Josh looked around at the Sleepers, their faces pale, lying on the cots, then turned to face Wash. “Well,” he said quietly, “it’s all true.”
“You didn’t have to come back, Josh,” Wash said. “I know that it would have been real easy to stay there. But remember, that place wasn’t real. It was just a pleasant dream.”
Josh stared at the small boy, who had explained how he, alone, had resisted Oliver and his Dream Maker, and how he had, through his own efforts, found the way to bring Josh back. “You’re something, Wash,” he said, his voice tinged with admiration. “You’re the toughest one of the Sleepers.”
Wash had to feel a surge of pride at the praise. Josh knew he had felt at times that he didn’t amount to much, for he was the smallest and the youngest.
Now he grinned. “I’m glad I could do it, Josh.” He too glanced around, then said, “But we’ve got to get the rest of ’em back quick. I don’t know how often they check on this place, but if Oliver comes back and catches me here, and you up walking around, he’ll know something’s wrong.”
“I know it. Now, tell me again how it all works.” He listened carefully as Wash explained, then he made an instant decision. “I want you to go get Reb back. You’re his best friend. You two are closer to each other than any of the rest of us are.”
“Sure, I was hoping I’d get to go after Reb. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go get Sarah. I got her into this,” he said soberly.
“Do you have any idea at all what sort of dream she had?”
Josh had thought about this at some length. “I doubt that the dream machine let her go home. She always liked to read books and watch TV programs about farm life. She was always looking for novels about things like that.” He straightened his shoulders and said firmly, “Well, now it’s up to me to try and get her out—wherever she is. And like you say, we’ve got to get this done quick. You just attach this headpiece and throw the switch?”
“Better lie down first, or I think you’d probably fall over and maybe bust your head,” Wash said. “Good luck, Josh.” He put out his hand.
But Josh ignored the hand and gave him a quick hug.
“Good luck to you. Reb’s a stubborn outfit. It’ll take all you can do to get him to come back. If I know Reb, he’s in the midst of some wild, dangerous adventure.”
“What do you think Sarah’s doing?”
“I have no idea. Sarah was always so quiet, but wherever she is, whatever she’s doing, I’ll do my best.”
Josh stepped over beside the sleeping Sarah and looked down at her still face. Without another word he picked up the headset, lay down beside her cot, reached up, and pulled the switch.
Josh awoke to the sound of water running and thought at first it might be the stream where he caught the bass. But when he sat up, he knew that this was a place he had never been. There were blue-tinged mountains over to the north and another long ridge to the south. He was in a valley, and a road led toward the mountains on his right.
“This is Sarah’s world all right—just the sort of place she always said she wished she’d lived in,” he murmured. “Always said she’d like to live in a place without cars and TV. I’ll bet she’ll be around here somewhere.”
He began walking down the dusty road. A bluebird flew by, a brilliant patch of color, and he watched it fly to a fence post and disappear into a hole.
He must have walked for more than an hour. The road had grown steeper until finally he was in the mountains. He grew thirsty and drank from a small stream, flat on his stomach. The water was so cold it hurt his teeth.
Getting up, he said wryly, “These dreams are sure realistic. I know I’m not here—I’m really lying flat on my back in Nuworld. Sure does seem real. If they could’ve marketed this thing as a game years ago, somebody would’ve gotten rich.”
He had not gone more than a quarter mile farther when suddenly the road curved and he saw a house and barn sitting back from the road. A boy was working in a garden.
Somehow Josh knew that this was the dream that Sarah had chosen. She’d shown him pictures from history books of houses just like this one.
Josh walked over to the boy, who stopped hoeing beans and turned to him.
“Hello,” Josh said. “Suppose I can get a drink of water?”
“Sure thing.” The boy was not as tall as Josh. He wore a pair of faded blue overalls and was barefooted. His hair was blond, and he had a pair of guileless blue eyes. “Come on up to the house. I think maybe we got some fresh buttermilk.”
“Well, that would be good,” Josh said. He’d always loved buttermilk, and even if this was just a dream, he determined to enjoy this imaginary treat.
