I Want To Dream Now

Chapter 2

The air is chilly this time. Previously, it was very warm, sticky even. Dreamt Land weather is very unpredictable. One weather jumps to another kind. For some reason tonight, the weather is becoming very stable. Just one shower of icy rain.

"I wonder what the weather is trying to tell us." Charlene slides her feet up so they hang over the rooftop. She puffs her cigarette, then places it down gently onto the ash tray. "Do you ever wonder that, Robin?"

Robin stares out into the very dark night sky. "The weather is a complex thing."

"Like humans," compares Charlene, laughing lightly.

Robin shares the laughter. "Indeed."

"But, there has to be some reason. I know there just has to be."

Charlene pulls out another cigarette from her jeans pocket. She lights it up effortlessly.

"Want one?" She asks.

Robin shakes his head.

"So, you don't drink coffee. And you don't smoke. I just don't get it?"

Robin blows out a swarm of air. "This is only our third meeting. Relax, you'll soon figure me out."

Third meeting, Charlene thinks. This could have been their hundredth meeting.

"I wish it isn't always night time here."

Robin's chin perks up. "I never even noticed."

Charlene grins. "Well, now that you have, don't you agree? Wouldn't the sun just be amazing out here? You'd see everything so clearly."

"If it were daylight, I don't think it would be as magical. There would be no lights. No glitter on black paper."

Charlene exhales slowly. "Wow."

"Plus, do you know even where we are?"

Charlene nods, her rustic brown eyes narrowing into slits. "Yes, I actually think I do. My Grandma's apartment."

"I don't see any Grandma's floating round," Robin jokes.

Charlene chuckles gently. "Shush you. As a child, I visited my Grandma here. Not that often, perhaps two weeks in the summer. She'd bring me into town, show me the historic landmarks, the museums, the docks. She was the first person to ever bring me on a train. Also, the first person to ever bring me to the ducks. Oh, I remember that day like it was yesterday. The bread all mushed at the bottom of the shopping bag. Later that day, we scooped the toppings off a creamy cheese pizza, ate them then buttered the pizza bread with butter."

Robin smiles at Charlene. "You had good memories growing up."

Charlene blinks, almost surprised. "Yeah, I guess I did. Whenever I arrived here, she always brought me up to the roof garden the very first evening. It was almost a ritual, you could say. It was always night-time."

"Aha."

Charlene spins her head around, her eyes full of curiosity.

"What?"

Robin starts nodding. "This is why it is night-time. Your memory of the rooftop here was always in the night, never in the day."

Charlene tilts her head at Robin, staring vacantly into his stormy grey eyes.

"That makes sense. Doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it really does," replies Charlene softly. "I wish I'd been up here during the day with her."

"Oh Charlie, your dreams are your wishes."

"What?"

"Your wish is YOUR command. If you want daylight, then bring daylight."

Charlene pushes away. "But you could stop me."

Robin smirks. "True, but I'll make your dream come true tonight, if you let mine next time."

"And your dream is?"

"That," says Robin pulling the cigarette out of her hand and tossing the flamed object over the rooftop and into the stream below, "will be all revealed tomorrow. In Paris."

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