Dorie Daydream In the Land of Idoj - Book One: Terra

By Glenn Murdock

Late again… Dorie-Lynn Rothesay wondered what her punishment would be this time. Would she receive another lecture or would it be something far worse? Nothing she ever dreamed could prepare her for what would happen next: journeying to a far-off land with creatures unlike anything she had ever seen, meeting – not one – but two secretive young men who catch her eye, and the start of a perilous task destined just for her. In this land, Dorie discovers that not only do her daydreams have meaning, but there is a reason that she has them too. They reveal a dangerous mission of good versus evil set in a once united and noble land… …THE LAND OF IDOJ

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329214743

Book preview

Chapter 1

Late Again

It never fails, she thought as she pulled up the collar of her favorite blue jacket to cover her neck. Summer never arrives when it should.  Dorie knew that in St. John, you could never trust the beginning of summer to be warm, so she picked up her pace.

She was late for school and knew what would happen once she got there.  The kids in her class would snicker and Felicia Vito would make fun of her at recess again: "Dorie Daydream!  Head in the clouds!  Never gets anywhere on time!  What cloud did you go to today?"

The taunting wouldn’t stop there.  It would slowly get more abusive and more demeaning throughout the day.  Sometimes, it would be about Dorie’s constant daydreaming, and other times, about her appearance.  Not that she looked much different than the others in her school.  She was of average height—maybe a little taller than some of the girls—and other than her red hair and hazel eyes, she didn’t stand out in any way.  Or at least that’s what she thought.  Felicia, with her long black hair, dark complexion and piercingly cold blue eyes, would almost always find something to pick on in order to make her feel very different from everyone else.

There were days when she got so angry with Felicia that she wanted to punch her, but she never did.  Deep down, she knew Felicia was right about one thing.  Dorie was a daydreamer and was constantly caught off guard or late because of her habit of imagining yet another wonderful adventure to a far-off place…with fields of purple and white…and strange creatures…and pink skies…

A blast of a horn shook her back to reality.  She had stopped walking and was standing in the middle of the street in front of the school, about to embark on another imaginary journey.  Dorie quickly finished crossing and raced up the front steps of the old grey and brown building and through its large, wooden doors. 

A voice from the office on her right called out flatly, Dorie-Lynn Rothesay, come and get a late slip.  The words were spoken with as much annoyance as a parent who had put their two-year-old in a time-out for the tenth time in one day.  Dorie entered the office and Mrs. Morose handed her the customary green late slip.  She’d received many of them before.  Knowing better than to say a word, she waited for the usual speech.  Having heard it so many times, Dorie could almost count the seconds between Mrs. Morose’s deep sigh and the words that followed:

Tardiness at St. Marguerite’s is not tolerated.  It ruins credibility and shows poor character.  It allows others to surpass you and makes you unaware of the things you missed.  Not only is it an inexcusable offense for which you seem to have no inclination to correct, but it also appears as if you have no remorse for your actions.  So far, your lateness has only resulted in mild penalties during lunchtime. 

Dorie doubted Mrs. Morose knew that she was usually dealing with Felicia Vito’s teasing at lunchtime, and that the penalties were actually blessings in disguise.  On any given day, she would much rather have penalties during lunchtime than go outside and be subjected to Felicia’s taunts.  Not wanting to test her luck, Dorie remained silent.

Obviously, the message has not hit home with you.  This time, you will need to stay after school and your behaviour will be dealt with more severely.  I will call your sitter and let her know of both your behavior and your consequence.  Now, make your way to your classroom so you do not miss any more than you already have. 

Dorie went to move but then realized she had not heard the word she needed to hear.  She paused and glanced quickly into Mrs. Morose’s narrowing eyes.  After a second, the eyes returned to normal and the word was spoken.

Dismissed.