As they walked toward the house, a large rambling place that could’ve stood some paint, Josh said, “How are the crops this year?” He had no idea about crops, having never been a farmer, but he had heard people talk about them on television.
“Well, the corn’s doing good. It needs some rain, though. Are you from around these parts?”
“Oh, no. I’m from pretty far away. My name’s Josh Adams.”
The boy stared at him. “Adams? You any kin to Harold Adams over at Pine Ridge?”
“No, I don’t think so. I’m new to these parts.”
“My name is Robert Faulkner—but folks call me Rob.” For one moment the young man hesitated, then asked, “Are you from Chicago—or New York?”
“Neither, Rob. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, no reason—except you talk funny.” Rob looked down at the ground, kicked a stone, then lifted his blue eyes to Josh. “I’m going to the big city someday. Going to go to school and learn how to be a doctor.”
“Well, that’s real fine, Rob.”
“Don’t tell my ma. I don’t want her to know it.”
“Why don’t you want her to know?”
“Nobody in my family ever went to school much. Ma and the rest of the family would think I was uppity if they found out.” He stopped suddenly, “I don’t know what I’m telling you this for. I never told anybody else.”
“I won’t mention it.”
“Well, come on into the house. I’ll see if I can get that buttermilk.”
Josh stepped into the house and instantly was face to face with a tall, strong-looking woman who said, “Who’s this, Rob?”
“This here’s Josh Adams. He was walking down the road and asked for a drink of water,” Rob replied. “I told him we might have some buttermilk. Could he have some, Ma?”
“Did you ever know of us refusing a stranger hospitality? Of course, he can have some buttermilk.”
Josh smiled. “Thank you very much, Mrs. Faulkner. Always was partial to buttermilk.” He took the glass that Rob brought to him and then happened to glance at a newspaper lying on the table. The headline said, “Garfield Elected President.” Leaning down, he saw the date on the paper—November 1880.
When Josh straightened up, Mrs. Faulkner asked, “You from around these parts? You don’t look familiar.”
“No, ma’am.”
“Your people from around here?”
“Well, not exactly,” Josh stammered. He didn’t want to lie, but of course he could not tell the whole truth either. Suddenly he had an idea. “Actually I’m looking for a girl who might have come this way. She’d be about fourteen, fifteen years old, and she’s got brown eyes and real black hair.”
“Ain’t no strange girls like that come down our way,” Rob replied. “We don’t get many strangers around here. We’d sure notice a girl like that.”
“What you got to do with this girl?” Mrs. Faulkner asked.
“Well, she’s a real good friend of our family, and I thought she’d come to visit over in this part of the country. Wasn’t sure where, and since I was close I just thought I’d stop and ask.”
Something about his words seemed to trouble the woman. She stared at him and said, “So you just start out walking through the mountains asking strangers if they seen her?”
Josh felt miserable. He knew the story sounded terrible. “Well, actually it does sound kind of foolish, doesn’t it? But I didn’t know hardly what else to do.”
“Are you aimin’ to go on? It’s gonna be dark before long. There ain’t no towns down that way.”
“I guess I’ll have to,” Josh said lamely.
“You better stay over the night,” Mrs. Faulkner said. “My husband, he’ll want to talk to you, and maybe some of the neighbors will have seen this girl. What did you say her name was?”
“Sarah. Sarah Collingwood.”
“Never heard of no Collingwoods in this part of the world,” Mrs. Faulkner said. “You better stay. You can take supper with us and sleep up in the attic with Rob there.”
“I’ll show you around when you finish that buttermilk,” Rob said.
The two boys went outside, and Rob showed Josh around the farm. “We got a new calf,” he said. “Aim to sell it when she gets big. Take her to the county fair.” Then he repeated, “I’m hoping to go off to school some day—but don’t see how that’ll be.”
Josh suddenly smiled. “You’ll make it, Rob. You’ll go to college, and you’ll become a great doctor.”
Rob Faulkner stared at him. “What makes you say a thing like that?”
“I just know you’re going to do it.”
Rob Faulkner’s lower lip trembled. “That’s the first time anybody’s ever told me that I can do something like that. Sure hope you’re right.”
