Dream Lover
Jenna Middleton gazed out her hotel window at the incredibly blue Aegean Sea. Under normal circumstances she would have been captivated by the natural beauty of Greece, but given her recent heartbreak, all she could feel was a deep melancholy at the irony of the situation: she was in one of the most romantic countries in the world, and she was in a group of one hundred and twenty schoolteachers.
She sighed and let herself daydream about walking arm-in-arm on a white sand beach with a handsome man who had a body like Fabio, a muscle-bound hunk who just stepped off the cover of a romance novel.
A man like Todd Nixon, she thought.
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she turned away from the window.
"It's my own fault," Jenna moaned, as she threw herself across one of the two double beds in the hotel room. "I knew he was married."
Still, she had been unable to resist the high school gym teacher and former Minor League baseball player. He was perfection in man, a god who might have walked down from Mt. Olympus to mate with mortal women.
Although Todd was married, his vows never stopped him from having affairs with a number of attractive women in Puritan Falls. A true ladies' man, he could not pass up the opportunity of bedding Jenna, quite possibly the most beautiful woman in the small New England village. Unfortunately, the comely English teacher was not one to dabble in casual dalliances. Although she made every effort to resist his advances, she found it difficult to keep Todd at arm's distance. Eventually her defenses weakened, and she fell head over in heels in love with Puritan Falls High School's Lothario.
The relationship lasted a mere two months. No sooner did the gym teacher rack up another conquest than Jenna discovered that Todd's eye wandered to the home economics teacher.
The jilted young woman was devastated by the breakup. She had honestly—and foolishly—believed the relationship would take her down the aisle. Phyllis, her sister, insisted Jenna get back on the horse and see other men.
"You can't spend the rest of your life moping around after Todd Nixon. Look on the bright side: now that you're no longer involved with that skirt-chasing gym teacher, you're free to find the man of your dreams."
Jenna shook her head.
"The man of my dreams. My knight in shining armor. I used to believe in those fairy tales but not anymore."
"Sure, you feel that way now, but you'll get over him eventually."
A week later Phyllis, her face flushed with excitement, stopped at her sister's apartment on her way to tutoring session.
"Did you still have that money you won in the lottery?" she asked.
"Of course. I'm saving it for a rainy day."
"Rain be damned! You and I are going to Greece."
"Greece?"
"The state teachers association is sponsoring a two-week trip to the Greek Isles this summer, and you and I are going."
"I don't know," Jenna whined. "I was going to try to find a summer job. I could use the money."
"This is me, your sister. I know you don't need a summer job. You never buy anything; you never go anywhere; you never spend a dime! This summer I'm going to Greece, and you're going with me."
Six months later Jenna was in a hotel on the island of Aegina, lying across her bed and feeling sorry for herself while Phyllis was out sightseeing with Lorne Sandow, a personable, reasonably good-looking biology teacher from Boston.
"Why can't I find some nice single guy, too?" she asked herself and then realized she wasn't going to find anyone, sitting in her room.
Hoping to make the best of her stay in Greece, she put on a peacock blue sundress and went down to the hotel bar. She ordered a glass of wine and watched the sunset. No one, man or woman, single or married, approached her. Her intention of meeting someone having failed, she went back to her room. Phyllis hadn't returned yet; she was probably enjoying a romantic evening with the biology teacher.
Good for her! Jenna thought. At least one of us is having a good time.
The heartbroken English teacher took off her peacock blue sundress, and then, after soaking in a hot bubble bath, she went to bed with a Dan Brown book. Another one of life's ironies: she flew forty-six hundred miles and spent over three thousand dollars to read in bed. It was exactly how she would have spent her evening if she had remained in Puritan Falls.
After reading only forty pages, Jenna felt her eyes grow heavy, so she closed her book and dimmed the light on the night table. She was asleep within moments.
