The Flying
Falcon
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1.
Jennifer shrugged uncomfortably when she entered "The Flying Falcon". She had seen some bars of this kind: dirty stained tables, angry-eyed waiters, drunkards playing cards. But this one seemed to be different, she just could not tell in which way. The place felt strange.
Jennifer remembered Pat saying: "I don't think you'll regret coming there, if you find enough courage." Pat Toe was her friend, the best one, for that matter.
"Courage? Why?" asked Jennifer, puzzled.
"Well", Pat said in his special tone, "you'll just have to learn it for yourself. I promised not to tell anyone, even to my friends. That was the part of the deal."
She also remembered him saying not to go there until she really thinks she's ready. But that time Jennifer didn't understand how can she be ready for something she doesn't have the slightest idea of; so she almost forgot about the Falcon.
Now Jennifer understood. She still couldn't explain that if someone asked, but she was certain the time has come. She was ready.
So here she was, in "The Flying Falcon", thinking what to do next. Jennifer shoved away her doubtfulness and sat down near the bar counter. Bartender, the short round man in his mid-forties, gave her a friendly smile.
2.
"What'd you like, young lady?" he asked.
"Uh, I really don't know. I don't usually come to bars."
"What made you come here, then?"
Jennifer looked into his eyes to find strangely deep interest that almost frightened her. "I felt... ready for it."
Bartender's smile grew even more friendly and warm. "Let me pick one for you, young lady? If you won't like it, it'd be on the house."
"Okay, Sid" said Jennifer, noticing the name badge attached to bartender's uniform.
Jennifer carefully sipped the drink Sid gave to her. Its smell was heavy and its taste was a weird cross between cocoa and bittersweet orange juice but she found it to her liking.
"Oh, I see I made no mistake here," chuckled Sid.
"Yes, I like it very much. What is it?" Jennifer said in a polite manner.
"It's the house's special. It's called 'The Dreamer'"
Jennifer sensed a totally unexpected urge to close her eyes. Sid spotted it.
"Don't be afraid", he said, "it's okay."
"That was some drug, wasn't that?" Jennifer asked with more intention to make sure of it than to complain.
"Well, if you call your dreams a drug, it surely was."
"What?"
"Your dreams. That's why you're here." His next saying was swallowed by Jennifer's pleasurable feelings.
"Excuse me, could you repeat, please?"
"Stan, come here, please! We have a customer here," Sid said, waving his hand to a black-haired fellow sitting in the corner near the counter. Jennifer noticed that the man was wearing some sort of uniform, which also had a name badge on it. The man stood up and gave Jennifer a strange look. "Come here," he said, "follow me." Sid smiled. Jennifer followed Stan through the metal door with a label "Personnel only" glued to it.
3.
"Could you please explain this to me once again? I just want to be sure!" Jennifer asked in a begging voice, looking at her guide with fear.
Stan sighed. "Oh, okay. One more time," he said, shaking his head. "It is very simple."
"Having one's dreams come true can not be simple," Jennifer interrupted.
Stan looked at her critically. "Anyway," he continued, pointing his finger at a small green door, "after you have entered this door, you will be in the land of your dreams. Everything there is just as you want it to be."
"You mean, if I want to be able to fly, I'll have wings there?"
"Well, not really. It is more likely for you to have pilot's job there, if you want to fly."
"And if I don't want to be lonely, will I meet someone who will be with me?"
"There's no doubt about that... if you try hard enough, that is."
"And what about my family? My son?" Jennifer asked. "Will he be there with me?"
"Sorry, Mrs. Simpson, rules are rules. You must go alone." After saying that, Stan smirked. "But don't worry, we'll take care of your family. They won't even notice your absence - our powers are many."
"But I don't understand. I'll get my dreams come true, my family will not notice anything, you don't want any payment... Where's the catch?"
Stan rubbed his forehead. "I don't want to call this 'a catch', but actually there is one thing. Your memories from this world will be lost. You will be a completely new person there. You won't remember your son, or your friends, or your enemies. You will not be able to recall the way lilacs smell in the spring if there are no lilacs in your dream. You will forget the way ice looks and feels, if you dream of eternal summer. You won't remember beautiful butterflies if you don't dream of worms..." Stan made a pause. "I hope I made this clear."
"May I think it over," Jennifer asked. She was completely overwhelmed with man's words.
"Sure," Stan said and nodded. "Take your time."
4.
Stan looked at Jennifer, imagining the things she is thinking of now. Her love. Her hatred. Her childhood friends. Her first kiss. Her pregnancy. Her son's first cry. Once again he wondered how people can give away all this in exchange for some vague dream...
She was just like the others, Stan understood that when she stared at him and, liking her dry lips, said: "I'll go."
"Very well then," he said, opening the small door. "Good luck."
She was not listening. Jennifer slowly moved and looked into the open doorway. A moment of last uncertainty - and she entered the darkness. Stan closed the door behind her, as he had done numerous times before.
"Oh, I see, she had made up her mind," Sid said when Stan returned. Stan nodded. "Poor girl."
"What do you mean, poor," Stan asked. "Now she will be happy."
"You are new here, Stan, you do not know many things," Sid said, patting Stan on the shoulder. "This is her third time here."
"What?"
"Well... Seems that her dreams do not satisfy her. She always wants something more than she can dream of - so every time her dreams come true she sees they are imperfect. There's only one thing in her dreams that remains unchanged."
"Oh." Stan said.
"She always dreams of a place where you can start from the beginning... A place where your dreams may come true." Sid smiled. "She always dreams of 'The Flying Falcon'."
"You don't mean WE are only her dream, do you?" Stan asked.
"I don't know." Sid answered. "Perhaps someday we'll find out. But for now we can only pray her dreams were imperfect again."