The Education of Dixie Dupree by Donna Everhart

Author:Donna Everhart [Everhart, Donna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about tomorrow and speculating about Aunt Margie’s prayers. Maybe they had a way of making it up to God on her cigarette smoke. Maybe she whispered her prayerful words as she exhaled, and they rode those little puffs of smoke right on up to heaven. I stared through the partially closed curtains at the full moon and the sprinkling of stars, the tiny dots only reminding me just how far heaven was. It was bright enough to see a few clouds move across the night sky, and I watched as they drifted past, eventually lulling me to sleep.

I was back at the swimming hole, way up high on the rope, flying out over the water, and what do you know? Daddy was right below, ready to catch me as I dropped into the deep, dark water.

I yelled, “Daddy, hurry, catch me quick!”

He whisked me up out of the water and tossed me in the air. I was light as a feather and I laughed, the sound similar to a wind chime, a tinkling echo repeated again and again with every toss in the air. The brightly colored air that now seemed to appear in my dreams so often, swirled around us, as if we were in the middle of a kaleidoscope. I felt his warmth, for that matter, I could even feel him brushing his hand through my hair, and I was relieved that Daddy was really okay. I waited for the tug on my hair and as with some dreams, I suddenly realized I was dreaming. I tried to keep it going, I didn’t want to wake up, it was so real. I began to struggle, my awareness I was dreaming made it abruptly change, and like a needle unexpectedly dragged across a record, it turned into a nightmare. Daddy dropped me into the cold, dark water and started to swim away. I somehow knew he was leaving me to drown.

I screamed while I floundered. “Wait!”

He kept swimming, the end of the swimming hole going on forever. I struggled to wake up, scared and thrashing around in water that was black and churning. Something was coming up from the bottom of that dark water, coming to get me. I could hear myself moaning and struggling to breathe, an urgency to gulp in air coming from some hidden part of my brain.

My eyes flew open, and I was disoriented, a part of my dream still with me. I was on my side, heart racing, the warmth from my dream so real because someone was hugging me. I twisted around, my heart in my throat, and my vision adjusted enough to see it was Uncle Ray.

I started to yell for Mama and he clapped a hand over my mouth. “It’s okay. I heard you calling out for your daddy and I came in here to see if you were alright. Don’t yell. I’ll take my hand away if you promise not to yell.

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