All Fall Down

by James Leo Herlihy

  I think I’d have to be pretty nutty to jump to any conclusions, but I’ve given this whole thing a lot of thought, and the way I’ve figured it out is this: I believe I’m through having too many nightmares.

  In fact, the kind of a person I believe I am now, is the kind that when somebody else has a nightmare, then I wake them up and take care of them—the kind of a person that puts my arms around them and says, “It’s okay, honey, everything’s going to be okay now. It’s only the wind.”

  The thing I wonder about though is this girl in the dream. I can’t remember what her face was like, so I’m none too sure who she’s going to turn out to be. Someday I’ll probably recognize her all right though.