< 26 >

"Lots," I said "one thing is that I had this strange dream last night." I started to tell her about the dream, got about half way into it and she interrupted me. "Somethin's goin' on Tom, somethin' not kosher. You know something don't you. That's almost the same dream John Jr. had last night. He jumped out of bed talkin' about it. What do you know?" "More than I want to Variety. Does Tulli have an imaginary friend?" There was silence on the other end of the line. Finally she said "What do you know about that Tom, no games, what do you know?" She sounded very cold and dangerous.

"It's okay Variety, at least I guess it is. Joey's got one too. All the preschoolers do. Something big's about to happen. Something that will change everything. Listen girl, I think you need to give some credibility to what the imaginary friend says. Tulli's not nuts. The friend is real." Whatever real is, I thought to myself. "How do you know that, Tom?" "Yesterday, when we were on the playground..." "Yeah?" She sounded suspicious.

She was quiet once again. She's rock steady in crisis, I knew she wouldn't act, or even talk until she was clear of the threat. "Listen Variety, I think they really are our friends, or at least the friends of our children. I don't kind of social revolution." I didn't know what else to say. I didn't really have any idea what was going on. I decided I better get off the phone before I dug myself in any deeper. "I gotta go, things are nuts here but I think you ought to listen to Tulli." I hung up.

I walked out into the back yard to visit with Jubie and clear my head. So the "dream" was going around and judging from Variety's reactions, so are the wife loves Van Morrison. I picked the "Inarticulate Speech of the Heart" album. Jessie was dressed and sitting on the couch talking to Joey. She was intense but calm. She was shushing Radio and asking one question after another preceded by the phrase, "Joey, ask your friend..."