In her dream she was wearing a white toga that billowed in the warm breeze that blew in from the Aegean Sea. All signs of the twenty-first century had vanished, and the columns of a magnificent temple towered above her.
"There you are," a male voice called. "I've been waiting for you."
Jenna turned and saw a man whose face and form put Todd Nixon's to shame. To her surprise, he walked up to her, looked down into her eyes and smiled.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm the one you've been waiting for: the man of your dreams."
He raised his hand and brushed a wayward lock of her hair from her forehead. Jenna shivered when his cool fingers touched her flesh.
"You're as beautiful as I'd imagined you."
"Who are you, really?"
"What do names matter in the realm of dreams?"
"What should I call you then?"
He drew nearer, and Jenna could feel his warm breath on her face.
"Why waste time speaking?"
When the man kissed her, the pretty American felt her head spin and her knees go weak. But just as she was about to surrender to the strength of his arms and the softness of his lips, Jenna was awakened by the sound of Phyllis opening the hotel room door.
"Sorry. Did I wake you?"
"It's okay. How did your date with Lorne go?"
"It was wonderful!" her sister replied, gushing like an adolescent schoolgirl. "We're going out again tomorrow—if that's all right with you, that is."
"Why would I object?"
"Well, I talked you into taking this trip. I don't want to leave you by yourself."
"Don't be silly. I want you to go out and have fun."
"I wish you would do the same."
"Well, then, you ought to be pleased to know that I actually met someone tonight."
Phyllis's eyes widened.
"Really? Who? Is he part of our tour group?"
"I don't know his name," Jenna teased. "But he's the man of my dreams. Now, let me go back to sleep so I can see him again."
* * *
During the remainder of the trip, as the teachers' group sailed from one island to another, Jenna dreamed of the handsome stranger every night. Those dreams were so exciting and romantic that her sightseeing and shopping excursions in Greece paled by comparison. Although the setting of her nocturnal wanderings frequently changed, the man was always the same.
"Are you still having those dreams?" Phyllis asked as they packed their bags for their return to Athens.
"Yes."
"Don't you think that's a bit odd? Dreaming every night about a man you've never met?"
"It's better than dreaming about some of the men I have met," Jenna joked.
"I'm serious. I'm beginning to worry about you. Your dreams are like an ongoing soap opera, whereas most people's are distorted bits and pieces of reality. I dream about sitting in President Obama's office in my underwear, eating pepperoni pizza and watching reruns of The Brady Bunch."
"And you're worried about me?"
"I am. My dreams, weird though they are, are normal. Yours I'm not so sure about."
"I'm fine, so stop worrying. Enjoy what little time is left of our vacation."
Phyllis blushed and giggled.
"Are you kidding? Thanks to Lorne, I'm enjoying every minute of it."
* * *
When the two sisters returned to Massachusetts, Jenna began working a summer job as a proofreader for The Puritan Falls Gazette while Phyllis got a temporary position in Boston where she could be near Lorne Sandow.
The last weekend in July Phyllis invited Jenna to dinner at Boston's Union Oyster House. When she arrived at the restaurant, Jenna was introduced to the Lorne's friend, Roberto, an architect who lived in Gloucester. She was not surprised to learn that Roberto was a bachelor.
My sister is playing matchmaker again, she thought as she sat in a booth next to the architect.
Despite her annoyance at having a surprise blind date thrown at her, Jenna actually had an enjoyable evening and agreed to see Roberto again.
"I knew you two would hit it off," Phyllis said when the sisters met for lunch the following weekend. "Now you can forget all about your dream lover."
Jenna smiled but did not reply, for Phyllis would never understand that although she enjoyed the architect's company, she would never willingly give up the ecstasy she experienced in her dreams.
* * *
"I missed you over the summer."
Jenna looked up from the paper she was reading and saw Todd Nixon standing in the doorway of the teacher's lounge. Smiling arrogantly, the gym teacher walked in and shut the door behind him.
"Alone at last," he laughed. "Just like old times."
