Gossamer

One morning, John feeds Toby breakfast, which reminds him of a traumatic experience that occurred when he was three years old. Once, when John was three, he ran around the house naked and urinated on the floor. His father told him that if he was going to act like a dog, he would treat him like a dog. He rubbed John’s face on the floor where he urinated. John had already learned not to cry when he was in pain because his father would hit him. His father refused to give him anything to eat until he ate wet dog food. John finally ate the dog food after missing three meals, and his father laughed at him. When John’s mother cried, his father struck her: “She always got hit” (105). He tells the story to the woman as though it happened to someone else, and he tells her to shut up whenever she interjects with words of sympathy. John yells at Toby, knocks over a flowerpot, and runs out of the room. The elderly woman sits in silence and thinks about how she wanted to tell John that school will be starting soon because it’s almost Labor Day.

When Littlest One and Thin Elderly enter the woman’s house that night, they detect an odor like burning garbage. Thin Elderly realizes that the Horde is coming. He suspects that the Sinisteeds will also target the woman that night. The dream-givers only have a little time before the Horde arrives, so they can’t gather any more fragments and must make do with what they’ve already collected. Littlest One has gathered memories of a baseball game when John got a hit, a time his mother sang to him, and the butterfly that emerged from the chrysalis the day before. Thin Elderly encourages her to add Toby and some words to the dream: “Laughter would be a great choice, and courage” (108). He plans to give the woman a dream that involves the words “peace” and “family.” As the shrill whines of the gathering Sinisteeds cut through the night, Thin Elderly urges Littlest One to bestow a dream upon John quickly and then meet him in the attic.

John sleeps soundly, unaware of the approaching danger. Littlest One puts aside her fear, remembers Thin Elderly’s lessons, and takes some deep breaths to center herself. She bestows dreams about the baseball game and his mother’s song upon John. She’s never given more than one dream at a time, but she pushes through her exhaustion and gives him dreams about Toby, the seashell, and Hee-Haw. She gathered fragments of flying and beginning a “new and vibrant life” from the butterfly (115), and she gives these to John as well. With the last of her energy, she breathes the words “laughter” and “courage” into his ear. Too weak to flutter away, she curls into a ball and hides under John’s bed as the Horde stampedes into his room.

Thin Elderly finishes bestowing a dream upon the woman and hurries to the attic. He plans to ask Most Ancient to give Littlest One a special commendation because she is the smallest dream-giver ever to face a Horde. When she is not in their agreed-upon hiding place, he fears that she’s been “crushed and kicked aside as [the Sinisteeds] went about their evil work” (116), and he breaks down in tears.

In his dream, John is batting in a baseball game. Suddenly, the dream becomes a nightmare when his father pushes him from behind, rubs his face in the dirt, and laughs at him. Littlest One watches the boy thrash in his sleep, but all she can do is hope in the power of the dreams that she gave him. In John’s dream, he hears his mother sing a funny song. John’s laughter makes his father vanish for a moment, but the man reappears and attacks John’s mother. John reverts to his three-year-old self and relives his memory about the dog food. However, Toby appears and eats the dog food. This makes John and his mother laugh, which takes away his father’s power. The man disappears. John hits a home run, and a yellow butterfly circles the bases with him. John smiles in his sleep, and Littlest One rejoices that the good dreams overcame the nightmare.

Littlest One remembers that she agreed to meet her teacher and rushes up to the attic. Thin Elderly is relieved that she’s alive and embraces her. The dream-givers check on the woman, who is having a nightmare about John’s father forcing the boy to eat dog food. When Littlest One and Thin Elderly send her thoughts of peace and family, the nightmare ends. Instead, she dreams that she and John are wrapped up in a soft blanket on a snowy day while her mother reads them a story. With their job complete, the dream-givers leave the house. Littlest One asks Thin Elderly where the Horde has gone, and he answers, “They are always out there” (124).

John’s mother enrolls him in third grade at the school where she works, Rosewood Elementary. She remembers how Duane turned into a “person they didn’t know, the person they feared” (126), and how they tried to appease him. Duane broke John’s arm when he was seven, and that led her to call the police. The school nurse invites her to join her on her break, and John’s mother tells her that her son will be staying with an elderly woman for some time while she works on putting her life together. John’s mother starts crying after she mentions her divorce, and Duane’s cruel words echo in her thoughts. Her colleagues hug her, and she feels at home.

John is excited that he’ll be able to see his mother at school. He tells the elderly woman that his father loves his mother and that he’ll come back to them after he becomes rich. John wants to take his pink seashell to school with him for good luck, but the elderly woman worries that the delicate object might break. She suggests that he give the shell to his mother for safekeeping, and he happily agrees: “Then we’d both have good luck!” (131). John promises to give Toby a biscuit when he comes home from school, and he boasts that the dog prefers him to the woman as they walk to the car, which makes her laugh.

Most Ancient awards Littlest One a gold badge for her courage in facing the Horde. Early one autumn morning, she returns to the Heap with Thin Elderly. The boy and the woman in their assigned house are both doing well. John is growing accustomed to third grade, and the woman is less lonely and filled with pride for him. Thin Elderly tells Littlest One that she will be given a new assignment soon because she’s proven herself. This news shocks and saddens her because she has come to love the boy. Thin Elderly tells her that dream-givers are not supposed to have human emotions like love. He explains that they are imaginary and live “[w]ithin the stories. Within the night. Within the dreams” (136). This reassures Littlest One that she will always be with the boy. The young dream-giver notices that she is no longer transparent, although she is not yet fully opaque. She feels sad about becoming translucent and about leaving the boy, and Thin Elderly tells her that it’s normal to feel sad when things change. Back at the Heap, Most Ancient entrusts her with a dream-giver named New Littlest who is only “a wisp of a thing, with a mischievous smile, and a trusting, visible heart” (139). Most Ancient tells Littlest One that her new name is Gossamer.