The two boys spent all afternoon together. Rob Faulkner shared his dreams with Josh, and Josh enjoyed being with him.
As they went back to the house, Rob said, “Time for supper. I think we’re late.”
The two boys mounted the steps and went at once into the kitchen, where Mrs. Faulkner said, “You two sit. How come you stayed out so late?”
“We just got to talkin’, Ma,” Rob said. “He’s a mighty good fellow to talk to.”
“I suppose so.” Mrs. Faulkner gave Josh an odd look, then turned and called, “Supper time!”
A medium-sized man with bright eyes came into the kitchen, and Rob said, “This is my pa. This here’s Josh Adams, Pa.”
“Glad to know you, Josh. I hear you’re looking for a young gal.”
“Yes, sir, I am.”
“Well, we’ll go ask some of the neighbors if they seen any Collingwoods.”
He had no sooner spoken than the room was filled with young people—Rob’s brothers and sisters, Josh supposed.
Josh, however, had eyes for only one of them. Sarah had come into the room. She stared at him shyly and did not say a word but took her place at the table. She was wearing a faded calico dress, and her hair was plaited in pigtails in a way he had never seen it done.
Mr. Faulkner said, “Everybody sit, and I’ll ask the blessing.” Then he said, “Now, let me name the children here.”
Josh scarcely heard the names.
When Sarah’s name was called, she lifted her eyes and looked at him.
Rob said, “Well, this ain’t the Sarah you’re looking for, but the one you described must look kinda like her. Black hair and brown eyes.”
Josh smiled. “I’m glad to know all of you.”
The meal began, and Josh was asked more questions than he could possibly answer. It took every creative power he had to keep from giving up. Since this was just a dream, he decided it wouldn’t be wrong to embroider the truth some, so he made up a background for himself and tried to remember what he said.
After supper, all the children pitched in and did the dishes, then sat on the front porch and listened to the frogs bellowing down at the pond.
“That’s a big bull frog,” Rob said. “We could go frog giggin’ if you want to.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” Josh said. “Never have done that, though.”
“Well, come on. I’ll show you how.”
“I want to go too,” Sarah said.
Instantly the other children began begging to go.
In the end, Sarah and Rob took Josh. Frog gigging, he discovered, consisted of sitting in a boat and stabbing frogs with a long pole that had a small pitchfork-like apparatus on the end. He could not imagine eating frogs, and he said nothing as the sack grew full.
The moon was overhead when they started back.
Josh had noticed Sarah turning her dark brown eyes on him from time to time, studying him strangely. Finally she asked, “Have I ever seen you before?”
“Why? Do I look familiar?”
“Sure do. We don’t see many folks around here. Real quiet in this mountain.”
“You like it in the mountains, Sarah?”
Rob was up in the prow of the boat, paying little attention to the conversation. From time to time he would spear a frog and stick him into the tow sack.
Josh and Sarah talked for some time, and Josh discovered that, as he had suspected, Sarah had picked a time and a place where there were no pressures. I knew Sarah would dream about a place like this. She can be a little girl wearing a calico dress and not have any dragons or monsters or any of the Sanhedrin coming after her. I can’t say as I blame her much. I did the same thing.
They went back to the farm and cleaned the frogs by lantern light.
Josh said, “Do you really eat these things?”
“I’ll show you in the morning,” Rob said. “We’ll have eggs and frog legs. Ain’t nothing like it, is there, Sarah?”
“They’re very good.” Sarah smiled at Josh. “I hope you’ll find your friend.”
“Oh, I think I will,” Josh said, looking fondly at her.
Josh found a reason to stay on at the Faulkners. It was quite simple. He said his good-byes after breakfast the next morning, then pretended to fall down the front steps. He sat there holding his ankle.
“Well, you can’t walk on that ankle,” Mrs. Faulkner said firmly. “You’ll have to stay until it heals up.”
“I’ll be happy to work to pay for my keep.”
“We don’t charge our guests for their keep,” Mrs. Faulkner said stiffly.
Josh made the most of it. He had practiced a limp, and Rob even whittled a cane for him. He was glad this was just a dream. He wouldn’t feel right about really deceiving anybody.
