The rainy season in Rainbow had started. It was the time of year when it rarely stopped raining. Kids had to stay inside, and there was nothing to do except read, play, or watch tv. And with spring vacation coming up, I needed a new game.
"What do you mean you don't have a new game?" my big sister Eva asked me.
"Well, I finished the new one I got last week, remember?" I said.
So far, I had played "The Foundry" twelve times. It had been my favorite game of all time. The story was different every single time I started it, and the excitement was always the same. My mom had just brought home the next game for me, "Safari Park," that morning. I planned to spend the rest of the rainy afternoon playing it.
My sister didn't have to play any games herself. My mom let her use her iPad whenever she wanted to. I did not like her iPad. It had to be rebooted every time she was finished with it. I got my own kindle e-reader and started playing one of my most fun books on it, The Great Mouse Adventure.
"Kenny, finish your dinner," my mom said, breaking me out of a daydream. "We need to go to the mall right now. Your dad's in his office and he just called to say he would like to speak to you and your sister on the phone."
My mom and I drive down the busy road to the mall every Sunday. She never asked if I needed help buying clothes, shoes, or whatever it is that moms ask you to buy. She just drove and pointed out stores to me. I could have asked to walk and bought my own stuff, but my mom would have hugged me and said I was supposed to be with her.
The rest of the day went by fast. I spent the rest of the rainy day left over from lunch and dinner playing with my new game.
It was the beginning of fall when my parents told me and my sister that they were moving away from Rainbow. We're moving to Florida.
"Dad works at a different branch of the bank now, and they told him if he didn't move, they would find a way to make it so he couldn't bring his family with him. I asked your dad, but he wouldn't be able to get a job in Rainbow anyway, since the branch he works at is the one that moved," my mom said.
After I got accustomed to the idea of living in Florida, I went to my room carrying a box of books and my Kindle in my arms. As I walked through the halls, people were whispering about me. I think my mom already knew about the whispering. She had a smile on her face.
That night she took me for a drive. We drove down back roads and parked the car at a dock. I had been wanting to go to the lake ever since I saw the lake in textbooks at school. We walked to the shore and sat there on the dock.
"Kenny," my mom said, looking out over the lake with me, "Have you ever dreamed?"
"Dreamed? No. I dream when I fall asleep, but I don't remember them. I just remember waking up. Have you dreamed?"
"Yes, I've had dreams since I was little. They aren't the kind of dreams that are much help, though. I dream about fairly generic things. Being chased by wolves, being chased by dogs, things like that. The last dream I had was different, though. It's the one I want to talk to you about," my mom said.
"Dreams about things like creativity, or about love, or about adventure. You will have many dreams about these things, or about other things. None of them are about the future, even though the place in the dream will often be some place you know. Some of the dreams will be about things that never happened, things that didn't happen when you were a little kid. Not many. Most of the dreams will be from the future. Some will be from a different time than you are now. And some will be from when you were younger than you are now."
"What happens if I dream about something that doesn't happen? Will I dream it again? Will I dream it again in another part of my life?" I said.
"I've dreamed some that didn't happen in any lifetime, but it's very rare. You will not see these dreams again. You're dreams won't be dreams about things that happen in this life. They will be dreams about things that happened in your life before this life. Dreams of things that happened when your parents were young and when you were a young child. Dreams of things that happened to the people you loved. Dreams of things that happened to the people you love now, or that could have happened to your friends or neighbors. You will dream many of these things. If a person you love is dying, you will dream about them sometimes, although probably not often. You will also dream about your best friend, or a trusted friend, sometimes, maybe even every day.