The Duck
Farm
Chapter 3: Sharing Nightmares
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Notes: From Guy’s point of view.
The sunlight met him right in the middle of a strange dream. Connie had been married to Fred, and Cecilia had been team-captain of the Colorado Avalanches. Guy himself had been Cecilia’s coach.
He hadn’t realized that you could be annoyed with a person first thing in the morning, but that was how he felt about Cecilia now. God, it must be a pain to try and coach her. He felt bad for Muck and Bombay.
“Good morning, sunshine,” Cecilia smiled at him. Right, they were sharing a tent. Why couldn’t Bombay have put him with the sane ones?
“Hey.” That was all he managed to say, without blaming her for his nightmare. Connie married to Fred and Cecilia in the NHL? Talk about a bad dream.
“Guess what?” she asked. “I think I know what you’re thinking.”
“I want to wring your freaking neck off,
did you know that?”
“You’re thinking that you love me so much, you have to go buy me something sugary.”
“Sugary? More like surgery, I think. Serious brain surgery, that’s what I can offer you. The next store is five miles away. You want me to walk that distance, just so you can have your daily supplies of M&M’s? You want me to provide candy so you can get high on sugar?”
Cecilia patted him on the head. “Well, I had a bad dream, so I need something comforting.”
“You had a bad dream? What was yours about?”
“You had one too? Strange. Maybe it’s because of Charlie and Adam. They snored all night. My dream was about that guy in ‘Buffy’. He was trying to stab me with a hockey stick. Guess who saved me?”
“I don’t know? Tinkerbell?”
“No, you did.”
Great, he had saved her from dying. His life was complete. Now he would definitely get into heaven. Saving a friend from death in a dream of hers. Peachy.
Cecilia kept following him around. Now SHE was the puppy. An annoying puppy, with too much energy and too many stupid questions. Maybe he should put her to sleep, before she reached her adult dog-years.
Fred had been ordered to go with his tent-mates to the store. That meant that of the First Line, Cecilia, Charlie and Adam was the only ones left. Connie, Travis, Nish and Fred were nowhere near, so they couldn’t help him get rid of Cecilia.
Why did she bother when he’d made it clear he wasn’t in the mood for any Cecilia-spirit routines? Why did she find him as the only one to hang out with?
“You know, it’s unfair that we have to do choirs at this camp,” Cecilia told him. “I mean, we didn’t exactly go here by choice, so why should they force us to do stuff we don’t want to do? But camp never is your own choice, is it? It’s either your parents or some other authority that makes the call.”
Was this girl actually talking, or did her lips just move anyway? Guy didn’t register the words, he just listened to her babbling on and on about something. It was actually very soothing. Connie always had a way of making him listen to every single word she was saying, but Cecilia’s word just went in through one ear and out through the other.
“Are you done with that plate?” Okay, so there were some situations were you maybe should pay attention to what she was saying.
“Yeah, just wipe it off.”
Coach Bombay had put them to do the dishes. Cecilia had already broken three plates and two glasses, so Guy had decided that he should wash up while she could wipe the dishes.
He stuck his hands into the warm water and tried to catch some more forks. Cecilia was quiet for a moment, while she was carefully wiping the plate off. Maybe she felt bad for breaking the other things, and that’s why she was extra careful now.
“You know, my dream last night was about you too.” He felt bad for ignoring her like he did. The only thing she was guilty of was that she was annoying sometimes. He’d actually not been as bored as he imagined himself he’d been. She was his friend, so why act like she wasn’t?
“It was?” she asked cheerfully. This girl had the ability of looking sincerely happy when she was spoken to. Guy knew that she had a bad case of low self-esteem, but sometimes she was almost ridiculously insecure.
“Yeah. I’m glad to tell you that you’re now a star-player for the Avalanches.”
Cecilia grinned happily. “Great! Was I the captain too?”
“You’re never satisfied, are you?” Guy joked. “Would it matter? You could’ve been the defenseman, and it wouldn’t make the slightest difference.”
“Well, defensemen sucks,” Cecilia chuckled. “It’s us forwards that does most of the work out on the ice.”
Guy laughed. He could laugh about it, since he himself was a forward. Just imagine what Fred would say if he heard her say that. That would probably be the beginnings of another argue. Guy was glad that Connie was a forward too, because it made it easier to kid around.
“Well, they’re not that bad, actually. Besides, some forwards can be a real pain sometimes too,” she said. Guy gave her a meaning look, and she giggled.
“I wasn’t referring to myself, Germaine. Tell me more about that dream. Did I get elected Player of the year?”
“No, but I can tell you this much; your lovely boyfriend left you so he could steal my girlfriend away. They got married.”