"Where's Daria?" she asked, referring to the home economics teacher, the woman he had dumped her for the previous school year.
Todd shrugged.
"Teaching a class of freshmen how to make apple brown betty probably. We're not together anymore."
"What a shame," Jenna said sarcastically.
When Todd's hand reached under the table and began caressing her knee, Jenna's first instinct was to push his hand away and tell the former Pawtucket Red Sox slugger where to go, but Todd immediately followed his brazen action with a kiss. Once his lips met hers, Jenna lost all power to resist him. Had they not been on school property, she might have surrendered completely.
God, he's gorgeous! she thought when he broke the kiss and looked into her eyes.
"My wife is going to visit her mother and sister in Pennsylvania next week," he announced shamelessly. "Why don't you and I go to the Copperwell Holiday Inn and take a stroll down memory lane?"
A sudden image of a dark, handsome man on a beach in Greece came to her mind.
"I don't think that's a good idea," she finally replied. "I'm seeing someone else."
"Maybe next time then."
Todd smiled, confident that with a little persuasion he could reestablish his relationship with Jenna.
* * *
"I can't believe he had the gall to ask you out!" Phyllis exclaimed when she learned that the gym teacher had renewed his interest in her sister. "I hope you told him to go to hell."
"Actually, I was quite polite. I simply said I was seeing someone else."
Phyllis was pleased.
"I'm glad things are going well between you and Roberto."
A frown momentarily appeared on Jenna's face, a sign that did not escape her sister's attention.
"You two aren't having trouble, are you?"
"No. It's nothing like that. We get along just fine."
"That doesn't sound like a blossoming romance." Then, as though Phyllis could suddenly read her sister's mind, she asked, "It's those dreams you've been having, isn't it?"
Jenna knew it was pointless to keep the truth from her sibling.
"I can't explain it, but they're so real; he's so real."
"He's not real. He doesn't exist except in your mind."
"I've fallen in love with him."
It was the first time Jenna admitted it, even to herself.
"I see him in my dreams at night, and I think about him during the day when I'm awake."
Phyllis was deeply concerned about her sister's mental health.
"You have to seek professional help. April Brower's brother is a psychiatrist. Why don't you give him a call?"
"I'm not crazy!"
"I didn't say you were. These dreams are probably nothing more than a simple self-defense mechanism. You were devastated after you and Todd broke up, so your subconscious mind made up an irresistible man, one who wouldn't desert you as Todd did. Only now it's time to move on and put your fantasies aside."
"I don't need a psychiatrist to do that. I'm perfectly capable of ...."
"I don't want to hear another word," Phyllis insisted adamantly. "You are going to call Dr. Penn, or I am going to hound you until you do."
Jenna had no doubt that her sister would make good on her promise.
* * *
That night Jenna had a dreamless slumber. Instead, it was Phyllis who was visited by the dark-haired man who haunted her sister's dreams.
"Who are you?" the math teacher asked when in her dreams she saw the handsome stranger working behind the counter in the Puritan Falls Mall Starbucks.
"You know who I am. Haven't you been aware of my presence, watching you from the shadows of your dreams?"
"You're obviously not Freddy Krueger. You're too good looking, and you don't have a glove of blades on your hand."
"I am Morpheus, the son of Hypnos, the god of sleep, and Pasithea, the goddess of night."
"And you're the god of dreams, if I remember Bullfinch correctly. What do you want with me?"
"I've come to ask you to stop interfering in Jenna's life."
"I can't," Phyllis replied, as though speaking to a Greek god was an everyday occurrence. "She's my sister, and I love her."
"I love her, too."
"But you're a not real."
"I am as real as you are. It is only that I do not have substance in your dimension."
"Without substance how can you love a mortal woman?"
"We meet in the dream world where I reign supreme. When she is with me, your sister feels nothing but bliss. It is only when she is awake that she is unhappy. And now you hope to make her even more miserable by trying to convince her there is something wrong with her mind, that what we have together is fantasy and that a mortal man could make her as happy as I do."
