Andy asked Izabel and her mother to bring these old antique bells out from the kitchen and over to the ceremony, to place one under each chair, so everyone could ring them during the kiss. Izabel didn’t tell her how horrible that would sound. She kept trying to take the bells outside for her.

But that’s all Izabel did, the beginning of the action, over and over, the kitchen table still covered with bells.

She didn’t know why her mother wasn’t in the kitchen helping her. She found her at a desk where she’d taken piles of papers, bills, mail, and she was organizing it all. Dream-Izabel couldn’t believe it. She yelled at her mother, “What are you doing? Why are you doing that?” Even though non-Dream-Izabel didn’t care what her mother was doing.

Her mother insisted she was doing it for Andy.

Izabel said they were supposed to be carrying the bells. Her mother rolled her eyes, as if Izabel was ridiculous for not seeing which was the more important thing to do.

Izabel was so upset with her, but she was more upset with herself, for arguing with her mother when all non-Dream-Izabel wanted to do was hold her.

Dream-Izabel went back to the kitchen and put more bells on a tray.

By the time Izabel got to the ceremony, it had already started. She couldn’t believe she’d missed so much of her friend’s wedding. She tried putting the tray down without making a sound.

She was lowering it as slowly as she could when the dream was suddenly over. Her mother was gone again. Opa was there, waking her.

“What’s happened?” Izabel asked. “Where’s Cami?”

“She’s with Kaito. We let you sleep in. Seemed like you needed it.”

It was hard to open her eyes. “Why do I feel like this?”

“Could be what I gave you to help you sleep. Have you ever taken something for sleep before?”

Izabel shook her head.

“You’ll feel fine soon.”

“Did it happen again?”

“What?”

“Did Cami talk?”

Opa sat down in the chair across from her. “Yes. A whole conversation about the hospital, and how she didn’t like the thing on her toe even though ‘it looked really cool.’ Her words.”

“And?”

“And all her readings are normal. Breathing, normal. Sleep cycle, normal.”

“So what’s happening to her?”

“I don’t know. I often seen this sort of imaginative play when a child is awake, but never asleep.”

“We don’t know what to do.”

“I think the work we’re doing together is important. She’s definitely been traumatized by some of the things she’s seen and heard.”

Izabel didn’t say anything.

“So have you. And so has Jana.”

“I’ll start bringing Jana. I didn’t realize how bad it was.”