Chapter 11 - What to do?
Etta was in bed when Jen burst through the door and switched the light on.
'What is it?' she demanded.
Her mother was wide eyed. She waved her hands about excitedly in the air, as she spoke.
'I was at the cinema, watching the film,' she began.
'Yeah? So? When what happened?'
'Shut up and don't interrupt. I'm trying to tell you.'
Her cheeks flushed with annoyance and excitement. 'It was a news reel about some ship and then it wasn`t. It was a hospital and we were there, Etta, we were in bed, unconscious. And Matt and Luke were there too. They'd come to see us. Oh and when it started, there was a title, Jen and Etta in a coma as a result of the car crash.'
Jen was now speaking so fast, Etta could barely understand her, and the words were tumbling out like a waterfall.
'Slow down, please, Mum,' Etta begged. 'Are you saying you saw us in a film?'
'Yes. The nurse told Matt and Luke that they could help us to recover by talking to us and playing our favourite music. She said that we should come out of the coma in a few weeks. They were sitting by our bedside and holding our hands. They were so sweet.’ Jen's voice was getting louder and she was pacing the carpet.
'Mum, calm down and stop shouting. People will hear.'
'I was not shouting,' Jen said huffily.
Etta thought it best not to start a row about that.
'Did everybody else see the film?'
'No. They told me it was something about a new medicine for people who'd had Spanish Flu and become idiots.' Jen's flushed, 'I wasn't hallucinating!'
'I didn't say you were, I just wondered what they saw. And anyway, it matches up with what I saw in the mirror.'
'What mirror?'
'Just after we arrived, I saw myself in the mirror but I was unconscious with lots of tubes.'
'Why didn't you tell me?'
'I forgot, anyway, I'm telling you now.'
'We're being given signs or hints if you like,' Jen decided.
'Maybe it's our subconscious,' Etta suggested. 'Trying to tell us to wake up. Trying to communicate with us.’
'I can believe that but what I don’t understand is why we are both having the same dream. Why are we in a country house with you as a guest and me as a maid? Why is Miss Mittens here?’
Etta had an answer. ‘Because we were going to that Golden Age of Crime seminar. We had it on our minds.’
‘Yes, I know but everything seems so real, doesn’t it? We can touch, smell, taste things.’
‘Yes it does but dreams can be like that, can’t they? Mum, what can we do to help us wake up?’
‘I don’t know. Lets both sleep on it and see if we can come up with anything in the morning.’
Etta was sure that she would not be able to get to sleep but after tossing and turning for some considerable time, she eventually did.
Murder and Mittens Page 11