Sammy's had a Dream

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Sammy’s eyes filled up with tears as he pushed the gate open. He stepped over his little brother’s tricycle. Would he be strong enough to tell them the terrible news without breaking down?

He had tried to rehearse phrases as he drove over. He knew it would never be enough just to tell them what happened, he knew they would ask questions until there would be nothing more to ask.

He was lost in his thoughts when Janet opened the door. Her eyes were swollen.

“What is it?” he asked.

Janet fell in his arms without a word. All he knew was that his best shirt was getting wet from her tears and he did not dare ask what was wrong.

“JayJay is a pain! He’s driving me crazy, Sammy! Can’t you take him with you until Mum and Dad come back?”

Janet had been in charge of the brothers since their parents left for their holidays. Sammy had promised to pop by now and then, but he did not. He had been busy reading Van Gogh’s biography and had forgotten about his siblings. He did not feel bad, he knew Janet was used to his ungratefulness.

He pushed her away.

“I have bigger worries, Jan!”

He walked in.

“Guys, come down please, we need to talk!” he shouted in the staircase.

His two brothers came tumbling down, pushing each other with loud giggling.

“Cut it out right now! Sit yourselves in the sofa and be quiet… What about Mark?”

“Still sleeping.” Nick answered, pouting.

“Then, go get him!”

“Always me! You don’t see JayJay runing errands for others!” Nick moaned.

A while later, he came back downstairs holding a sleepy Mark in his arms.

Sammy stood in front of them. His lower lip was trembling. The way Nick was holding Mark, avoiding looking straight at his older brother; the way JayJay was unusually quiet, the way Janet was just sitting there, looking at the tiled floor. He could tell by looking at them they all knew the moment was important.

Sammy had a stomach ache, he felt empty and devastated and he knew it was just going to get worse.

“Yesterday, a terrible disaster stroke Thailand… It’s called a Tsu-na-mi, a series of huge waves, something unbelievable.” He cleared his throat.

His eyes dropped on Mark, and he could not help but notice the way Nick was holding him tight. He saw Janet’s eyes widening, and JayJay’s foot dropping on the floor, but he did not hear a sound.

“Mum and Dad are missing. Thousands of people are missing and we don’t really know if Mum and Dad are… alive.”

He thought of using “we” instead of “I” so that they would not expect him to have all the answers.

He remembered sitting at the diner table one Sunday evening and listening to his Mum describing the dream holiday they had just booked. She had chosen Koh Phi-Phi… an island in the south of Thailand. She repeated the name over and over.

“I tell you, my son, I can’t get enough of it… it rings to my ears like the sweet murmur of the sea caressing my old ankles.”

His parents had never had a holiday. Their five children kept sucking their savings like micro salvagers. But this year, they wanted to celebrate Dad’s retirement from the army with the trip of a lifetime.

“But… How…?... Why…?”

He knew Janet would be the first one to ask… But she seemed to be unable to finish her sentences.

He waited as silence was becoming unbearable. He looked at them in turn and did not know what to say or do. His head was empty.

“I’m hungry!” said Mark, giving everyone a shock. Nick smiled and pulled him even closer; JayJay got up to get something from the cupboard.
And then, just when everything seemed to be back in its place, Mark suddenly started to cry:

“I want Mummy! I want Mummy!”

Sammy kneeled down in front of Mark. He saw Janet burry her face in her hands and he heard her constrained scream. He saw JayJay drop on the floor, his little body broken in two as he curled up and wrapped his arms around his knees.

“I want Mummy! I want Mummy!” Mark cried.

His hand touched his brother’s hair and he felt nothing, he reached over to Janet, but she seemed to be too far away. He tried to look at Nick but his face vanished.

“JayJay!” he called.

He turned his head but the room filled with darkness. He heard the phone ring. He got up but his legs were numb.

“I have to get the phone.” He shouted opening his eyes, shocked to see the morning light embracing the bedroom.

Sammy sat on the bed. He glanced around. He felt a pain in his chest and realized he needed to take a deep breath.

“A damn dream! A bloody nightmare!”

His head dropped back on the pillow, he was breathing heavily. He heard the phone in the distance. Crawling out of bed, exhausted by the dream, he made his way towards the stairs.

“Sammy, boy, you’re not going to be late, are you?”

“Mum?”

“Yeah! Your Mum, remember? Today’s D-Day!”

He hung up the phone with a “Be there in five!” kind of scream.

When his Mum answered the door, he fell to his knees.

“Please don’t go, Mum, something terrible is going to happen!”

“Yes, I know, you will eventually have to take care of your brothers for a week!”

She looked down at his face covered in tears, and she frowned. She slowly placed her hand on her son’s hair, smiled a motherly smile, and turned her head towards the kitchen.

“Ed, darling! We aren’t going! Sammy’s had a dream again! Call the agency! Cancel the tickets!”

She sat on the step, and rocked her adult son in her arms as he cried softly.

(990 words)