Only in Your Dreams Chapter 13
Jan quietly left the kitchen, carrying a hot cup of coffee into the living room, where she sat down on the couch in front of the blank television screen with a tired sigh. She glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall and noted that it was now midnight. It had been almost 3 hours since she had been able to get the boys to go on to bed. She had not received that much of a fight from Joey and Lance just because of the fact that they had taken their medications and were now sleeping peacefully in their own bedrooms. But, it was a whole different story with Justin, JC, and Chris. They each felt guilty about leaving Jan, once again, alone while they slept. They thought that it wasn�t fair that they should rest while Jan was being asked by the doctor to stay up to ensure that they had a good night of uninterrupted sleep. Jan had driven more than 1000 tiring miles and she must be almost dead on her feet and in their eyes, Dr. Shannon was asking too much of Justin�s aunt.
Jan had finally convinced the �terrible three�, a nickname that seemed appropriate at the time, that she would be going to be just fine for one night and that what sleep she needed to catch up on would be done before her return trip to Texas. She had the feeling that she was deceiving the boys; that this was not going to be the only sleepless night this visit. But, for the moment, their well-being was more important to her right now than her getting sleep for one night.
Jan reached over to the end table beside the couch and picked up the remote control and turned on the television as she took a sip of the hot coffee in her cup. She mindlessly flipped through countless channels before deciding that nothing worthwhile was on and turned the TV off. She laid the remote back down on the end table and noticed a framed photograph of the boys. She smiled as she picked it up to look more closely at it. She was pretty sure that the photograph had been taken sometime recently due to the fact that Chris was sporting his shorter hairstyle.
Jan put her coffee cup down on a coaster lying on the tabletop and carefully stroked the faces in the picture. This was definitely one of the best naturally posed pictures that she had seen in a while of the boys�a true Kodak moment in her thinking.
Jan allowed her gaze to drift slowly from one face to the next as she realized that the picture appeared to have been taken in Justin�s backyard on the basketball court. It must have been a warm day since the boys had on tank tops or wore no shirts at all with their shorts. She could just make out a glint of sweat bathing their chests and arms and concluded that they must have been playing pretty hard.
Jan smiled as she took in her nephew�s look of pure delight that shown brightly upon his face, his mouth opened wide with laughter as he balanced the basketball on one finger. He seemed to be looking at JC and Joey, who had their arms over each other�s shoulders in a brotherly embrace, their own faces mirroring Justin�s as if they had just shared a joke amongst themselves.
Her gaze then landed on Lance and Chris, who were sitting down on the court, looking in opposite directions with smiles on their faces. Lance�s eyes seemed to be on Justin and Chris seemed to be glancing at Joey and JC.
�Everyone looks so carefree in this picture. I wonder what happened to change it all?� Jan thought as her smile became wistful. She gently placed the photograph back where it had been and picked up her coffee cup.
�I think I need some fresh air,� she said to herself, thinking that sitting outside for a while would help her in formulating a plan on getting to the bottom of things. Jan rose up from the couch and walked over to the foot of the stairs. She stood quietly and listened for any sounds from upstairs. Upon hearing none, she crossed the room to the French doors leading out to the back patio. She turned on the outdoor lights, opened the door and stepped outside into the warm evening air. After quietly closing the door behind her Jan made her way to the poolside, sat down at the top of the pool steps and lowered her feet into the water.
As she sat there sipping her coffee, she couldn�t help but giggle at the memory of the man-wich she had received earlier that evening from the very wet Justin and Chris. And poor JC, he thought that he had been a co-conspirator, but had ended up, somehow, even more wet than she had. Her thoughts then wandered to her short visit upstairs with Joey and Lance. She couldn�t help but feel sadness for the pair of friends. They each were carrying a burden that was too much for either of them to handle on their own, but that was just what they had attempted to do. Lance had tried to be a strong confidant for Joey when his friend would call for his help night after night. He looked so tired and defeated. Jan suspected that Lance was somehow blaming himself for the previous night�s situation that had gotten so quickly out of hand. Jan knew that she would need to sit down and have a heart to heart talk with her Missy, but her main concern for the moment was Joey. Jan couldn�t help but smile at the thought of the young man. She was attached to each of the young men for one reason or another, and her attachment to Joey was his zest for life. He always seems to find simple joy in just living for the moment. His sense of humor was the trait that Jan most admired along with his loyalty to his friends�his brothers. Jan sat quietly thinking that there must be some key to unlock the reasons behind Joey�s nightmares.
�There�s always a key�it�s just a matter of finding the right one to unlock the door,� Jan said to herself as she stood and stepped out of the pool with determination. �I�m going to help that boy find the right key if it kills me!� Jan said fiercely.