Wide Awake in Dreamland

Two sprites, quick and clever, roamed through a wooded grove in a northern town. The tails of their olive-jade overcoats sailed on the shoulders of the wind.

“What is his name?” you may ask.

Jokul Frosti.

“And what’s her name?”

Ostara Blumen.

They were best of friends and most passionate of lovers.

"Jokul!" she called.

"Yes, dear?”

"Where are you?" she called again.

"Hiding," he said.

Jokul blended into the woodwork like some forest chameleon. It was only when he moved that Ostara found him. He was perched, high in a green tree.

"I see you!" she said. She darted towards her friend. Jokul jumped twig-to-twig, keeping just clear of Ostara's grasp.

Some days, it was "hide-and-go-seek" and other days it was "I Spy". Regardless of the game, every day they played together in the grove.

Finally, Ostara caught Jokul. He laid in the tall grass next to an old green tree, resting comfortably in the shade.

“There you are!” she exclaimed. She collapsed in a patch of grass next to him.

“Today is the greatest day!” he said.

“You always say that,” she replied.

“Today is different. I had the most magnificent dream.”

“Please do tell me about it.”

“If you insist,” Jokul said.

“I do insist. I do. I do.”

Jokul pulled himself to a seated position. He pressed his back against the trunk of another green tree, across from Ostara. He gazed toward the sky.

“In this dream, we were playing the forest.”

“What were we playing?”

“Hide-and-seek, of course.”

“Who was the hider and who was the seeker?”

“I was the seeker.”

“Where was I hiding?”

“In one of your favorite places – in the high branches of an old green tree, just like this one reaching high above us. I walked through the grove along a dusty trail. I kept calling for you, but you would not answer. Instead, you just kept watching me.”

“How did you find me?”

“I simply made a wish for you to appear. Your clothes shimmered, changing color, from green to red to gold and back to green again. Right then, I found you.”

“That is quite some dream,” said Ostara, “I wish I could dream like that.”

“Maybe you can,” said Jokul.

“I don’t think so.”

“Just close your eyes and imagine it before you fall asleep.”

Ostara lay for a moment in the tall grass. She pressed her eyes closed and concentrated on Jokul’s dream. Even when she daydreamed, her thoughts were nothing fancy, like Jokul’s.

“I can’t do it,” she groaned.

“Yes you can. Open your eyes!”

As she opened her eyes, she looked down at her overcoat. It glowed in a shimmer of silvery-pink. A smile lit up her face.

“I did it!” she exclaimed.

“Yes you did.”

“How did I do it?”

“You dreamed it,” replied Jokul.

“I guess I did.”

“Dreams are wondrous things. Without dreams, what would we have? We would have nothing,” said Jokul.

Jokul closed his eyes and concentrated. His body shimmered and rippled like water. Suddenly, it was as if he vanished into thin air. He was invisible.

“Where did you go?” called Ostara. She reached towards the green tree where Jokul had been sitting. There was no one there. On the first branch, Jokul shimmered and appeared again.

“Here I am!” he said.

He jumped off the branch, landing on the ground. His green overcoat blended with the colors of the forest. He was the hider and Ostara was the seeker. She ran after him until darkness fell upon the grove.At night, they found a patch of moss and laid their heads down for a dream.