“Quiet, train.”
To her surprise, the train did quieten.
“Good train, you get a reward. Gold star for you.”
“What? Georgie? Are you awake?”
Huh, that sounded like Ed’s voice.
“That’s because it is Ed’s voice, honey,” he said gently.
“Honey? I like that. It’s cute.”
“You are cute,” he told her.
“Now I know you’re not Ed. Because Ed doesn’t think I’m cute. He thinks I’m a bitch.”
“He does not. I mean, I do not.”
“I must be dreaming. Because Ed only comes to me in my dreams.” She yawned. “Why is my bed so hard? And these sheets are scratchy. I don’t like them. Dream Ed, get me new sheets,” she ordered imperiously.
There was a huff of laughter. “Does dream Ed always do as you order?”
“Of course. It’s my dream, why wouldn’t he?”
“Well, seems to me that you might get a bit spoiled and bratty if he did everything you said.”
She huffed out a sigh. “It’s my dream. Just for once, I should get something my way. Where I don’t have to do what everyone else tells me to do.”
There was a beat of silence. Dream Ed was being weird tonight.
“Who’s everyone?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“Who is everyone? Who tells you what to do?”
“I already told you. Were you not listening? You’re starting to sound more like real Ed.”
More silence.
“And what did you want him to do that he didn’t do?”
“I thought he was with Kiesha, and I thought he was a dirty, nasty cheater. Then she asked me out and I thought I was going to have to tell her what I’d done. Because Ed was a pansy-assed, lying cheater. And then when I did tell her, she laughed. You know, because Ed is gross.”
“So he’s a dirty, nasty, lying, pansy-assed, gross cheater?”
“Are you coming down with a cold, dream Ed? Because that’s going to ruin my plans for later.”
“What plans did you have for later?” he asked.
“I’m getting tired again.”
“But you’re dreaming. How can you be tired if you’re in a dream?”
“Urgh, if I wanted logical Ed, I would go find real Ed.”
“Dirty, nasty, lying, pansy-assed, gross, cheater Ed?” he asked in a funny-sounding voice. What was his problem? He already knew all of this.