Oh no, Charlotte thought. Not the desert again. I hate this dream.

But she couldn’t wake herself up so she’d have to endure it.

A few yards in front of her feet—she was still lying down as if in bed, with the covers and pillow in the sand instead of a mattress—a movement in the sand.

A head popped out, then a body. It was gray and had “Clearview High” stitched on the side of it. The body wriggled toward her.

“Sammy?”

A pair of sewn dots looked up at her. Its mouth opened and sand poured out of the mouth as the stuffed seal spoke.

“It’s me, Charlotte.”

Sammy, her best friend from childhood! It was a gift dad had given her, purchased at the high school holiday craft bazaar. A stuffed seal. She had carried it around with her everywhere. Talked to it. Told it her problems.

The seal was soon in her arms and she hugged it. “Oh Sammy, I’m so lost…my parents are dead, I got fired from my job, my husband dumped me, I’ve inherited this old house in a strange town right at the start of the holiday season… I don’t know who I am or what will become of me!”

Charlotte dissolved to tears, as did her beloved Sammy, the desert, and the dream.