The Fire

Janie had been having the strangest dream every night. Over and over, she dreamed there was a fire at her apartment complex. Each night when she had the dream, she would wake up and try to convince everyone to get out of their apartments, but no matter how hard she tried in the dream, she could never wake anyone up. She told her mother about the dream, but her mother told her that it was simply a dream and not to worry.

Exhaustion began to catch up with Janie. Because of the recurring nightmare, she had not been sleeping well. One afternoon, as she arrived home from school, she decided to take a nap on the couch rather than start her homework, which was her normal routine. She felt like she had only just closed her eyes when she smelled smoke. Even half asleep she knew it was just the dream seeming so real again and that she shouldn’t worry, but she couldn’t help it. She sat up from the couch and began screaming, “Fire!”

As she sat up, she realized there really was smoke just outside her window. She wasn’t sleepy any longer. She jumped up and ran out to the balcony. Flames were coming from the apartment below her. Janie grabbed the telephone and dialed for help as she ran outside and began knocking on everyone’s doors, urging them to get outside quickly. Unlike in her dream, this time people listened as Janie ran up and down the apartment complex warning people to get out.

The sound of alarms coming down the street was like music to Janie’s ears. The fire trucks arrived and began to immediately work on putting out the flames. Janie’s mother pulled into the parking lot at that exact minute. She spied Janie standing outside and rushed to her.

“It wasn’t exactly like my dreams,” she told her mother, “but it was close enough that I knew what needed to be done.” “You are a true hero,” her mother said. “I’m so proud of you.” Then her mother added with a smile, “But from now on, I only want you dreaming about happy things.”