It rang like a starting bell in her mind.  She turned and walked quickly down the empty hall towards her classroom—13D.  The lecture was over.  That was part one of the lateness routine.  Part two would come when she had to suffer the humiliation of yet again entering the class late.  Her stomach lurched as she thought about enduring the looks and whispers that would follow.  They felt far worse than any of Mrs. Morose’s speeches.

As she walked, Dorie’s mind slipped back to Mrs. Morose’s word consequence.  What would that be? As soon as she started to wonder about this, her thoughts were nervously drawn back to the humiliating second part of being late.  She was now at her classroom door and needed to make her mortifying entrance.  Dorie could see through the window and tried not to take notice of the pointing, whispering and smirking from the students who had already seen her.

Taking a deep breath, she worked hard to hide how she was feeling.  She would not let them get the best of her this time.  She couldn’t.  It would just make things worse.  Grasping the handle of the door, she held her head high and walked in as if she didn’t have a care in the world. 

She handed the green slip to her teacher and took her place in her seat at the front of the class.  She hated sitting there, but Mr. Winapple moved her to the front after her eighth time being late.  He said it was so she wouldn’t disturb the class with such foolishness for too long, but she knew it was to save her from the embarrassment of walking past everyone to get to her seat, which used to be at the back.

Behind her, she heard the low chant: Dorie Daydream, Dorie Daydream…  She tried to ignore it and concentrate on the lesson being taught.  She knew who it was, and she wouldn’t give them the pleasure of turning around and acknowledging them.  She wondered if it was such a bad thing to be able to daydream and was annoyed that Mr. Winapple allowed the chanting to continue. Perhaps he thought that it would stop if he ignored it, or maybe he just couldn’t be bothered to deal with it.

Either way, it would be a long time until break. 

And this break would not be fun.

* * * * * * *

The minutes seemed like hours as Dorie watched the clock’s minute hand move closer to the six.  It wasn’t long now until one of the worst parts of her day.  The loud clanging of the school bell would signify its start.  As the other kids grew more excited and eager, her heart sank deeper in her chest.  It was a feeling she knew all too well—the dread of going out for break time.

Dorie had hated break time since the first day she started at St. Marguerite’s.  That was when Felicia had singled her out the first time; she still had no idea what it was about her that made Felicia hate her on sight.  She’d never really fit in with any of the other kids after that, and hardly ever came close to making a friend.  Whenever she began making friends, Felicia would make sure the friendships didn’t last long.

Like the time she met Teddy—a new and timid boy from the class across the hall from hers.  They started spending the break together regularly—something Dorie had never done before with anyone.  After the third day, Felicia pulled Teddy aside and told him that Dorie was only being nice to him because she wanted to win a bet that he was the worst kisser in the school.  That quickly stopped him from ever talking to her again.

Then there was the time that she’d started playing with the little kids.  They weren’t as mean and judgmental as the kids in her grade.  Felicia noticed and quickly put a stop to that as well.  Now, the younger kids were all afraid of Dorie.  After Felicia talked to them, they believed she was a witch who wanted to put them in her child stew.  She hated to see them run away crying when she tried to talk to them, so she stopped trying altogether.

After other attempts at making friends and losing them to Felicia’s mean-spirited rumours, she’d given up.  It was easier just being alone than having another nasty story told about her and then spending days dealing with the staring and talking behind her back.  She just wished she knew why Felicia wanted to make her life so miserable.

As the minute hand finally made it to the six, the clanging began.  Everyone cheered and raced out the door.  Dorie lingered behind for a moment, not wanting to get caught up in all the fuss.  She would rather just stay in her seat but knew that Mr. Winapple would never let her.  Kids need fresh air, he would say, and then kindly smile and gesture for her to go outside.  Without waiting for his cue, she slowly walked out of the classroom and down the hallway to the door leading out to the schoolyard.

Dorie pushed open the door.  It was like stepping into a circus, with loud screams, laughing and activity all around.  Quickly, she looked around to see if Felicia was near.  If she was,