Dream Eaters

By Andrew Michael Schwarz

What wouldn't young Jonathan give to be able to play outside like normal kids? 

A couple of recently acquired house guests know the exact right remedy, so long as Jonathan doesn't mind trading his ill health for something worse. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andrew Michael Schwarz
• Release date: Oct 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519982100

Book preview

Dream Eaters

By

Andrew Michael Schwarz

Copyright 2014 Andrew Michael Schwarz.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

First Printing, 2014

Andrew Michael Schwarz

PO Box 383

Renton, WA 98057

[e-mail]

THERE WAS NO CURE FOR WHAT HE HAD, AT LEAST NOT OF NATURAL MEANS. And doctors only dealt in natural means. The boy sat up. Half a day had passed since fever-slumber had swamped him. Gray light washed the walls through the open window. Shadows dripped into corners. Dusk, the time Mother would seal him in from invading germs and frights, skinned knees and bloody noses. These minor events to any other child proved pure catastrophe for Jonathan Dunn.

He studied the door from across the room. Gauging by his sopping pillow and soaked pajama collar, his fever had broken. And he was hungry; he could eat a whole cucumber sandwich and glass of tang. Or tomato soup and dry toast.

Mother? he called and listened for footsteps. He waited the usual time she required to come with her druggist’s arsenal. Nervously, he tested the thickness of his fingernail between his front teeth before remembering that influenza and salmonella could be transmitted that way.

Mother? He waited for a less patient moment and when she did not come, a thing occurred to him, bubbled up as if through a blocked storm drain: the small thought of maybe she’s dead.

Mustn’t think like that, he whispered to the empty gray light, feeling something like panic thump near his throat. Spots of water formed in the pores of his forehead and a tingle danced over his shoulders. Dead? He felt a grip in his windpipe. With a thrust he grabbed the door knob and gave it a twist.

The hallway to his room