“Yuck, what kinda twisted dream did you have anyway?” she whined. “You didn’t say it was a nightmare. Okay, maybe you did, but that’s not the point! Well, at least it’s not as bad as the dreams Adam has. That boy really needs some serious therapy for his unconscious dreams.”
“Adam tells you about his dreams?”
“Yeah, but they’re private, so I can’t tell you,” Cecilia said indignantly. Guy splashed some water at her and she squeaked.
“In for a penny, in for a pound, Cee,” he smiled. Cecilia wiped the next plate in another silence. Then she cleared her throat.
“Well, tell me then,” he said impatiently. “It usually doesn’t take you more then a second to spill your guts.”
“Nah, I can’t tell you.”
“Why is he telling you stuff like that anyway? I’m only telling Connie about my dreams, and she’s my girlfriend.”
“You told me.” Damn, she got him there. To allure something out of Cecilia was almost impossible if she didn’t wanted to tell you.
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t tell... I wouldn’t tell Charlie or Fred, that’s for sure. About my dreams, I mean.”
“But brag about getting to second base is okay?” Cecilia snorted.
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because I say so.”
“I thought you didn’t like me enough to tell me things in confidant.”
Guy turned his attention to the sink, while thinking of a good response to that statement. “Of course I like you. I just find you highly annoying sometimes.”
“Like during long car-rides?” Cecilia grinned. “I know I’m annoying sometimes. I’ll leave you alone after we’re finished with the dishes. I didn’t mean to get you into kitchen-duty.”
Guy shoved her a little in the side. Cecilia waved the towel at him. “Guess what,” he said.
“What?”
“I’m actually quite curious of that lake Travis was talking about at dinner last night. Wanna tag along to see if the rumor’s true?”
“What rumor? Not any more dancing angels, I hope.”
Guy burst out laughing. “No, nothing like that. Travis said that the water turns into three different colors when the sun goes down.”
“When exactly did Travis share that piece of information with you? Because he didn’t say one word about any lakes changing colors when I was sitting next to him through dinner. It must’ve been when I was away getting another hot dog, huh?”
“Look, you wanna go or not? I can ask Connie otherwise,” Guy replied.
“Fine, count me in. But not when it’s dark. I don’t like being out in the forest when it’s dark.” Guy nodded. He knew that, after when they got stuck in the locker room together and the lights went off. Cecilia had completely freaked out, so he knew that she was extremely afraid of the dark.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be back before it’s dark. We just have to be there when the sun is about to go down. That means that there’ll still be some light left when we’re heading back.”
Cecilia continued wiping in silence. After a while she began to squeak happily and bounce up and down. Guy threw an amused eye at her. “What?”
“This is so cool! It’s my first camp-adventure!” Cecilia cheered and gave him a spoon. “This one’s not clean.”
Guy rolled his eyes and threw the spoon back into the water. Camp-adventure, huh? He remembered when Charlie made him tag along out in the forest at a camp back in fifth grade. They had been looking for aliens, but the only thing they’d found was a skunk.
God, his mother had been so angry with him when he got back, smelling like hell.
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Notes: From Adam’s point of view.
It’s not everyday you get invited to tag along to see a lake change color. Maybe this was a sign that he should try and stay away from Cecilia when she had that shrewd look on her face.
Cecilia had told him that he should sneak away with her and Guy to see that lake. Guy had probably duped her into doing this. But, if Guy was going to dupe her, Adam wanted to have front row tickets to it.
Besides, a lake with different colors would be great thing to brag about seeing at the next camp they went on.
Cecilia grabbed his arm and dragged him away after they had finished their afternoon meal. She pushed him into the kitchen and closed the door.
“What’s this about?” he asked her.
“Do you think it’s true? About the lake I mean?”
“I don’t know, I thought we were going to find that out tonight.”
Cecilia wringed her hands. She looked nervous. “I was just wondering if it’s such a good idea to leave the camp-site when it’s almost dark.”
“Don’t worry, nothing will happen. We go there, check if it’s true, leave and come back. It’s nothing major. Guy’s probably exaggerating.”
“I know, it’s not that. It’s the thought of getting lost on the way back.”
“Well, we can bring flashlights. And I have my mobile phone so we can call back if something happens. Don’t be so nervous. It’ll be okay. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. It’s not something important. It’s just for fun, Cecilia.”
Cecilia nodded. “Fine, but one suspicious sound and I’m getting back.”
“Don’t worry, Guy’s tagging along. If it’s a bear we’ll sacrificed him for the greater good, okay?”
Cecilia laughed. “Yeah, that sounds like a great plan.”
Yes, it sounded like a great plan. Several hours later, it was not such a great plan anymore. Even the most waterproofed plan might get a little wet sometimes...
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