The Dreamer

Torria is a little girl who spends her days and nights in a bomb shelter"

with her family. Torria's grandmother reads her a new bedtime story

every night, and, to the family's amazement, Torria's dreams,

".inspired by the storytelling, come true the following day

One long and cold night in the bomb shelter, Torria’s granny read her a bedtime story.

‘Once upon a time, there was a little boy called Johnny and his big, funny friend, the Loch Ness Monster. They played all day long. Johnny rode on Nessie’s neck all around the Scottish loch. They dipped into large, moss-covered caves, listened to their echoes and even napped when they got too tired from having so much fun. Before Johnny went home, he waved goodbye to his best friend, and Nessie dived under the water. The only thing Johnny could see above the surface was Nessie’s three humps, but then even they disappeared into the dark, murky waters. The end.’

‘Granny, read it again,’ Torria begged. ‘Pleeease.’

‘My sweet Torria, I have read it three times already. Your brothers are fast asleep. You should also close your eyes and try to get some sleep before the next siren goes off. Pull your blanket all the way up to your nose, and keep your woolly hat on. Sweet dreams, my darling. May they be happy dreams that take you far away from this sad, cold cellar.

‘Granny, will the war be over tomorrow?’

‘Not tomorrow, darling. But soon.’

‘How soon, Granny?’

‘Very, very soon.’

Torria’s Granny sighed.

‘I snooze and yawn and toss and turn.

May dreams of mine be safe and warm.

May dreams of mine be yellow and blue.

May dreams of mine always come true.’

Torria said her little prayer and fell asleep. She hugged her pillow tightly and dreamed about beautiful Scottish lochs and the giant, scary Loch Ness Monster, which turned out to be not scary at all. She dreamed about a small cottage in the Highlands, where she hugged her cat, Honey, by the fireplace, and Honey purred a happy song for her.

A wet, tickling kiss on her nose woke Torria up.