The Dream
Almanzo and Laura have another argument, this time it was about finding his guitar. Laura has had enough and walks out of the house leaving Almanzo alone by the fireplace. It is then that something strange happens. Story complete in one chapter.
The Dream
Almanzo was sitting in his chair near the fireplace waiting for Laura to come back. They just had another argument, their second since they were married a month ago. It was another silly argument, this time it was about his guitar. He couldn’t remember where he put it and he wanted her to help him look for it.
“I’m almost done grading these test papers, Manly. It’ll be a few minutes, and then I’ll be free to help you.”
Almanzo looked at her. It was always the same answer and he was tired of it.
Well, one thing led to another and Laura had walked out, slamming the door behind her. He started to follow when he noticed that there were two doors in front of him. The word IN was written on one door while on the other door was written OUT.
Almanzo frowned. What the heck was this? Why were there two doors in front of him? Was this his imagination? Was he dreaming? He shook his head and smiled. Why was he even thinking about this? He knew where he wanted to go and that was OUT.
And that was the door he opened.
Almanzo called her name, but there was no answer and she was nowhere in sight. Where could she have gone?
Where the heck could she have gone? What was she doing? There were so many possibilities and he went over all of them in his mind as he kept walking.
She could be around the farm, but he didn’t see her anywhere. She could be in the barn, by the chicken coop or sitting by the trees, thinking.
She could also be at her parent’s place. That’s where she went the last time they had a fight.
And so, he decided to go there.
Suddenly, the ground under him felt different. Almanzo looked down and noticed he was somewhere in the desert; at least it seemed like the desert anyway. There was nothing surrounding him but sand. There were no people anywhere, no houses, no civilization at all, just lots and lots of…
Wait; there was something in front of him. It looked like a house. A house with a sloping roof and standing in front of it was…
“Well, look at who’s finally decided to come by,” Charles said, as he stared at him.
Manly shook his head. No, he thought, this isn’t right. What the heck was the little house doing here in the middle of a desert? And what the heck was his father in law talking about?
“Charles,” Almanzo said, looking at him. “All I want to do is talk to my wife. I know she’s here.”
Charles Ingalls shook his head. “She not here right now, Almanzo, or else I’d ask if she wanted to see you.”
“Where is she? I figured she come here, like she did the first time we fought,” he said, looking at Charles. “This time I made the first move, you have to give me some credit for that.” Almanzo shook his head. “Look, I love her and I want to make sure that she’s alright.”
“She’s around here somewhere, son. She came here looking for you.”
“Look, all I want to do is talk to her?”
Charles looked at his son in law. “She’s with Perley Day and Eliza Jane right now, they’re looking all over for you. I sent Adam out, Caroline and the girls took the rig and went into town to make sure you hadn’t gone there. No one seems to know where you disappeared to.”
He looked at Charles and frowned. “What do you mean, looking for me, I haven’t gone anywhere, Charles. I’ve been alone at our place for Laura to come back. And what are Eliza and Perley Day doing in Walnut Grove, anyway?”
Charles looked at him and shook his head. “All I know is that you went to deliver something and didn’t come back. And from what I heard that was some argument you had.”
Almanzo eye’s narrowed. “Yeah, we had an argument, but it wasn’t any different than the ones we’ve been having. Did I miss something? What was I supposed to be delivering? What the heck is going on here? All I know is that I’ve been waiting for Beth to come back to our place since…”
“Manly? What are you doing here? Where have you been? Everyone’s out looking for you.”
He turned forgetting all about Charles and the little house. His father in law was telling the truth, there, in front of him, was his sister and younger brother. And there was the woman he had been searching for standing with them.
His eyes grew wide. “Beth?”
Perley Day looked at him, smiled at his sister and turned to face Laura. “I told you he’d be back,” he said.
But Laura wasn’t paying attention. She looked at her husband and smiled. She started to run and he tried to meet her, but something was stopping him. It was something deep and slimy, something that had no bottom. And it seemed as though it was swallowing him up.
“Quicksand,” he whispered, as he sank lower and lower. When was there ever quicksand in front of the little house? “Beth? I’m sorry about what happened. I didn’t mean to make you mad at me. I love you and I’ll love you always.”
But there was no answer; the three of them had all disappeared. He turned his head to the right and noticed that Charles and the little house were gone. He was all alone and he was sinking fast. A mist came out of nowhere and surrounded him as he called out his wife’s name over and over again. But there was no answer. There was no one there, no one to help him, no one to pull him out.
It was then he noticed the two doors, the same two doors that he’d seen earlier; the ones that read IN and OUT. He walked up to the door that said IN, maybe it would bring him back to reality, but he couldn’t grab the doorknob. Something was holding him back. Almanzo didn’t give up; he kept trying to reach it. It was so close, just a little more…
Suddenly, whatever was holding him let go. This time when he reached for the door knob, he was able to grab hold of it. To his shock and surprise, he was able to turn the knob and the door opened without a problem.
“BETH?” he called. He looked left and right but there was no answer. He was calling out to nothing, to no one.
And out of the mist came a voice he recognized.
“Almanzo, are you alright?” he heard the voice calling him. “Manly?”
He woke with a start, straightened up in the rocker and saw her standing in front of him. He looked around trying to get his bearings. There was panic in his voice as he stared at her. “Beth? Beth? Is that you?”
She was staring back at him and nodded her head. “I’m here, Manly. I just went outside to feed the chickens and to hunt some eggs. Then I came back inside to look for your guitar.”
And she held it up so that Almanzo could see it. “I told you when I was finished with my schoolwork that I’d help you. And anyway, I thought that might help to calm me down and, you know, it did.”
He looked from her to the guitar and back to her. He smiled. “Where was it?”
Laura smiled. “I found it upstairs in our bedroom against the wall. It was behind the door, Manly. I guess you didn’t close the door…”
Almanzo wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “Oh Beth,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you and the last thing in the world I wanted to do was to get you angry. I just wanted to...”
But Laura never let him finish. When they parted, Almanzo smiled and looked into her beautiful brown eyes.
“Beth,” he whispered, caressing her cheek with his thumb, “My Beth.”
And he kissed her again, this time losing himself in her arms.
And the dream was forgotten, well for now, at least.
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