CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: MISS MORGAN'S DREAM

All these things had worked strangely on Miss Morgan's mind. That night her sleep was weary and restless. She dreamed that she was home in Winthrop, and everything was as it had been before. She thought that the trip to Ome had just been a dream. Then she woke up and found herself in the middle of a wasteland, lying on the floor of Daniel Boone's cabin.

She slept again and dreamed that she was home in Windsor -- no, in Camelot; and she knew her name was Miss Morgan La Faye.

It was the day of a great tournament, a tennis tournament. Thousands of people had gathered in the grandstands at King Arthur's court to watch the finals. She paid Attention at the gate, then found a seat in the back of the bleachers.

It was E.B. White versus Alfred Lord Tennyson. They had very different styles. Tennyson kept rushing the net, with hard smashes and fancy spins. It was hard to imagine how he could catch his breath, running around the way he did. White played a leisurely, seemingly effortless game from the back line. He'd tap the ball so it just dribbled over the net, or he'd lob one high over Tennyson's head.

It was a close match with long volleys, as they struck and struck again. Then, suddenly, the match lit, and the whole place was on fire, with people running and screaming. And there stood Miss Morgan La Faye, all alone, weeping, amid the charred ruins.

"There was a flaw," said a deep sad voice. Miss Morgan knew it was Merlin speaking. "It seems there's always a flaw," he continued. He was a short, pudgy old man, wearing a black dunce cap. "Maybe they need more practice. Oh, well, nothing to do, I guess, but just keep trying".

It rained heavily. A thick fog moved in. Miss Morgan was standing in a cloud, and the cloud was Cloud Nine. Gaynell went riding by on a unicorn, and Kathy was reading Merlin's book of charms. Nearby lay Mr Carroll, sound asleep.

Miss Morgan stepped up to him very softly, kneeled and kissed him. He woke suddenly. He didn't see her. She didn't see herself. She screamed, but made no sound.

"Judy?" he asked. "Where are you, Judy?"

He looked so alone and helpless. She reached out, but couldn't touch him. She was somewhere else, somewhere on the road to Ome and Home. There was really nothing she could do.

The clouds went away, but the sun didn't come out. Miss Morgan screamed again, this time loud and clear, "Help! Help!" But there was nobody around to hear her -- nobody but Merlin.

"I'd like to help," he said, "but I'm much too old and tired. Arthur and his knights would help, too, but they're caught on that Merry-Go-Round Table, that carousel of time".

"Will they ever get off?" asked Miss Morgan.

"Arthur will return. His day will come again. But don't hold your breath. For one brief shining moment, they had it. They really had it. And the world was ablaze with the fire that doesn't burn. Then it was gone. And there was the emptiness, and chasing after false fires to fill the emptiness. But they had it for that moment, and it was splendid. Ah, those were the days.

"But no need to wait for King Arthur. Why the world could be enchanted and disenchanted dozens of times before he returns; and chances are he won't be back for long. It seems there's always a flaw. But here. Take this stick and have a go at it".

It was the same stick that Plato had given her.

"But . . ". she started. Merlin was gone, and she had a book in her hands. She knew it was about Arthur, but was shocked by the contemporary cover, with a non-Arthurian title -- They've done it; you can do it. She opened it again. It was about Arthur. She looked again at the cover, and under the title was an epigraph in Victorian type:

"They've done it; you can do it;

Whither you've known the shadow of its secret glow".

Or was it "sacred glow" or "secret vow" or "sacred vow?"

She woke up trying desperately to remember the words. And the more she tried to remember, the more muddled and uncertain it all became, till all she knew was that they could do it. Why or how -- she didn't know, but they could and would bring back the fire.