The Dreamer

          Jaeda looked into the smiling face of her great-grandmother Ellie and instantly knew she was dreaming again. Of course she was dreaming and wasn't really her hands held palm up to clasp with her grandmothers, wrinkled and doughy soft with age just as Jaeda remembered them. Her grandmother, or Grannie Elle, had died peacefully in her sleep one balmy summer eve three years ago when Jaeda had been nineteen. During the months that lead to her death, Ellie had looked a pale shadow of the woman who had been defined by an energy that was as vibrant as sunshine. But in the dream, Jaeda saw the great-grandmother she remembered from childhood wrought with age but no trace of illness in her loving brown eyes. Ellie was even wearing her signature yellow blouse that she had donned every sunday for the past fifteen years since grandpa Hollis had passed away. Pinned on her left shoulder was a craved angel brooch made by a younger cousin that Jaeda had painted with water colors for the last christmas the family had had with Ellie before as she put it, the good lord would be granting her wings.

The dreams were good at getting at the details that wrenched Jaeda's heart the most. But since she was already aware she was dreaming and because it was with Grannie Elle, Jaeda figured it was alright to smile back with untempered joy and squeeze the elder woman's hands.
"Hi Grannie." Jaeda whispered. She tried to speak softly in her dreams. Once she had dreamed of a young man that resemled an actor she'd seen on TV and shouted at him. The man had quickly vanished and she'd woken feeling dazed and guilty for a reason she couldn't explain, and so decided to let the dreams flow without reacting for fear her voice would chase it away.
         There didn't seem to be any chance of that happening now. Grannie Elle threw back her head and laughed at her timid greeting.
"Hi to you too sweetheart. My goodness but you've grown out your hair!"
Jaeda blinked in surprise. "Its not much longer than when you last saw me Grannie."
That got a chuckle and Ellie raised a hand to stroke back Jaeda's side swept bangs. "Oh its enough to notice sweetie, especially after all that fuss you made when your mother wouldn't let you streak this pretty hair purple like all your friends."
Jaeda giggled. It couldn't be helped dream or not, she felt felt as though reality had flipped and they were stand together as if it were any other day.