’ve been out on a date.”
“I always wanted you to ask me for a date back in Oldworld, but I was younger than you, and you weren’t interested in girls anyhow.”
“That’s what you thought,” Josh said abruptly. “I was always interested in you. I thought you were the prettiest girl I ever saw—I still do.”
“Josh, that’s not so. I’m not nearly as pretty as Abbey.”
“You are to me,” Josh said loyally. He suddenly felt flustered. “I was always embarrassed when I thought about taking a girl out, because I knew when we got to the door like this, there’d be a tense moment.”
“Why would it be tense?”
“Well, wasn’t a guy supposed to kiss a girl at the end of a date?”
“Maybe sometimes. But, Josh, we were just kids then.”
Josh cleared his throat. “Well, we’re not kids anymore. You’re a fine-looking young woman. The best I know, Sarah.”
“Am I, Josh?”
Sarah looked very pretty as she stood there in the moonlight. Without meaning to, he reached over and kissed her cheek. He expected her to pull away, maybe even to slap him, but she didn’t. His heart beat faster than he’d thought possible. When he drew back, he could not speak for a moment. He wanted to tell her how sweet she was and how much he cared for her, but all of his words had left him.
Sarah looked up at him. She seemed small and defenseless somehow. She whispered, “I trust you, Josh. If you want to go home again, I’ll go with you.”
Josh’s heart seemed to pound even more, and he said huskily, “Do you really trust me that much, Sarah?”
“I know you’d never do anything to hurt me.”
“No, I wouldn’t.” Josh suddenly felt ten feet tall. “We’re going home, Sarah,” he said. “Now all we have to do is convince the others.”
For two days the Sleepers did little but think about the decision they had to make. They sought each other out and talked, and talked, and talked—and still were in disagreement.
Wash grew steadily more opposed to the idea. He found little support, however, even from Reb, who usually backed him. “But, Reb,” he said on the second day, “can’t you see? We’d be leaving Goél. Have you forgotten what he’s meant to us?”
“I’m not forgetting anything,” Reb said stubbornly. The bleached-blond Southerner had a mulish streak. Good-humored, full of fun, always ready to help, and generous to a fault—still, when he got his head made up, it took an act of Congress to change it. And now, he seemed to have made up his mind.
“Look, I been thinking about it. If we go back, it wouldn’t be like Oldworld was. We’ve got to be good friends here—the best I ever had.” Reb gave the smaller boy a sudden grin. “I couldn’t get along without you, but I wouldn’t have to. We’d be in the same world.”
“Arkansas is a long way from where I grew up.”
“Wouldn’t matter. I used to hitchhike all over. I’d come down there and visit with you,” Reb said.
“Man, you’d never get out of my neighborhood alive. Why, they’d eat you like a piece of bread!”
“No, they wouldn’t do that because you’re my friend. You’d have to take care of me.” Reb grinned again. “You’d do that, wouldn’t you?”
Wash was suddenly overcome with emotion at Reb’s friendship and loyalty. “We wouldn’t have been friends back in the old days. We wouldn’t even have liked each other. Matter of fact, I don’t think you probably liked any black people.”
“But I didn’t know you then, Wash, and I’ve changed my mind about black people. There’s good and bad in all of us, I reckon.”
“You got that right,” Wash said, “and that’s all we have to know. You’re a mighty good friend to me, Reb Jackson.”
“Well, we’d still be friends, and we could do lots of stuff together. Maybe we could bum around the country. Go to the mountains in Colorado. I always wanted to see that snow. Maybe try skiing. We’d stop and work a little bit, maybe on a ranch. I’d teach you how to rope. No telling what we could do.”
He talked excitedly, and by end of the afternoon he had Wash half believing him. “You think about it, Wash. We have to make our decision pretty soon.”
“All right, Reb. I’ll think about it.”
The two parted, and Wash walked the streets of Acton for a while. Finally he found himself standing before Oliver’s door. “I’m gonna give this thing one more try,” he said. He walked over, knocked on the door, and found Oliver at home.
“Come in, Wash. Glad to see you.”
“Oliver, tell me some more about this other world that you’re talking about.”
“The parallel universe? Well, come on and sit down, but I don’t think I can explain it. I don’t understand it myself. It’s just too big for the human mind.”
“Just tell me what you think,” Wash said earnestly. “Everybody’s going to make a decision, and I still don’t really like the idea.”
“You’ll have to make up your own mind, Wash, but the way I see it . . .”
Wash left Oliver’s house two hours later. His head was swimming, and he felt more confused than ever. “That Oliver sure is a spellbinder!” he muttered to himself as he made his way along the darkening street.
“I feel like I’m being stretched two ways at once,” Wash said aloud after he had gone to bed that night. “Part of me wants to stay here and help Goél win this here final battle he keeps talking about, and the other half of me wants to go home with the rest of the bunch.” The thought of being left alone in Nuworld without the other Sleepers frightened him, and he lay awake for a long time, struggling.
When Wash did go to sleep, he had a bad dream in which he was all alone on the ocean. He was floating, and deep below were monsters with sharp teeth and tentacles and beaks that could snap his leg off in a single bite. He kept crying out, “Reb—Josh—Sarah—!” Over and over again he called the names of the Sleepers.
He woke up with a start, soaking wet with sweat and trembling with fear.
“I sure would be some lonesome dude without my friends,” he whispered, and the sound of his own voice made him feel more lonesome still.