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effort with unpredictable hours. During my childhood, we’d had visitors at all hours of the day, from every walk of life, each wanting to communicate with their dead relatives. Daddy puttered around his herb garden during the day and dreamwalked for free at night.
    I’d avoided this discussion with my father, and I didn’t want to have it with my mother. “Daddy could change his schedule. He could put the word out that he dreamwalks only one night a week now. Maybe he could locate everyone’s relatives in one dreamwalk, one-stop shopping, if you will.”
    The phone rang. Mama ignored it. I half rose from my seat. “Aren’t you going to answer that?”
    “Nope. It doesn’t feel right.”
    I sank back down in my chair. “What if it’s Daddy or Larissa?”
    “It isn’t. They would have called your phone first.”
    Hmm. She was right. If Larissa needed me, she’d phone or text me right away. Still it worried me that the house line kept ringing. What if they’d won the lottery or something? “Don’t you want to know whose calling?”
    “They will call back.” She refilled our mugs from the tea kettle on the stove.
    I wished I had her sense of complacency. When Roland left on his Army missions, I’d dreaded and longed for every phone call and email. Sure enough, the day came when the call I received was very bad news. Roland was missing, presumed dead. Months later, the Army declared him dead, but according to my father, Roland wasn’t among the dead.
    He still walked the earth.
    I didn’t know why he stayed away from us, but I finally understood why his Army benefits were fouled up. They could hardly pay out death benefits for a guy who was still alive, could they? Someone in the Army knew the real story behind Roland’s disappearance. The only thing I could think of was that it was safer for all of us if Roland was officially dead. Which was a worrisome thought all on its own.
    Mama handed me another cup of tea. I took it with a bone-deep sense of gratitude, savoring the warmth of the floral mug in my hands. “Thanks.”
    “Tell me about your dreamwalk.”
    “It wasn’t exactly a dreamwalk.”
    “Oh?”
    “I touched the remains, and time folded in on itself. Or at least that’s how it seemed to me. The people wore old-timey clothing like it was many years ago.”
    “Did you hear anything?”
    “Nope. Sound was dampened. I registered an overwhelming sense of sadness. I saw the man and woman burying a small child. The scene shifted, and I saw the man burying the woman with a baby in her arms.”
    Mama’s eyes sparkled with interest. “Fascinating. And you experienced no spatial disorientation accessing the dream-scape?”
    “There was some of that, but it wasn’t bad going in. Not like it was that time in Uncle Emerald’s chair. Or when I tried to find Roland two years ago. I got in, saw the events unfold, and I was headed out when I got tased.”
    It was my turn to look away. I studied my hands for a moment. “Thanks for coming to my rescue. I don’t know how long I would have been trapped in the void otherwise. Thank you for knowing what to do.”
    “I didn’t do much. You listened. That’s a skill in itself.”
    “It could have been much worse. All those people could have touched me with my senses wide open. I could have been transported to the hospital and trapped with all those heightened emotions. You saved me, and I’m grateful.”
    “Hush up. You’re making me turn all red. I did what any mother would do.”
    She’d done more than that, but she would never admit it. If they’d started pouring drugs into me, I could’ve ended up as crazy as Uncle Emerald.
    Best if I changed the subject. I fumbled in my pocket for my pendant. “The catch failed on my necklace.”
    Mama extended her hand, palm up. “I’ll repair the catch, if you like. Leave it here.”
    I pocketed the moldavite stone. “I can’t leave it behind. It means too much to me.”
    “We really need to talk about