The next four days he spent almost entirely with Sarah and Rob. Of course, they had their farm work to do, but still Josh and Sarah had many hours together.
Sarah was Sarah, Josh discovered. She was in a dream, but there was the same sweetness and goodness in her that had always been there. He knew that somehow he had to break the news to her that she was living something that wasn’t real. He began by telling her tales of the Seven Sleepers. That had worked when Wash had done the same thing with him.
On the third day he told her how Reb had slain a dragon at Camelot and had been rescued by a princess.
“Oh, that’s the best story I ever heard,” Sarah said. “I wish it were true. Wouldn’t it be nice if things like that really happened?”
Suddenly Josh knew that the moment had come for the truth. He leaned forward and said, “Sarah, you’ve only known me a short time, but I’d like to think that you know a little bit about me.”
“I know you’re—very nice.” Sarah’s cheeks reddened, and she could not meet his eyes.
“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you for all the world,” he said, “but I want to tell you something. Something that you’re going to find hard to believe.”
Startled, Sarah looked up at him, her dark eyes wide. “Why—what is it, Josh?”
“All these stories I’ve been telling you about the Seven Sleepers—”
“Yes?”
“They’re true, Sarah.”
“True? They can’t be true, Josh.”
“You know about the girl named Sarah that I’ve told you so much about in these stories?”
“Yes, you like her a lot. I can tell by the way you talk about her.”
“Yes, I do like her a lot,” Josh said. He reached over and took her hand and said quietly, “Sarah, I look real familiar to you, don’t I? You think you know me from somewhere.”
“Why, how did you know that?”
“Because, Sarah, you did know me, and you do know me. The stories are true.” Josh began to speak rapidly, still holding her hand, and he saw a change come into her face as he told of some other adventures they had had together.
“I’ve had these dreams,” she said finally. “Dreams about all these things that I couldn’t understand. Why, I dreamed once that I was in a place where there were Amazon women.”
“You were in that place, Sarah. You’re dreaming now. That was the reality.”
She appeared to be totally confused.
Josh said, “It’ll take a while. We’ll talk a lot, and sooner or later you’ll know that I’m telling you the truth.”
It took two more days. All of that time Sarah could not keep away from Josh, but she seemed fearful at the same time.
At noon on the second day, they were walking beside the cornfield. They had eaten a quick lunch, and now they were going to work. Josh forgot to limp.
“Josh,” she said, “there’s nothing wrong with your leg anymore.”
“No, and there never has been, Sarah. I pretended to hurt it so I could stay and tell you about us.”
Suddenly Sarah turned to him. Her lips were trembling, and her eyes were glistening with tears. “Did you really mean all you’ve told me, Josh?”
“Yes, I did, Sarah. This is nice, but it’s a dream. You need to come back. Both of us have to go back.” He had told her about Goél, and now he said, “Goél is depending on us.”
Sarah stood absolutely still. The breeze blew her hair, and she looked very young. At last she smiled. It was not a full smile, and her lips still trembled, but she put her hand out timidly. When he took it, she said, “Josh, I’ll trust you. I know you couldn’t do anything but tell me the truth.”
Josh wanted to put his arms around her. Instead he said, “I knew you’d come, Sarah. You couldn’t stay here in a dream world. Now, let me tell you what to do . . .”
Sarah awoke to find herself lying on a bed. A sound attracted her attention. She sat up and saw the bodies on two rows of cots. Then she looked down and saw Josh getting to his feet and taking off his headset.
Sarah suddenly realized that she too was wearing a headset. She snapped it off, and then stood as Josh came to his feet. She began to cry. “Josh, you came to get me!”
Josh put his arms around her. “Wash had to come and get me. He’s been the only true one. Now, Sarah, we have to get the rest of our group together.” When he saw that Wash was still lying beside Reb. He shook his head. “I guess Wash is having a lot of trouble with Reb. You know how stubborn that Southerner is.”
“What are we going to do?”
Josh looked at the faces of the Sleepers still trapped in their dream prisons. His face grew tense. “We’re going after them and bring them back. And when we get them all here, we’ll see about Oliver and his infernal machines!”