On her way to the kitchen, Jayne stops, looks at Edgar in his cage, brings the cage over to the coffee table, lays down on the couch, says a few words to Edgar, then suddenly becomes quite tired, and quickly falls asleep.

She finds herself in a mixed pastoral-sylvan setting, with rolling hills on the horizon.

A little blond girl of about five or six steps out from behind one of the trees.

"Hey, Jayne," the little girl cries cheerfully. "Boy, you sure have been having a really bad time. I'm glad that you finally came to play with me! You could use it."

"Where am I? And who are you?" Jayne asks.

"Oh," says the little girl. "We have to go through this every time. You've been here scads of times. And you know me! I'm you about a gazillion years ago."

"A gazillion!" laughs Jayne. "Am I that old?"

"Well, maybe not a whole gazillion," Little Jayne admits. "But an awful long time ago."

"Are you going to grow up to be me?" Big Jayne asks.

"Nope! I'm never, ever gonna grow up!" Little Jayne declares. "I'm always gonna be just about like this and be here for you to come and visit whenever you need to. And, boy, do you need to see me now!"

"No kidding!" Big Jayne squats down beside her and looks around. "This seems like a very happy place. Is it just our place? Are we here all alone?"

"Oh, no! There's lots of people here. Almost everybody you liked when you were a kid like me. Like, over there on that hill. See? There's Mavis when you first knew her. She was about the last one to get in."

Big Jayne looks as directed, and though the distance is considerable, she can see young Mavis very clearly, as though through a telescope, waving back at her.

"Can we go see Mavis?" asks Big Jayne.

"Well, we could," Little Jayne says hesitantly. "But when I go over to that hill, I get taller and ...."

"And what?"

Little Jayne says in a low, confidential voice, "I get bumps on my chest. It's, you know, kind of embarrassing for me."

Remembering, Big Jayne smiles. "Well, don't worry about those. I learned to be very proud of them."

"Besides," says Little Jayne, "SOMEBODY says that right now, I can do you the most good by being just the way I am."

"Oh, and just who is that SOMEBODY who's being so bossy? Telling us what to do in our place?"

"Oh, he doesn't mean to be bossy," says Little Jayne. "He just is being helpful. He's usually right, anyway. He knows you pretty well."

"Well, who is this helpful busybody?"

"You know," says Little Jayne. "The bird."

"The bird?"

"Yeah. Him." Little Jayne points at a raven that has just landed on a low branch on the tree beside her.

"Edgar!" exclaims Jayne. "What are you doing here? You didn't come along in my life until much later than this?"

"Oh," explains Little Jayne, "Edgar's always been here. From the very start of this place. But he wasn't always a bird. He didn't become a bird until about the time you met Mavis. And he didn't get the name Edgar until you gave a present to Mavis a few years later. I don't remember what all he was before that. He was a teddy bear for a while and a pussy cat, too. Even a bunny rabbit."

"Strange! He's been all that!" Big Jayne looks at him closely.

"Well, what he is really is something like the embodiment of your deep intuition, whatever that means. I don't know how I know all those big words. Anyway, he's been a bird for a long time. Maybe he likes it."

Edgar clears his throat and sternly says, in the deep, resonant voice of Basil Rathbone, the actor who played Sherlock Holmes in movies of the 1930s and 1940s, "My dear child, I assure you that I am perfectly capable of explaining myself, thank you very much."

Then turning to Big Jayne, he continues, "Yes, as the little darling says, I am your deepest intuition. And, as such, I am also....."

The voice changes abruptly to that of Boris Karloff, "The guardian of the entrance to some of your most troubling memories.

Seeing Jayne's surprise, the voice changes again to that of a Bugs Bunny. "Eh, what's up, Jayne? I can also do cartoon characters and, along with my pal, Little Jayne, I help you keep from forgetting stuff you learned as a child."

Suddenly, a broad smile of recognition comes over Big Jayne's face. "Yes! Now that you tell me all that, I remember it as clearly as if I had never forgotten it. It's really good to see you again!" After a pause, she adds, "I suppose there's a good reason why I here now."

Going back to the more dignified Rathbone voice, Edgar says, rather gravely, "Yes, Jayne. In your day-to-day life, what you think of as 'the real world,' you are having a very, very tough time -- and it may get much tougher."

"Boy, you got that right. I don't know how I'm going to get through this." Big Jayne shakes her head at her situation, then asks Edgar, "I don't suppose you can tell me if I'll come out of this okay?"

"No, my dear," Edgar says solemnly. "One thing I cannot do is tell your future with precision. I can give you your own best insights as to what will happen if you pursue certain courses, but outcomes still depend on the choices you make and also on factors that may be unknown."

Taping Big Jayne on the hip to get her attention, Little Jayne adds, as a hopeful note, "One reason why you've come back here now is so that, if things don't go very well for you, you'll know that you can come back here." Little Jayne lowers her head. "In fact, you may have to come back here and stay for a long, long time." She raises her head and smiles, "But if you do have to do that, we'll really, really have fun."

Big Jayne considers this and says, "That really wouldn't be so bad, I guess. Who would be here besides the three of us and Mavis?"

"I told you," Little Jayne reminds her, "Everybody that you liked as a child is here, but you don't see them all every time you come here -- just the ones you need to see most."

