by Ann Cameron
“Mr. Bates, I’m sorry,” Gloria said. “We thought—I thought—people always tell the truth when they’re asleep.”
My father sighed an enormous sigh. He put his head in his hands and closed his eyes.
“Saturday,” he said. “The hammock. Now I remember. I was dreaming. My biggest dream. My biggest, most horrible dream. The one where snakes wriggle around and around and turn into living neckties.… And then, just before the part where they turn into neckties, I heard Julian’s voice. It was like a rescue.
“ ‘Dream,’ Julian said. He said, ‘dream,’ as if he were in my dream telling me it wasn’t real. The snakes … weren’t real. A little while after that, I woke up.
“I have had this bad dream practically all my life,” he said, “but I never told anybody before.”
He sat down at the foot of the tree. We went and sat with him.
“I’ve been scared of snakes all my life,” Dad said. “I don’t really know why.”
“I was scared of them too,” I said. “But then, when we went and caught those two in the woods, it got better. I got used to them. I’m not scared anymore.”
“That’s good,” my dad said. He tried to smile. “I’m proud of you for getting over being scared.”
He sat very quietly for a moment. “If I could,” he said, “I would like to get over it. Get over being afraid of snakes.”
“The best way,” my mom said, “is to look at them. And have them around for a few days. Then put them back in the woods. They are probably suffering. They are probably very scared too.”
Dad cleared his throat. “Julian, Huey, Gloria,” he said, “I do appreciate the work you did to get me what you thought I wanted. It just takes some getting used to.”
He sighed. “Would you please bring them out? I will look at them. Maybe I can learn to see them the way you do.”
I went inside. Son (or Daughter) of Blue Fang was curled in the corner of the kitchen cabinet. I used a glove potholder and gently picked him (or her) up behind the head. I put him (or her) in the box with his sister (or brother) and took the box outside to Dad.
I set it down in front of him.
Dad stared at the box. He took a deep breath, like he was about to jump into deep water.
Carefully he opened the box. He peered down into it.
Huey and Gloria and I held our breath.
“The patterns in their skin are very beautiful,” he said.
He stared at the snakes some more, and then he did an amazing thing. Slowly he lowered his hand into the box until it actually touched Son of Blue Fang on the back. Son of Blue Fang didn’t move. Maybe he liked the warmth of Dad’s hand. Maybe he was tired of being scared and fighting and running away.
“Maybe it feels like I do,” Dad said. He pulled his hand back and gently closed the box.
“Where did you get the snakes?” he asked.
“We found them in the park,” Huey said.
“We could take them back right now. Right today,” I said.
“No,” Dad said, “I want to do what Mom said. I want to keep them for a little while.
“If I can get used to them, Julian really will have rescued me. He’ll be my dream doctor. He’ll have helped to cure me of my one and only bad dream.”
My dad stood up. My mom did too.
“Would you like your cake now?” she said. “We could have it outside on the lawn.”
“I’d like that,” Dad said.
Huey and Gloria and I went inside. We lit every candle on my dad’s cake, and then we carried it out. Mom sang “Happy Birthday” with us, and Dad smiled.
Then he looked at all the candles burning on his thirty-fifth-birthday cake and smiled a littler smile. For a second I could imagine the way Dad must have looked when he was just a kid like me.
“All my life I’ve been—well, probably not the bravest, bravest person, but—brave enough,” said my dad.
He shrugged. “And here I am, thirty-five years old … still learning not to be scared of things.”
He mopped his face again with his handkerchief. Then he shut his eyes and made his birthday wish.
He opened his eyes. He held my hand and Huey’s.
He took a gigantic breath and blew out all the candles at once.
About the Author
Ann Cameron is the bestselling author of many popular books for children, including several Stepping Stones: The Stories Julian Tells; More Stories Julian Tells; Julian, Secret Agent; Julian, Dream Doctor; Julian’s Glorious Summer; The Stories Huey Tells; More Stories Huey Tells; and Gloria Rising. She also wrote Colibrí, a Booklist Editors’ Choice and an ALA Notable Book for Children. Ms. Cameron lives in Guatemala. Visit her at www.childrensbestbooks.com.
