At this very moment, in her dream, she was pushing open the door of the Devil's Workshop (recollect the quote "Idle mind is a Devil's Workshop" said by I-Don't-Know-Who). In the Workshop, she looked around, but she couldn't see very clearly.

The place was dusty, as if no one had even opened the door and let some fresh air in for years. Who owned this place, anyway? She looked down, and was shocked to see that she couldn't see her feet! They were smothered (don't you think that feet need to breathe?) in dust, so she tried leaping around to free her feet and soon the whole area turned grey with specks of dust floating everywhere.

In the faraway regions of the shop, she heard a muffled cry (which, according to her, sounded angry), and then she heard footsteps. She stopped leaping around and watched to see what would happen. "Thank God, at last zomeone has come to my zhop," the voice said and Sari relaxed, this person was not angry with her. "But Mademoiselle, (Sari was startled to hear this -- was she in France, by any chance?)you zhould not do this, zhis is the Dust of Dreams!" Sari gasped. What did he mean, the Dust of Dreams?

She tried running out of the shop, to save herself, but it was too late, the Dust had caught her around the ankles, and she was being pulled to the floor, coughing and gasping… "DO SOMETHING!!" She yelled, and looked around for the owner of this shop, but the Dust flew into her eyes, and her eyes started watering, and she fell to the floor, silent.

Sari was jolted awake by a hand nervously shoving spoonfuls of some delicious liquid into her mouth. She looked around, and her eyes once more adjusted to the darkness of the shop. She looked to see who the mysterious owner of this shop was (as she had not seen him before, due to the dust) and was startled to see that it was a small, evil looking man, who possessed a tail!

Could it be the Devil, she wondered, but her thoughts were interrupted by the person, who said, " I know zou think I am the Devil, but I am the great great great great great great grandson of zhe original Devil," he said and looked at his tail, "And zhe saddest part is that, even after all these years, the storybook characteristics of a Devil (like the tail, the small body, and evil looks)have stubbornly refused to zisappear from all of us zescendants".

Sari coughed, because all this while he was talking, he was also shoving spoonfuls of the liquid into her mouth, and however delicious it was, she was beginning to feel sick. "Stop it, I'm alright!' she told him, and pushed the bottle away from her, to show that she was talking about the medicine, not his conversation. " Well, zanyway, I will stop zhis long talk," he said, and screwed on the cap of the bottle, whose contents had almost been emptied out. "What have you given me?" she demanded (doesn't she have the right to know what he is shoving down HER throat?). He replied, " I 'ave given you zhe Liquid of Reality". Sari asked, "What is the Liquid of Reality?" The man replied, "You'll see," with a grin on his face, and sure enough, one second later, Sari was back to her house, out of the dream, and in her own bed!

Ahalya Mandana
Std 7, Royal Concorde International School