She stepped out, her red slippers touching the road. "What was that feeling?" she wondered as she began running ahead, anxious to see what was down the road about a half a mile. She felt like her shoes made her spring forward with no effort whatsoever. It took her only a few seconds to reach this figure, and as she slowed to talk to him, she heard his sobs. Poor thing, he was crying. A large-screen TV was on, but he held his head in his hands, not even looking at the pictures that were flashing on—an accident. Rescue people were taking some boys out of a smashed-up car. "Was that…?" she thought as she saw the face of one of the boys, but it went by, but it was too quick.
"Boo, hoo, hoo," the chubby man who had kind of a lion-like appearance sobbed and sobbed. "What’s going on?" she asked. "Why are you crying?"
As he lifted his head, she realized it was that guy on the show her Mom watched every Sunday morning as she got ready for church. She always used to try and talk her into watching cartoons or "Sesame Street" instead, at least until she got her own TV from her Dad one year for her birthday.
"My Mom watches your show every Sunday!" she exclaimed to him.
Well, that made him smile. Now we’re getting somewhere, Annie thought. She took the remote control from him and turned off the TV.
"Don’t watch it if it makes you cry," she admonished him. "I have to tell my Mom that too, but she always says she has to know what’s going on.
"Come on, let’s go," she said as she pulled him up to his feet. Now she noticed that indeed he was wearing the Lion’s costume from "The Wizard of Oz."
"Did you get that at Mountain Community Theater?" she asked.
He thought for a moment and then said, "Yes, I guess I must have," as they started walking down the golden pathway.
A sign flashed above them,
like in "L.A. Story."
"Proceed as you wish," Annie read. "What kind of a road sign is that?" she asked rhetorically. "You don’t have to answer that," she explained.
"What’s your name?" she asked. "Charles" he replied. "What’s yours?" "Annie" she replied.
As they walked along hand in hand, swinging their hands back and forth, the landscape began to change or, rather, appear as they talked away. "Why were you crying?" she asked.
"Oh, I was watching the late news, and everything was so sad. Some of your friends from school got in a terrible car crash."
A chill ran through her as she realized the dream must be coming to an end. "No!" she exclaimed. She didn’t want her dream to turn into a nightmare. She hated nightmares!
 On the
right, there was a graveyard. She wanted to wake up
now. A sign read |
The Lion looked at her and she said "What?" "Do you know where we are?" he asked. "We’re in Dreamland, silly," she said, talking to him like she would to her Papa, her grandfather. Where would he be in her dream? she began to wonder.
He smiled as he patted her hand. "Look over there," he gestured, pointing to an old iron fence. On the other side was what looked like a garden with dead flowers and trees. A sign read
"Doesn’t
look like they’re doing many repairs to me," Annie remarked. "It
just looks dead."
"Shh," the Lion gestured as he led her to the gates. "Let’s peek in." He lifted the latch slowly and opened the gate. "I wonder if we should go in." They looked at each other, as if to accept whatever the other decided, and Charles being Charles, and Annie being Annie, they stepped in. "Maybe it’s a Secret Garden," Annie suggested.
They heard a noise. "Help, help" came a weak little cry. They ran over to the Scarecrow who had cried for help. Charles lifted him up off the post where he had been hanging and set his feet down. He wondered for a moment if the Scarecrow would just collapse or if he would be able to stand up.
"Gee, thanks," the Scarecrow said. "I’ve been hanging around forever, waiting for someone to come along and help me down. It was such a wonderful life," he seemed to be recalling, "but then the last thing I can remember is that some girl named Eve went to get some fruit."
Annie and Charles burst out laughing, suddenly realizing that the Scarecrow was Jimmy Stewart. "Come on," they told him, "let’s go."
"I haven’t got a brain," Scarecrow explained. "We know," they assured him. "We’ll get you one," as they led him out through the gate. "Until then," Annie said, "just listen to us and we’ll take care of you." They went ahead on their way, remarking at the beauty of all the flowers.
"I wish it had palm trees on either side," Annie said. "That way I could feel like I’m really in California." Suddenly palm trees appeared. They saw a sign that said "Chowchilla" and saw a school bus stopped by the side of the road. A nice old man waved at Annie as they passed by. "I know where we are," Annie said. "This is on my way to Fresno from my house in Santa Cruz," she said.
Charles patted her hand again with his free hand.
"I’m glad you told me," said the Scarecrow. "I haven’t a brain, you know." "It’s okay," Annie reassured him.
Now the landscape looked different
again, and they passed through a forest of tall, tall,
tall redwoods. It looked kind of like Henry Cowell Park,
and Annie thought she could hear the Roaring Camp steam
train noises faintly in the distance.
"We’re almost to my house now," she explained. "I’m probably going to wake up soon, but it’s been fun, you guys." Charles patted her hand again. Clouds were gathering in the distance.
"Annie, what’s that?" asked the Scarecrow, pointing to the Tin Man, stuck in midair, trying to split some firewood that was in her Mom’s yard. "You know everything," he added. "I know," Annie agreed. "That’s the Tin Man. He needs some oil," she ran over and said, as if to prompt one of the prop people in one of her plays.
A can of WD-40 appeared next to the Tin Man. Annie sprayed his joints, like her grandpa had taught her to do with "sticking stuff." Tin Man came to life, as he straightened up and opened his eyes.
