The Dais - Part 6 of 7

Dedicated to William Henry Anderson 1920-2012
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Dorothy thought she heard Lions voice somewhere in the distance, "Stay with us Dorothy, we all love you, we don't want you to go". She was afraid. She remembered scarecrow once told her, "There is only one thing in the world I am afraid of ... a lighted match." Another time he had said, "I am never hungry, and it is a lucky thing I am not, for my mouth is only painted, and if I should cut a hole in it so I could eat, the straw I am stuffed with would come out, and that would spoil the shape of my head." Dorothy realized that what she feared most was losing her friends and family.

Dorothy looked at a distance upon her mother's healthy smiling face. She wanted more than anything now to run into her arms, to feel her warm glow and loving voice, to smell her hair. She wanted to tell her mother, father and brother how much she had missed them. Dorothy looked back at the roses and understood the meaning. The only other place she had seen so many bright yellow roses like these were in her dream. Auntie Em lost her only child, daughter Katie, to consumption three years back. Every year at the end of July, Autie Em would cut dozens of the roses from the special garden she tended, a garden cultivated for only for one purpose. She would wrap dozens of the flowers together in separate green and gold ribbons. She and Uncle Henry, and just last year Dorothy, would travel 2 miles to the county cemetery where they would cover Katie's grave with a beautiful arrangement. Even though she had never met Katie, Dorothy knew a lot about her from Autie Em. Em did not talk about her much when Dorothy first arrived on the farm. Uncle Henry once told Dorothy privately that Autie Em had become a different person after Katie passed. Quiet and sad. He wondered whether the girl he married would ever return. Lately, Autie Em had began to talk to Dorothy about Katie. The new Gale family had spent many evenings around the piano singing. Katie had played piano. Dorothy played piano. Neither Em or Henry played piano. On summer weekends, particularly to celebrate the end of harvest, Hick, Zeke, and Hunk would join them. Amongst his other talents, Hick was a great piano player. When Hick played, everyone would not only sing but would dance too, that is, everyone except for Uncle Henry who did not like to dance. But Uncle Henry would dress up in suspenders and a flannel shirt in order to at least look festive. Hunk teased him about looking like a lumberjack. Hick played all his songs by memory from when he lived in Omaha and worked in a dance hall.

In Dorothy's fantastic dream, Autie Em and Dorothy had developed a close bond and she realized that, because of it, Em was beginning to live again. When Dorothy again focused on the beautiful yellow roses now held before her, she felt a terrible light headedness approaching. She realized that Toto had returned to the Dais from his adventures in the courtyard. He was at her feet with his front legs up as far as he could put them on her legs, looking up curiously beyond her into the rainbow above. Dorothy lifted her head skyward and absently observed the kite-like star wheel she saw earlier. It was now rotating slowly and getting larger or closer, she could not tell. She could think no more. All became bright white.

When she found herself, she was looking down at Toto. Her shoes were nowhere in sight nor was her favorite blue-checkered dress. She could see that she was laying down on a bed and under the covers of a familiar quilt. Toto was there, standing with his front feet on her legs, playfully growling as usual, but also holding a familiar gold-green scarf in his mouth as he looked into her eyes. As her vision cleared, Dorothy looked beyond Toto. Just to her left Autie Em kneeled by her bed, shedding enough tears to fill a small pond. Uncle Henry was close behind Em and was quietly wiping away his own pond contributions. Dorothy looked very confused and noticed the three of us kneeling on the other side of her bed. Hunk, Zeke and me. Earlier, Henry had told us Dorothy had been speaking and even moving more than ever. She had been very quiet and still since she hit her head the week before during the tornado. The three of us cleaned up, put on our best clothes, and rushed to her room.
-That was the afternoon of July 15.

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