The Stuff of Dreams

by J Luc Pitard

Disclaimer: The Labyrinth remains the sole property of the producers and creators of the movie and music. Special shout outs to the Hensons, Misters Jones, Bowie and Froud.

Long Summer

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Would it really be such a burden?” Irene Williams was asking. “It's just for today. There's a ladies luncheon at the club and since school's ended?” She tossed her stack of mail onto the side table in the den and gestured at the room as though her stepdaughter had been lazing the day away in there instead of having just stopped in to watch the weather on the television.

“Fine. I told you before it was fine.” Sarah replied with a certain amount of resignation in her voice. “I'm off to work, though. Do you mind if he--”

A blond torpedo smacked her words, along with her breath, out of her body. “--comes with?” she wheezed. From her new position on the floor, she smiled weakly up at her little brother.

“Yeah!” Toby shouted. “I wanna see Hoggle!” He jumped off her as his mother scowled.

“That's Mr. Hoggle to you, young man,” Sarah teased softly, pushing her finger into the boy's soft belly as her stepmother's exasperated voice shouted over them.

“Honestly, Sarah! Why are you wasting your last summer at that... dump?”

She assumed the question was, by this point in their lives together, largely rhetorical. Irene swept out of the room satisfied that her child care problem was taken care of and began a semi-monologue about the invitations to the luncheon having been messed up by the mail carriers again and other similar worries of the leisure set. Toby and his big sister ignored it as they sat on the floor planning out their day.

“Work and then the library, okay? You've eaten, right?” That drew a nod from the boy who now began to tie the ends of her hair into knots. “Bike or bus?” she asked.

“I wish we could fw--” Finger covered his mouth before he could finish.

“Shhhhhh!” she hissed. “We don't say things like that, Tobes. You know how I feel about that.”

The boy looked properly chastised and just a bit crestfallen. Soon enough his bottom lip jutted out into a cute pout. If he hadn't kept a twinkle in his slightly dilated left eye, she might've believed him. As it was she pushed him away with a laugh.

“Okay you faker, go upstairs and get your play pack. I'll get my bicycle out and meet you in the yard.”

As she gathered her gear and headed outside, Sarah reflected on the spread in age between herself and the little monster. Fifteen years apart, yet they hung out more than many full blood siblings closer in age. Sometimes she even thought of him as sort of her own child. Her bike had the child seat on it, for example. She shook her head at the other two bikes that lived permanently in the shed. Her father was an entertainment lawyer who traveled extensively and her stepmother was active in a certain type of high society that thought nothing of taking week long charity cruises to raise money for disadvantaged children while their own children were in the company of babysitters, or in one case being watched by an older sister while the babysitter just collected wages and occasionally cooked. Sarah was a still a bit bitter about that although it had happened a year before. It wasn't that she minded the time spent with her brother-not at all! He was a charmer and being with him filled an empty space in her heart.

College plans had even been worked out with the little ruffian in mind: college credits earned in high school, a year at the local community college and then a year and a half at a small university in Connecticut just a few hours away. She didn't want him to grow up without her. Her high school guidance counselor ended up shaking her head at their meeting when Sarah wouldn't consider the ivy league schools who'd scouted her. Luckily the woman hadn't called her parents in. They'd been happy enough with the low price tag once she presented her plan to them.

“Say-wah!” a chipper voice called from the back door as Sarah lifted her bike out of the shed. The little boy hauled a back pack along the ground and closed the door behind himself.

“Are you bringing your whole room?” she asked, her frown chasing away the miracle of him shutting the door for once.

Big, blue eyes met hers, with a hopeful grin he said, “No. I bwought stuff to play wif everyone.”

Sarah started to demand he pare it down, but stopped herself. Toby was always being forced on her, but she didn't want him to feel like a burden. She knew too well how lonely it was to sit around while her parents did their “important” work This way he'd keep himself distracted and the others might be amused as well. With a sigh she picked up the pack and settled it on her shoulders. He lifted his arms to be put on the bike and with the click of their helmets, they sped off.