The Gift: A TAWOG Story

Chapter 14: The Third Visit

Gumball kept tossing and turning in bed trying to fall asleep, but he could not do it. He kept glancing around his room, up at the underside of his sister's top bunk, and up at his adopted goldfish brother snoozing in his bowl. He tried sticking one foot out, hugging his pillows, and rolling himself up in a blanket burrito, but nothing worked.

Down in the basement, Nicole was setting up the mat for another night of dream patrol. She thought to herself for a second, and wondered if her son Gumball was still awake. Sure enough, when she scanned for his thoughts in her head, she picked up that he was. She decided to call him down in her mind to the basement. Gumball picked up the signal and went straight to the basement, eager to investigate another dream.

"Oh boy, am I excited!" said Gumball eagerly in his plain white t-shirt and boxer shorts. "Are we gonna investigate Dad's dream, now? He's the only one we haven't seen!"

"That would be accurate, yes," replied Nicole. They sat next to each other on the mat and closed their eyes. Gumball concentrated real hard, and with a thumb-press from Nicole onto his paw, he was transported back to the dreamscape.

"Doesn't Dad usually dream about being bread dough or something?" Gumball asked as they walked through the pitch blackness.

"I have a feeling that's not what he's dreaming tonight," said Nicole. Within seconds, bright pink beams shot up all around them. The beams danced around for a moment before coming together and forming a giant archway in front of Gumball and Nicole.

"Ready?" asked Nicole to her son.

"Yep," replied Gumball. They walked in through a flash of bright white light.

The two cats found themselves in what appeared to be a storage area. It was dark and dingy with concrete. They noticed there were cables running on the walls, and circuit boxes where those cables connected. Gumball and Nicole tiptoed, trying not to make a sound.

"Remember," Nicole whispered, "We cannot be seen."

They walked down a long dingy corridor with a single escalator going up at the end, though they could not see where it went. Their curiosity led them to the top, where they stumbled upon another corridor, this one lit slightly brighter than the downstairs corridor. This one also had carpet and clean paper walls, looking like an office hallway.

"Okay, this is weird," said Nicole. "Why would your father dream of this? An office?" Gumball had no answer. At the end of this corridor, they noticed a curtain blowing slightly in the draft. Just as they were about to pull the curtain back to see what was on the other side, a figure approached them from behind.

"There you two are!" said the figure, which made the blue cats jump. He was a purple blob wearing a headset and a cap, dressed like a crew member. "The shows about to start! You guys have to be out there!"

"Wait, what's going on?" Nicole said as the blob pushed her and her son forward.

On the other side of the curtain, Gumball and Nicole could not believe their eyes. They have entered a studio, with spotlights shining down on them, massive TV cameras facing them from every direction, and a studio audience filling half the perimeter of the room. Their hearts raced faster when they were met with mild applause from the audience, no cheers, just clapping. They just walked over to two chairs in the center of the stage positioned next to each other facing the audience and sat down.

"So much for not being seen," Gumball said sarcastically.

"I guess the dream wants us to be seen," Nicole replied. They looked around and noticed a logo throughout the studio that read "Dr. Richard."