"And," Edgar interrupts, "there is one more person here that you should definitely meet on this visit. Someone who has something important to tell you."

"Who's that?" asks Big Jayne.

"Me," declares a rich, familiar masculine voice from behind her.

"Uncle Matt!" cries Big Jayne, turning around to greet him. "It's so good to see you!" She goes to the man, who is strange mixture of strength and frailty and hugs him. "This gives me another chance to thank you for saving me."

"Yes," says Little Jayne, "from those bad boys who wanted me to show them my pee-pee."

"And I'm so sorry," Big Jayne adds, "that chasing them away caused you to have a heart attack. Now that I think of it, you must have had the same problem that I just had surgery for."

"Well," says Uncle Matt, "I was living on borrowed time. If it had not been that, I might have died trying to make a grand slam in Bridge. Saving you from abuse was a much nobler act. I don't regret it."

"I want you to know, Uncle Matt, that I kept my word to you. I never told anyone what you had done. I never told anyone about it," says Big Jayne, with a smile.

"Yes, Jayne," says Uncle Matt. "I'm glad you kept your word. But I'm here because I want to make sure you understand why I asked you to keep quiet about it. I was afraid that your mother would blame you for my death if you told her. I am sorry, though, that you had a stuttering problem because of that."

"Oh, that's okay," Big Jayne reassures him. "I got over that just fine."

"But there's something else that you may not have gotten over," says Uncle Matt. "I think you may have gotten the idea that you should not tell people if you have been abused or if you are danger of being abused. I NEVER INTENDED TO GIVE YOU THAT IMPRESSION. Jayne, you must tell the people who love you about the danger you are in now."

"Yes," says Little Jayne. "Tell Mavis and Rick about what Lon is trying to do to you."

"Oh," says Big Jayne, "I don't think I need to do that. I don't want to upset them. This is my problem. I'll be able to get through it all right." She looks at Edgar. "I will get through this, won't I?"

Edgar pauses a moment and the responds, "Jayne, you and I both know that, yes, you may survive this ordeal if you choose to go along with what Lon has in mind, but it may be very, very unpleasant and can have lasting effects -- it could wind up changing you forever."

"I suppose you're right," agrees Jayne.

"Remember that I am really your own deepest level of intuition," Edgar reminds her. "I will show you what is likely to happen if you go to see Lon as planned next Thursday, if you will look into this dark pool." Edgar nods to a pool of water that has suddenly appeared beside the tree he is perched on. "That is, I will show you, if Little Jayne will excuse us."

"Don't worry," says Little Jayne. "I know I'm not allowed to watch stuff like this. Come on, Uncle Matt. Let's go play jacks." She takes her uncle by the hand.

"She always beats me," laughs Uncle Matt, allowing himself to be led away by the small child.

"All right," says Edgar, once he and Big Jayne are alone. "This will not be pleasant. Get a grip on yourself and stare into the pool to see what next Thursday is likely to be like, if you do as Lon asks."

Jayne swallows and stares into the pool.

{NOTE FROM THANTASY: Cardaniel and I decided not to play out the scene between Lon and Jayne. You may continue reading the dream sequence which resumes after this note or you may click here to see a description of what that scene would have been like. Even this brief description of what is essentially a rape, albeit a very technically sophisticated rape, is very brutal and traumatic as will be evidenced by Jayne's reaction to viewing it.}

"Well," says Big Jayne, stepping back from the pool, "I can't let that happen to me. And I can't let Rick and Mavis see me go through that. I know that with their love and support, I could recover from something like that if it only happened once or even several times. But the way Lon has me trapped, this would go on forever. It would never end and recovery can't start until something ends. I know what I have to do."

"Well," says Edgar. "I can't disagree with your decision. But I do urge you to tell the people who love you."

"Yes," agrees Uncle Matt, who has come back with Little Jayne, now that the vision is over, "for heaven's sakes, tell them. This isn't like what happened when you were a child."

"What do you think?" Big Jayne asks Little Jayne.

"Oh, you have to tell them!" Little Jayne says with absolute certainty. "They love you."

Big Jayne looks to the distant hill where Young Mavis is standing. "What do you think, best friend? Should I tell you?"

Young Mavis smiles and nods in the affirmative.

"Well," says Big Jayne. "Of course, you're all absolutely right. Rick and Mavis love me and the decision I'm making will affect them deeply. It wouldn't be fair to keep them in the dark. I'll tell them what I've decided."

"Yea!!!!" shouts Little Jayne.

"Very wise," pronounces Edgar.

"That's my good girl!" says Uncle Matt.

From the far hill, Young Mavis gives her pal a big "thumbs up" signal.

"Well, thanks, all of you. I feel a lot better, even considering my decision," says Big Jayne.

"I can tell that your spirits are raised and that you are more yourself again," Edgar assures her. "My real world counterpart will be able to tell, also. There is a link between the two of us."

"I guess," says Big Jayne, "it's time for me to leave you all and wake up and be with Rick and Mavis. Thanks again. I'll be back."

"Yes," says Little Jayne, "and please remember, if you need to, if something bad happens next Thursday, you can come back here and stay for a long, long time. We'll have lots of fun."

"I'll remember," Big Jayne assures her. "Bye, everybody."

The scene fades as everyone says farewell to Jayne and.......

Jayne awakens with her head on Rick's lap and her feet in Mavis's lap.