"Oh, thanks," he said. "My back was killing me." "What’s your name?" Scarecrow asked.
"Robert Mitchum," he replied, extending his arm in a friendly gesture. "You’ll have to pick it up if you want to shake it," Scarecrow explained. Tin Man picked up the arm, gave it a good shake, and then shook hands with Charles and Annie.
"Well, are we ready?" he asked Annie. "For what?" she answered. Tin Man and Charles exchanged glances and smiles. "What?" Annie asked again. She was starting to get that icky feeling again, she thought it was called afraid.
"Annie, when you were a little girl, did your mother ever read you the 'Chronicles of Narnia'?" Charles asked.
"You mean about the wardrobe and the icy flare? Yes, of course. But this story is ‘The Wizard of Oz,’" she sternly reminded him. Grownups! You always had to teach them how to play all over again.
Suddenly, running down the golden road ahead came Zooey, her old little one-eyed white dog. "Zooey!" Annie exclaimed as she ran ahead. She hadn’t seen her since she and her Mom had had to have her, well, you know…. She hugged Zooey, who licked her face in delight.
"Annie!" Zooey cried. "I’ve been waiting and waiting," she said. Annie looked around, trying to see where her Mom was. She was always talking to the animals and trying to trick Annie into thinking that they talked back. How embarrassing, especially when her friends were over. But Mom was nowhere around.
She and Zooey fussed over each other for a little while, more as the three guys caught up with her. They were "conferring." (You know how grownups do, and then as soon as they see you, they stop talking about whatever it was they were talking about.)
They all skipped along now arm in arm, singing Annie’s favorite songs, Zooey running ahead, checking.
As they came down a hill, Annie saw some of her Lost Boys from "Peter Pan." Three of them were sitting on the road, shaking their heads. One was still sleeping. "Ow, my head hurts!" one said. "Me too," another agreed. "I’m never going to do that again," the third one declared, leaning over to shake the sleeping boy next to him.
"What happened?" Annie asked. "Don’t I know you from SLV?" she queried, trying to remember his name.
"You’re Annie Born, right?" he said anxiously. "Yep, I am," she answered. "I’m Annie, class of ’94."
"David Maze," he introduced himself, standing up to shake her hand. "I’ve had a crush on you since I was ten."
"Me too," said the next boy. "Me too," piped up the last one who was awake, shaking the sleeping boy again. "Wake up," he yelled. No result.
"Let him sleep right now," Charles told him. "I think he needs his rest."
One of the boys reached into his pocket and took out a pack of Marlboros. "Anyone got a light?" he asked.
The Scarecrow, whose arms now seemed to work fine, took the cigarette away from him. "I may not have a brain," he said, "but I know better than to allow you to do that here." He held out his hand until the boy handed over the whole pack. Scarecrow crumpled them up, and the whole thing disintegrated. He blew away the dust and smacked his hands together. "There."
"Are we ready to go again?" Annie asked.
"We have to wait for him," the Lost Boys said, pointing to the last one to awaken.
"Let’s get something to eat," said Annie. "I’m hungry. There must be something we can eat here. Let’s look around."
Suddenly a burst of little tittering voices caught their attention. It came from the woods.
"Do you think it’s okay to leave him?" asked one of the boys, pointing to the sleeping boy.
"Why don’t you stay with him, and we’ll bring you some food, okay?" Annie told him. "Come on," she ordered the rest of them.
"Who put you in charge?" one of the boys asked. "It’s my fantasy," Annie explained. "Oh, okay," he agreed, and off they went to find out who was making those noises.
Off in the woods about twenty feet away, some fairies were preparing a fairy picnic table, like her Mom showed her in their woods—you know, how the dew settles on the cobwebs and makes a little table. They looked just like the ones on her new statue in her new apartment, with pink wings and a flower garland that they were draping around for decoration. They were only about three inches tall.
Annie leaned down to talk to them and turned her ear to hear what the pretty redhead was saying. She looked just like her mother’s friend Lucretia. The others looked like Dolores and Teresa.
"You’re so beautiful!" she told Annie. "Did you want to join us for breakfast?"
"What are you having?" Annie asked. "Anything you want, sweetheart," the fairy replied, and so they all sat down to eat.
Funny thing was, now they were all just the right size to sit at a fairy table. The Lion sat at one end, and the Tin Man at the other. Scarecrow rushed around and seated all of the ladies, including Annie. "I may not have a brain," he said, "but at least I know how to treat a lady."
| "Waffles?" one fairy offered to Annie. |  |
She started to accept, but then stopped herself. She was famished, but she didn’t want to gain any weight in this fantasy. "No, thanks," she said, "I can’t ruin my diet." |
The fairies looked at each other and then burst into tittering laughter. "There are no calories in our food," one explained to Annie. "Eat what you want."
"Yeah, right," Annie said.
The fairies tittered again. "No, really," they exclaimed, fluttering up in the air. "Eat whatever you want. You’ll never get fat." They buzzed around a little and then said "Got to go. The sun’s coming to dry up the picnic." And away they went.
Everybody ate until they were full. The food was so delicious that Annie wished she could ask for the recipes, but then they all decided they should go see how the others were doing. Just as the first ray of sunlight broke through the woods and hit the fairies’ table and it evaporated, they scooped up the rest of the food and ran back to the golden road.
(one more page)
