Read An Uncommon Family for Free Online

talk in my dream.”
    “Well, if you can’t say it while dreaming, you can say it after you wake up. You can tell the voice to go away. Your mama is at peace now. She doesn’t need your help. She wouldn’t be calling you for help now. And you know what else?”
    Karla shook her head.
    “Your mother wants you to be happy. So, perhaps, we can do something to chase the dreams away.”
    “What?” Karla asked.
    “When you have a bad or scary dream, then the next morning you can draw or paint it. Paint what the dream feels like to you. The painting doesn’t have to have real things. Perhaps just colors. Perhaps when you see the dream on paper, then it may not be that scary anymore.”
    Karla gave a hesitant nod.
    “Let’s try it. Think about the dream you had last night and make a drawing or a painting. Paint what it feels like.” Jonas got up and pulled a large drawing pad out of his desk. He put it in front of Karla and handed her a box of oil pastels.
    Karla loved oil pastels. She hesitated at first, then began to draw and paint. After a while, the picture took on the form of a brown-red monster with large fiery eyes and a wide-open mouth. She drew a speech bubble in front of its mouth and wrote in her childlike handwriting “Help Help” on it, and underneath the picture “Go away.”
    “There,” she said and put the crayon down. She took a deep breath and smiled. Her face was flushed from excitement.
    “Great, I like it,” Jonas said.
    There was a knock at the door. It was Anna to pick up Karla from her lesson. Jonas looked at her surprised. She looked different—younger, better. He wanted to make her a compliment but couldn’t figure out what it was that had changed her. A new outfit? She was wearing black slacks and a black-and-blue patterned blouse, which flattered her facial color and emphasized her blue-gray eyes, but that’s not what it was . . . he finally saw it. “Your hair?”
    Anna blushed. “Yeah. My hairdresser talked me into adding highlights.”
    “It looks great,” Jonas said.
    “Thank you.” Anna gave an embarrassed smile, then walked over to Karla and looked at the painting of the monster. “Whoa, that’s one scary picture.”
    Jonas shrugged. “We had a little therapy session.”
    Anna hugged Karla, then smiled at Jonas. “Thanks.”
     
     
    Chapter 9
     
    Anna had just finished reading stories from Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book , one of Karla’s favorites. Although Karla was able to read herself, she enjoyed listening to Anna reading before going to sleep. Anna had a soothing voice and it made Karla feel good. She was even better at reading and telling stories than her mama had been. She remembered the times Aunt Anna had come to visit her when she still lived at home. Her mother had always let Anna read stories to Karla. She would sit next to Karla and they would both listen.
    Perhaps her mama was listening now as well.
    Anna put the book aside and smiled. “More tomorrow, okay? Time to sleep.” She kissed Karla good night and blew out the candle on the small shrine in the corner of her bedroom. Anna and Karla had built the shrine as a memory to Karla’s mother. On a small chestnut-wood table, Karla had set up a few memorabilia from her mother: photos, an amber necklace, and a few colored stones Karla and her mother had collected during a vacation in the mountains. A vase with fresh flowers stood next to a candle, which Anna lit in the evening during story time and when Karla was saying her prayers.
    Karla yawned and fell asleep, thinking about the drowsy creatures in Dr. Seuss’s book. In the middle of the night, she woke from a dream. She had been walking around the graveyard together with her mother. They stood in front of her mother’s plot, which was piled high with flowers and wreaths: white, yellow, and pink lilies; dark-blue irises; bright-red tulips; and more. Her mother was standing next to her. She was alive. They looked at her grave, at the decorations, but they