"It's wrong for a woman to live her life in dreams. Jenna should be married and have a home and children, and I will do everything I can to see that she gets the chance for real happiness."
"Because Jenna loves you, I would hate to see anything happen to you, but I must warn you that I am prepared to fight for her."
"So am I."
"Do you know who I am, woman?" Morpheus shouted.
With the god's outburst of anger, the setting of the dream shifted from Starbucks to what appeared to be the fiery pits of hell. Hideous demons pawed at Phyllis, and her skin felt as though it would melt from her body.
"I am the god who shapes man's dreams. I can make them pleasant or terrifying. If you persist in trying to take Jenna from me, I will torture you in your sleep. I can make Freddy Krueger look like Mr. Rogers!"
Phyllis suddenly woke in a cold sweat, despite the coolness of her air-conditioned bedroom.
"It was only a dream," she said, trying to convince herself that Morpheus didn't actually exist, even though she knew in her heart that he did.
* * *
When her sister showed up on her doorstep early the following morning, Jenna didn't know what to expect.
"You weren't kidding when you said you were going to hound me," she laughed, stepping aside so that Phyllis could enter. "I guess I have no alternative but to set up an appointment with Dr. Penn."
"The psychiatrist won't be able to help you."
"Why the sudden change of heart?"
"I've met him."
"Who? Dr. Penn?"
"No, not the doctor," Phyllis explained impatiently. "I met Morpheus, the being who has been pursuing you in your dreams."
"Morpheus? Are we talking Greek mythology Morpheus or The Matrix Morpheus?"
"I'm not joking! Morpheus appeared in my dreams last night and threatened me with terrifying, unspeakable nightmares if I didn't stop interfering in your life."
"Let me get this straight: you saw the man of my dreams in your dream?"
"Yes."
"Are you absolutely certain it was the same man? Where did you see him? Was it on a beach? A temple?"
"No. He was working behind the counter at Starbucks."
Jenna laughed.
"That's even more bizarre than your dream about eating pizza in President Obama's office in your underwear! Maybe you're the one who should make an appointment with Dr. Penn."
"Please. You've got to listen to me," Phyllis urged. "Morpheus is real. He wants you, and he'll stop at nothing to get you."
"If what you say is true," Jenna reasoned, "how can I stop him? I can't stay awake the rest of my life."
* * *
It was the beach in Greece, that strip of white sand against the blue Aegean Sea. A warm wind blew through Jenna's long, golden locks and made her toga billow out around her. The music of Orpheus's lute joined with that of Pan's pipes and serenaded the two lovers who were locked in a tender embrace.
It was Jenna who broke the kiss.
"I talked to my sister today," she informed the dark-haired, handsome man beside her.
"I know."
"She said you are Morpheus, the god of dreams."
"I am."
"Why did you reveal your true identity to her and not to me?"
"I wanted to wait until the right moment. I didn't want to frighten you by declaring my love too soon."
"Why would I fear your love?" she cried. "It is the most wonderful thing I have ever known."
Morpheus's eyes glowed with hope.
"I want you to stay with me, to become a part of my world."
"Where precisely is your world?"
"My world is a sacred place. Only my family and the gods from Mount Olympus can enter. It is protected by the Gates of Morpheus, two monstrous creatures that are capable of becoming one's worst fears, and it is bounded by the River of Forgetfulness and the River of Oblivion."
"Your world sounds like a frightening place."
"No, not at all. It can be beautiful if one knows where to look."
"Then why did you think I would be afraid to enter?"
"Because once you pass through the gates, you cannot return to your own world."
Jenna turned away and stared at the peaceful blue sea.
"You mean I would have to say goodbye to all that I love here."
