Floe de Lir

Chapter 7

"Brenda and Brandon," said Dylan.

It was, perhaps, the easiest decision he had ever made in his life. He, the boy who had been required to make many decisions, all of which had proven to be to his detriment.

"- provided that they are not Brenda, or Brandon," Iris finished.

"They're right there," Dylan furiously waved. "I should be able to speak with them."

"You can speak," said Iris, "but they are only figments, figments of your past. They cannot speak back, nor can they hear."

"Then I want to speak to the Brenda and Brandon who can."

"You cannot," said Iris. "They will both fear they have gone mad, and the year they have been brought to is a dangerous time to fear you've gone mad. It is expressly forbidden for you to cross into their dreams, or they into yours."

"Then the Brenda and Brandon I see now," said Dylan, who did not want either Walsh to end up in a turn of the century institution because of him.

"You cannot know the thoughts of those around you," said Iris. "If the Brenda and Brandon of your adolescence speak to you in your dreams, you will know things about them you shouldn't know for years yet."

Dylan was growing increasingly frustrated.

"I need to know why I'm in a graveyard," he said. "Brenda and Brandon are walking in one right now. They must be the key to why I keep having this dream. Unless you are?" he asked, putting on his sweetest voice.

"When it comes to the Walshes, I know what you know," said Iris.

"I'm looking for an Annie, I think," said Dylan, concentrating on what Brandon had said. "And a Bertie. But why? Why am I looking for them? Who are they? If they're friends of Brenda's, why have I been dragged here to find them? To this never-ending graveyard, where I never find what I'm looking for?"

Perhaps it was a metaphor of some kind, thought Dylan, though what it could be a metaphor for aside from the bottom of a bottle escaped him.

"I'll see you in here, I expect," said Dylan to his mother.

"This is a one-time visit," said Iris. "Erica will drop in every now and then, to remind you of her existence."

"When you meet me," said Erica, "waste no time in getting me away from Suzanne and Kevin, okay?"

"How am I supposed to do that?" asked Dylan.

"You will think of something," said Iris, who began humming the theme of an old series Dylan had only watched as a child forced to share a nanny with Steve Sanders.

"The Hartley House?" asked Dylan. "You're humming the theme of The Hartley House?"

"Samantha Sanders has one child," said Iris. "A son. She once had dreams of a daughter, but she gave up those dreams when she learnt she was unable to bear children. Unsure how to cope with the upsetting news, Rush Sanders began cheating on Samantha shortly thereafter. All of society knew of it; all but Samantha, who learnt of Rush's affairs only when the boy who would become her son was brought into her home."

"Are you saying I should persuade Samantha Sanders to foster my little sister?" asked Dylan.

"That's a novel idea," said Iris. "My clever son."

"But I'll forget it all," said Dylan. "Doesn't that mean I'll forget Erica? That her visits will mean nothing to me?"

"You will know they are significant, but you will not know why," said Iris. "You will have the best results if you choose people to speak with that you knew as a teenager."