The Dreamer: Chapter 6

Onward to History class Marcus went. The last class before he got to finally eat lunch. His stomach made a slight noise that sounded like a low gurgle as he noticed that he was hungry. All the commotion of his day so far had caused him to work up an appetite. History class wasn’t too far away, and Marcus really didn’t mind it. The teacher was a great older man who never really gave much homework, other than the occasional current event. Some said that he only gave those mundane assignments so he would not get into trouble. Otherwise history class was more about reading in class and discussing the reading. Not much unlike English class, but with real events as the topic of discussion, not made up ones like in the books they read for Mr. Dogwood.

As Marcus strolled in late to class, he held out his pass for Mr. Garfield to take from him. The teacher took the pass and smiled. Followed by Marcus slowly walking over to his seat in the front of the room, plopping down in his chair. Mr. Garfield was one of the only teachers to arrange his students by height. Marcus, being one of the shorter kids in his class, was in the front ‘so he did not have trouble hearing’ the teacher.

Mr. Garfield stood near the center of the room between the rows of students and posed a question, “What would you have done if you were in Mr. Washington’s shoes? Write that down, what would you do if you were in Mr. Washington’s shoes, he repeated. Take 5 minutes and write an alternate history about you being George Washington as he received word that the British troops were on the other side of the Delaware River.”

This is why Marcus liked Mr. Garfield. Actually why most students did. There was never a right or wrong answer, it was always perspectives. It was always about the student’s thoughts, and it was actually really effective because it got the students to think about the history topics and come up with creative ways to tell the story.

Jeff looked over at Marcus from the other side of the room trying to get his attention. Jeff went through a growth spurt over the summer last year and it caused him to be a few inches taller than Marcus, which placed him toward the back of Mr. Garfield’s class. Marcus noticed Jeff and nodded.

Jeff mouthed ‘did you get detention?’

Marcus replied by shaking his head.

Jeff continued ‘how? what happened?’

Marcus just shrugged and turned back forward to get to work on his project. Jonathan sat next to Marcus in this class and Natalie sat on the other side of Jonathan, all being around the same height. Jonathan was hard at work, but Natalie was glancing to the left at Marcus without him noticing.

Marcus was hard at work and when he felt a burning sensation on the right side of his face. All of a sudden, his ear rung and he was in the park with Natalie walking, holding her hand. He looked around him and saw that it was the school’s playground, but it was rather empty. The only other people there were his sister Alexis and Natalie’s mom Charlotte. Charlotte was sitting on a bench with Alexis and his sister was staring at the ground between her perfect white flats, looking distraught.

“Ah!” Marcus said aloud as he put his hand to his temple.

“Are you okay?” Jonathan asked.

Just then, Marcus looked over at Jonathan to see Natalie’s head turn down towards the paper lying on her desk in front of her.

“Is there something wrong?” Mr. Garfield interjected. He must have heard Marcus’s outburst from across the room.

“I have a terrible headache,” answered Marcus. “Can I please go to the nurse?”

“Of course you can, son,” answered Mr. Garfield. “I will give you a pass.”

As Mr. Garfield made his way to his desk to write out a pass, Marcus looked over at Natalie with confusion. ‘How had his vision come to be? Was he dreaming while he was awake now? Did Natalie somehow cause it?’ he thought. Natalie glanced over and noticed Marcus staring at her and quickly looked back down, her cheeks turning red.

“Here you go,” said Mr. Garfield as he stretched his hand out to give Marcus the pass. “I hope you feel better.”

Marcus took the pass and quickly gathered his belongings. He exited the room with haste and made his way towards the nurse’s office. Suddenly he felt light and much better. His head felt normal again and he began to wonder if the nurse would think he was a fraud.

Mrs. Patsy was a kind older woman. Everyone loved her. She was the type of nurse that when you went to see her, it was like visiting grandma’s house. She was always smiling, always pleasant, and always seemingly trying to figure out a way to feed you. Headache, must be hungry. Bloody nose, must be hungry. Fever, must need an ice pop. Toothache, must need some gummies. You never went to the nurse without some sort of treat.

“Hello Marcus,” she said as he entered the room. Another reason everyone loved her, she knew all of their names by heart. “What ails you today?”

“I am actually okay now,” Marcus boasted.

“Well then why are you here?” asked Mrs. Patsy.

“I was sitting in Mr. Garfield’s class and suddenly had a sharp pain on the right side of my face,” answered Marcus. No reason to come up with a story to tell and not tell the truth. Besides lying to Mrs. Patsy was something that would make anyone feel badly.

“Hmm,” she hummed aloud. “Perhaps you should lie down for a few moments,” She continued as she pointed to the bed in her room. The bed was more like one of those tables you see when you go visit a doctor. Hard, with a slight curve with a pillow to put your head on and always ice cold, covered with paper. Somehow it was always comfortable despite all of its poor features.

Marcus took the advice and hopped up onto the bed and laid down for a bit. While he was laying there, Mrs. Patsy took his temperature and blood pressure. “Everything is normal,” she said.

“I told you I feel better,” Marcus replied.

“Perhaps you just need an ice pop,” Mrs. Patsy smiled as her blue eyes twinkled.

Marcus simply smiled back. Regardless if he wanted one or not, he was getting an ice pop. As he watched Mrs. Patsy walk towards the freezer in her office, he thought to himself ‘I really need to figure out how to control my dreams.’

Mrs. Patsy returned with the ice pop and handed it to Marcus. He would not be staying much longer. As soon as the ice pop is finished, she would give him a pass back to class. In this case, it would be lunch because there were only five minutes left in period 4. Marcus would take his time enjoying the ice pop because he wanted to avoid Natalie for a little while longer. ‘Never would I think that I wouldn’t want to see her,’ he thought.

The bell rang as he was finishing the treat. He sprang up off of the bed and said, “Thank you Mrs. Patsy!” as he made his way for the door. She nodded and smiled at him watching him leave through the portal.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

The Dreamer started its journey into a story in 2010 under the title, "Special". I wrote the first 4 chapters on my cellphone in notes during my free time. I converted it into a word document early in 2011 and began revisions. Early in 2012 when I went to graduate school for history, I put the story aside until a later time. In 2020 I found my old files on an external hard drive when I bought my new computer and this year the story continues.

I have been writing for a lot of years. I have several stories in the works, and lots of poems. I found Vocal Media in March 2021 and since then have been revising, editing, and creating more poems and stories. I absolutely love writing anything from poems and short stories to history. If you want to reach out to me and learn more you can find me @theodore_dembowski on social media.

Want to read more of my work Click Here. I only profit off this website through reads, tips, and challenge wins. So read on! Feel free to tip and give a heart to any of your favorites ;)

Thank You For Reading!

~Theodore