"Yes, but know this, my dearest," he declared, pulling her toward him again. "I love you as no man or god ever loved before. I want to spend all eternity with you. Still, I will not force you to join me. The decision must be yours."
He leaned forward, and his lips brushed against hers. A moment later, Jenna woke to the annoying buzz of her alarm clock.
* * *
When her sister failed to answer her door on Saturday morning, Phyllis retrieved the spare key from beneath the welcome mat and let herself into the apartment.
"Are you still sleeping?" she asked when she saw Jenna lying on her four-poster bed. "It's almost ten o'clock. Did you forget that we were supposed to go shopping today?"
The figure on the bed didn't stir, and Phyllis felt the first twinge of fear.
"Jenna? Are you all right?"
When Jenna failed to respond to all attempts to wake her, Phyllis phoned 911. An ambulance quickly arrived and transported the sleeping English teacher to the Puritan Falls Hospital Emergency Room.
Nearly three hours later, Phyllis paced the floor in the hospital waiting room, anxious to hear word of her sister's condition. Sarah Ryerson, an emergency room physician, finally asked to speak to her.
"Your sister is in a coma," Dr. Ryerson told her. "We've yet to ascertain what caused it. We found no trace of alcohol or the usual drugs in her system and no wounds on her head. We're running a series of tests including a full tox screen, and we hope we'll have a better idea of what we're up against when we get the results."
When the doctor left her, Phyllis slumped down in the waiting room couch. Would tests show what was really wrong with her sister? Would a CAT scan or an MRI detect a Greek god in Jenna's mind? Phyllis had no doubt that Morpheus made off with her, as surely as Hades abducted the fair Persephone.
Throughout the day, Phyllis remained at the hospital, worrying over her sister. Periodically one of the attending physicians would update her on Jenna's condition. So far all the tests came back negative, but her sister remained in a coma. Not long after darkness fell, the anxious math teacher closed her eyes and nodded her head in sleep.
A darkly handsome physician walked into the waiting room and beckoned Phyllis to follow him.
"Has my sister come to?"
The doctor did not reply. Instead, he silently led her to her sister's room. When he opened the door, Phyllis was surprised to see Jenna standing by the window. Her hair was piled atop her head in an elaborate chignon, and she was dressed in a flowing white toga.
"You've come out of the coma!" Phyllis exclaimed joyfully.
Her sister pointed to a recumbent figure on the hospital bed.
"I don't understand. How can you be in two places at once?"
The handsome doctor walked to Jenna's side and placed a protective arm around her shoulders.
"Morpheus!" Phyllis cried. "I knew you were responsible."
"You mustn't blame him," Jenna said. "The choice was mine."
"Are you happy with him?"
The look on her sister's face when she gazed up at Morpheus adoringly was far more telling than her simple reply of "yes."
"I'll miss you," Phyllis said, fighting back her tears.
"I'll miss you, too. But you have a full life ahead of you: marriage, children, a home. Everything you've ever dreamed ...."
Phyllis wanted to spend more time with her sister. There were so many things she wanted to say to her before they parted. But Dr. Ryerson shook her shoulder and awakened her from her slumber.
"Miss Middleton?"
"Yes."
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but your sister has passed away."
Phyllis didn't wait to hear the physician's words of sympathy. She didn't want to share her grief with a stranger. Instead, she ran to the ladies' room where she cried for more than an hour. Finally, her eyes red and swollen, she walked out of the bathroom and headed downstairs to the hospital's snack bar.
The waitress at the counter brought her a cup of coffee before she had the chance to order.
"How did you know I wanted coffee?" she asked.
"You look like you need it."
As Phyllis drank Morpheus's special brew made from the waters of the River of Forgetfulness, she was able to overcome her grief, be happy for her sister and look forward to her own future. Moments after she walked out of the hospital, she took her cell phone out of her purse and called Lorne Sandow, the biology teacher from Boston.
I must have really made Morpheus mad. Look what he sent to torture me in my dreams: a giant Salem!
