She sat up straight in her bed, the sweat pouring off her. What did that dream mean? She grabbed her pen and the paper and started to draw it all out. The red beards and their teeth, the cloud, the water underneath and Johnny to the side with his spear. She drew the dream sequence and sat back on her pillows. What did it mean?

Early the next morning, Annie sent a text to Johnny: “J: I need to see your mom. Can I?”

Johnny read the text and didn’t reply. He didn’t like it. People getting into his business. It was his business. His mom was his business. Some days she was good, but not often. Her mind could barely remember five minutes ago. How could Annie expect his mom to remember her? And if she did remember Annie, absolutely none of it would be kind. Not. One. Bit.

Johnny’s phone rang. It was Annie. He held the phone in his hands and debated whether to answer or not. “Ah shit,” he said and pressed the green button.

“Hello?” Johnny said. “How are you doing today, Annie?”

“Johnny, I’m sorry. I know you don’t like people calling you, but I’ve been having these nightmare things and I wanted to talk to your mom about them.”

“She’s not a gypsy with a crystal ball looking in the future, Annie, and she’s not so good . . .”

“Well, I’ve drawn them, and I just want her to look at them. Johnny, I gotta talk to one of our own. She knows the old ways like we don’t, and you know she would know what to tell me. Please. Even just once. Please.”

“Annie, she might not recognize you. She has days when she doesn’t even recognize me, and it’s important for her to stay calm.” Johnny sounded as though he was pleading with her. “And besides, she’s my business. My stuff. I mean, I owed her something after I left her up there, and now, well, now she’s okay and she’s quiet and I’d like to keep her that way.”

“Just think about it, Johnny. Just think about letting me visit with her. Can you do that much?” Annie didn’t mean to sound ungrateful. She didn’t mean to sound like she was being demanding. She didn’t want to upset the only other grown-up that she knew on the island.

Johnny let her words sit with him for a while before he spoke. “All right. Just once. I can pick you up at one o’clock and take you there.”

“Ma’nallunav’juaq.”

“Now you’re just talking dirty to me, Annie.” She could hear the laughter in his voice.

“Johnny, stop.”

“Takuturaunniarvuguk—See you later, alligator!”

Johnny met her outside her place and drove her to his mother’s. They stopped in front of a castle. It was white with blue trimming. Soft blue like the water it pointed out at. Annie could not believe what she was seeing. This was the fanciest nursing home on earth. When Annie and Johnny entered the foyer, a chandelier sparkled at them and a butler in what looked like a tuxedo bowed at them.