Awake and Dreaming - Kit Pearson [41]
After they’d driven slowly along Government Street and come back past Emily Carr’s house, Sharon turned onto a busy street that skirted the sea. “This is Dallas Road,” she said.
Theo gasped. Sharon looked over with surprise. “What’s wrong?”
“I was just … sneezing,” Theo said. She rubbed her eyes as the two Theos snapped together. Dallas Road! She’d been here!
She peered avidly out the window. This was the street she’d walked along so often on Sunday afternoons, the route she and Anna and Grace had taken on the way downtown.
Downtown … Theo suddenly realized that the places Sharon had just shown her—the chocolate shop and the old lamp-posts and the Empress Hotel and the Eaton Centre—were also where they had gone on that adventurous day.
She’d been here! She knew the waves lapping on the breakwater and the glimpse of the Olympic Mountains through the clouds.
If it had only been a dream, how could she dream about places she’d never seen?
Unless … “Have I been here before?” she asked Sharon. “I mean, when I lived here?” Please say no, she begged silently.
“Here? Along Dallas Road? Of course! You and Ma and I used to walk along here almost every Sunday.” She took her eyes off the road for a second. “Do you remember, Theo? That’s amazing!”
Theo split into two again. That was it. Part of her must have remembered Victoria from when she was little and put it into her dream. She slumped back in her seat. Then it had been a dream.
But her heart pounded again when they passed another familiar landmark—the cemetery! She peered up the Kaldors’ street to see if there was a tall old house at the top, but she couldn’t see far enough.
“What about that cemetery?” she asked Sharon. “Did I ever go there?”
“Wow,” said Sharon, “you do have a good memory! Yes, we often walked that far, to visit Dad’s grave. He’s buried there. He died when you were one. Ma’s there with him now.”
Disappointment flooded Theo again. Sharon drove as far as Uplands, then came back through Oak Bay. Theo barely glanced at the shoe store where Mum had taken her and the library where they’d gone every second Saturday. She must have been in those places when she was younger too. Recognizing parts of the city just made her more homesick for the Victoria in the dream.
THEY WENT BACK to the apartment for lunch. Then Sharon took out a piece of needlepoint and settled in front of a soap opera on the television.
“This is a boring program for children. Have you brought any toys or games or anything to play with?” she asked.
“A few,” said Theo, “but I’m too old for them.”
“Well, what would you like to do?” Sharon was looking longingly at the screen.
“I have a book,” said Theo.
“Oh, good.”
Theo went into her new room and looked in her bag. At the bottom were the few battered toys Rae had packed in Vancouver—and her doll. She’d forgotten all about Sabrina.
The old doll’s rubber face smelled sour. Theo remembered Heather’s clean new smell and put Sabrina back into the bag. She pulled out the library book instead.
It was a Mary Poppins story. Theo had loved the others but she couldn’t get into this one. The happy Banks family wasn’t her family. She put the book back in the bag too, and lay on her back trying to remember everything that had been in the room she’d shared with Anna and Lisbeth.
SHARON CALLED HER at four. They went for a walk to Theo’s school, along pretty streets lined with small wooden houses. Down every street was a glimpse of the sea.
The school was only six blocks away. It was called St. Bridget’s. “Your mother and I both went here,” said Sharon. “When I registered you, I asked about my old teachers, but they’ve all retired. I loved this school. The nuns were so patient with us, and I always felt so secure.”
“Did Rae like it?” asked Theo.
Sharon looked uncomfortable. “Mary Rae never liked any school. She was always getting into trouble and the kids were always talking about her. It was embarrassing to be her sister.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Oh, skipping classes and cheeking