She started to cry, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him tight. “I’m so glad you said that. I always want to be your mother. I don’t regret anything.” She pulled away and looked up into his face. “I know what you’re thinking-why tell you now? Well, there is another reason.”
Brendan felt a lump form in his stomach.
“While you were out last night, a woman came here asking for you,” his mother told him. “She said she was a relative of your father’s…” She paused and frowned slightly. “Your biological father. She wanted to see you.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her the truth,” his mother said. “You were out with your dad. She said she would wait. I told her that wasn’t acceptable. We would have to talk to you first before you had any contact with your biological relatives.”
“What did she say to that?”
“It was weird,” his mother said. “She didn’t say anything for a long time. She just stared at me. It was kind of scary. It felt like she was barely restraining herself from physically attacking me.”
“Did you call the police?” Brendan asked. “She sounds a little crazy.”
“Not yet,” his mother said. “Your father is going to talk to our lawyer today, to see what the legal implications might be. That’s why we felt we had to tell you. We didn’t want you to find out from anybody else.”
Brendan’s mouth hung open in shock. Strange people claiming to be his relatives? His dream? Greenleaf and Kim conspiring? There were so many strange things happening to him. He’d forgotten to ask his father about the music on his iPod. He’d have to do that tonight when he got home.
“What did this woman look like, in case she tries to talk to me?”
His mother frowned. “That’s another weird thing, I can’t really remember. I only have a vague impression that she was tall and her hair was blond. I’ve been racking my brain but I can’t come up with anything else. Maybe she scared me worse than I realized.”
“Did she give you a name?”
His mother shook her head. “No. When I asked for it she said, ‘Your people will know it soon enough.’” She shivered. “The way she said it was so, I don’t know, vicious. I was pretty frightened. I was glad when you guys came home.”
“If she comes back, you should call the police.”
“I will. You be careful, too,” she said and kissed his cheek. “And about everything else… your past history. We love you. I know there will be difficult things for you to deal with but as long as you remember that, we’re going to be fine, understand? We just have to keep talking about it, okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, a lump forming in his throat. “I’ll remember.” He kissed her cheek and set off out the front door.
Dmitri was waiting at the corner of College and Crawford. Brendan was glad to see him today. He was glad to see anyone normal.
“Did you get the calculus homework done?” Dmitri asked.
“No.” Brendan groaned inwardly. “I just fell asleep last night. I didn’t get to it. I’ll try and do it during my free period. Is it hard?”
Dmitri pursed his lips. “You can copy mine if you want to.”
They walked in silence for a couple of blocks. Brendan was wrapped up in his thoughts of last night’s dream. It had seemed so real. Deirdre D’Anaan sitting in his living room with the vines choking his family. Then there was his parents’ revelation, and the weird visitor. Had the woman at the door been Deirdre D’Anaan? No. Not likely. She was onstage at the time. So now there were two strange women to deal with. It was all too much. He needed help.
“D,” he said finally, “what do you think about dreams?”
“Dreams? Like while you’re asleep?”
“Yeah. What are they? Do you think they’re important?”
“Important?” The smaller boy shrugged. “I don’t know. Some people think that your dreams are your subconscious mind processing what your waking mind takes in. Your brain is like a computer, and when you go to sleep it continues to process data in a random fashion.”
“Huh,” Brendan grunted. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Then there’s my babka’s point of view,” Dmitri said.
“She believes in all sorts of crazy things. She says dreams are a way for spirits to speak with us directly. It’s a kind of teleconferencing for the spirit world.” Dmitri tossed his head. “She also believes her cat gives her stock tips.” 44
“Is she crazy or what?”
“Well, she has a fairly healthy stock portfolio… but I can’t say I share her point of view. The human brain is a pretty amazing thing. We understand very little about how it actually works. Who can tell what dreams actually mean?” Dmitri looked sideways at Brendan. “Why this interest in dreams? Had any interesting ones lately?”
“Naw. Just curious. Some reading I was doing.” He changed the subject. “Are you going to the field hockey game after school? We should support Kim.” And maybe I can finally corner her and make her talk.
“I wouldn’t miss it. All those girls in short skirts beating each other with sticks? Is there any finer entertainment?” Dmitri grinned.
“You are truly creepy,” Brendan said, laughing.
“I won’t argue with you.”
They were walking past the elementary school and the huge rock when Brendan heard snoring. Heavy and ponderous, it sounded like the wheezing of an elephant. He stopped and looked around. It sounded as if someone was sleeping nearby but there was no one around.
“Who’s snoring?” Brendan asked Dmitri.
“What?” Dmitri asked in return.
“There’s somebody snoring right here. Can’t you hear it?”
Dmitri looked at Brendan like he was a little nutty. That was happening a lot lately. “I can’t hear anything.”
“Well, I can.” He looked around once again and saw that there was no one around, just him, Dmitri, and the huge black rock.
Brendan stepped over in front of the large stone. The snoring seemed to be coming from behind it.
“Come out of there,” he demanded. “You can’t sleep there.”
“Brendan?” Dmitri came and stood beside him. “Are you okay?” Dmitri laid a hand on his arm.
“I hear snoring. I think somebody’s sleeping behind the stone.” Brendan shook off his friend’s hand and stepped over the short white fence that surrounded the stone. “Come out of there, right now.” He had to prove to Dmitri that he wasn’t crazy. He walked around the stone and looked down. There was nobody there.
Now he felt foolish. He had been sure he would find someone. He scratched his head and leaned on the stone. Suddenly the snoring was very loud. With a snort like someone stirring in his sleep, the rock under his hand shifted almost imperceptibly.
Suddenly, a loud deep voice rumbled in his ear. “Who is there? Who disturbs my slumber?”
Brendan jumped away from the stone, jerking his hand back as if he’d been stung. He staggered backward and fell over the fence at Dmitri’s feet.
“Brendan! What happened?” Dmitri helped him to his feet.
“D-didn’t you hear that?” Brendan stammered. “It was the rock.” He pointed at the stone, inert and stone-like as ever. “It yelled at me!”
“Brendan, I didn’t hear anything.” Brendan looked into his friend’s face and saw only worry there, the same worry that had been on his parents’ faces last night and at breakfast this morning. He decided to change the subject.
“Never mind.” Brendan waved Dmitri away. “I’m fine. Just a little tired, I guess.” Dmitri didn’t look convinced.
“C’mon,” Brendan said. “We’re gonna be late.” He took a final look at the now-silent rock and strode up the street.
Dmitri had to hurry to catch up with Brendan. The scowl on Brendan’s face pre-empted any attempt at
