Dear Ama,

Dear Ama,

I miss you. When will you come to visit again?

Mommy said this is the best way to reach you, so I can tell you that, so I hope you get it and answer me back.

Or even better, come visit!

I haven’t been to our favorite place, Cherries, in a long, long time—Mommy won’t take me. And I miss the two scoops of strawberry and vanilla with rainbow sprinkles on top we always get.

Ama, where have you been? What have you been up to?

I have been okay. Mostly going to school and playing with my friends.

But Ama, I need your help. Rupert is missing!!

He was at home yesterday, and nobody’s seen him since!

He was wearing his favorite blue shirt and yellow shorts, with a baseball cap.

I miss him so much. I can’t remember the last time we were apart!

He’s my favorite.

Can you help me find him?

Thank you,

Love,

Lucy

“Hey, Ana.

This is for you.”

“Thanks, Jared,” said Ana as she took the envelope and opened it. Oh look, it’s from my little Lucy.”

“Aww, how is she?” asked Jared.

“As far as I know, she’s doing okay. I hate I’m missing so much of her growing up.”

“Yeah, that is pretty hard,” said Jared. “But hey, at least you get to peek in every now and then.

Well, let me get to delivering the rest of these. You have yourself a wonderful rest of your day!”

“Thanks, you do, too, Jared.”

As Jared headed out, Ana, grasping the letter, began to read.

A few minutes after she finished, Ana’s friend Caitlyn appeared at her door. Ana let her in.

“Hey, Ana!” Catilyn beamed as she reached to embrace her friend.

“Hey, Cate,” Ana answered uncharacteristically dryly.

“Are you okay?” her friend asked.

“Yeah, I just…received a letter from Lucy. She’s asking for my help with something, and I’m just…kind of bummed that I can’t.”

“Who says you can’t?”

“Well, I mean… I assumed I can’t.”

“Sure you can! Well, kinda…”

“But how?” asked Ana.

“Go down to Admin. They’ll help you.”

“Oh wow, Caitlyn, thank you so much!!” Ana immediately beamed out of her home and descended down to Admin.

“Hello!” she exclaimed towards the person waiting at the front desk.

“Hello, how may I help you?” the other woman replied.

“Well, see, I recently received a letter from my granddaughter asking me to help her with something. And Caitlyn mentioned I could come here for help. What are my options?”

“Well, what does your granddaughter need help with?”

“Well, someone she really cares about has gone missing. And I know she’s just a reck—a total reck!!”

“Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear that. Well, let’s see what we can do…

Okay. Let’s see.

Here you go…”

The woman laid out a sheet of paper.

“Here are each of your options and some details of each,” she said. "Although some of it is pretty straightforward."

Ana's eyes scanned the writings.

“Hmmm Dream," she said softly before continuing.

"Assist.

Peek.

Whisper.”

Oh, Assist! Looks like you can help more directly that way—put something in her path to help guide her. So yeah, let’s do that.

So, the thing is… With Assist, you can only use that once every 10 years..."

"Once every 10 years?!"

"Yes, I’m afraid so."

"Why so infrequent?"

"Well, I mean, you gotta let them figure it out some of the time.

If we didn’t put parameters around it, people would be ‘Assist’-ing left and right!"

“Yeah, but…10 years?!?” asked Ana, still bewildered.

“Processing those assists also require a lot of manpower. Lots of administrative work. So it also helps cut down on that. And it’s our way to allow the service to go on being free—”

“Free?”

“Yes," said the woman.

“Man. So, I have to figure out if I want to help Ana with an Assist…and hope she doesn’t need my help for anything as or more important in the next 10 years…”

“Her or anybody," said the woman.

“Her or anybody?”

“Her or anybody. One Assist as a whole…every 10 years.”

“Oh man.”

“Yeah.”

“And what about the others? Are they all like that? Just one person every 10 years?”

“One person, yes. 10 years, no.”

“Oh? So, how often can they be used?”

“Let’s see—for Dream, every five years. Whisper, every year. And Peak, once a week.”

“Oh! Once a week?” Ana felt her hope and excitement returning.

“Once a week.”

“Oh, then let’s do that!" Ana responded certainly.

"Just so you know, it’s only you dropping in to see her… Nothing you’ll actually be doing...with that option."

“Oh. Yeah. That isn't really much any good, then, is it...

What are my other options again?"

“Whisper and Dream.”

“Hmmm Whisper and Dream. Once a year. Once every five years.”

“Right.”

Maybe Dream, then?

“Okay, just know that… For Dream, what you signal can’t be direct and obvious. It has to be symbolic.”

“Symbolic?”

“Yeah, so like if you’re trying to tell them a friend in real life is going to backstab them, you can’t just tell them, ‘Hey, watch out – your friend is going to backstab you.’ You’d have to, like, show up at their friend’s house with a lobster as a gift to the friend, or something...”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, I know, I don’t know. Just telling you how it works. Haven't you ever had dreams?!”

"I mean, yeah..."

"Are they ever straightforward?!"

"Well, no, not exac--"

"Exactly. They're more indirect. Symbolic. Figurative. Metaphorical.

That's what yours has to be. No exceptions."

“I mean, I kinda get it... I think. It's just, I’m not even sure I’d know how tell my granddaughter this kind of thing symbolically. Especially in a dream…”

“Hey, I didn’t make up the rules...”

Ana sighed, again torn and frustrated.

“Okay, and the last one, Whisper…”

“Yeah, that’s a pretty good one, except…”

“Except…?!”

“That has to be pretty subtle, too, but not as much as with Dream. You have a bit more leeway.”

Ana sighed again.

Lucy lay on her bed, coloring and trying to take her mind off of Rupert’s disappearance.

Her face appeared as sad and droopy as the two blue dots and downward arc in the circle she'd drawn and was coloring.

Suddenly, as she contemplated giving the blue a rest and switching to purple, she felt a faint warm sensation.

She looked up.

It was an oddly familiar sensation, accompanied by the slightest, also-familiar scent.

It reminded her of her grandmother.

Just then, a faint whisper spoke:

Your answer is down under.

“Down under?” Lucy softly said to herself as her eyebrows furrowed.

She lay confused for a few moments.

After briefly deliberating the words, for some reason not questioning where or how they came, she soon pushed her coloring book to the side, scooted her body to the edge of the bed, and dropped her feet to the floor.

Lucy paused again, briefly looking around.

She then crouched down onto the floor and scanned back and forth under her bed.

The sight seemed unremarkable—dusty storage bins full of books, old toys, and clothes took up most of the space.

But just as she was about to pull herself back up, her eyes grew big.

“Rupert!!!!!” she screeched.

In between two of the bins, in the corner of her bed, Rupert was wedged by his yellow shorts.

Lucy reached in with all her might and, after several short moments, was able to pull him free.

She pulled the soft, plushy mass to her chest, smiling ear to ear.

Just then, her mom appeared at her door. “Honey, did I hear you screaming. Are you okay?”

“Yes! I found Rupert!!!”

“Oh that’s great, honey! Where was he?”

“Under my bed. I must’ve accidentally kicked him under when I was trying to hurry and get ready for school yesterday.”

“Ohh okay. "Well, I’m so glad you found him, honey,” said her mom. “How did you know to look under there?”

“Grandma,” Lucy smiled brightly.

“Grandma?” her mom asked, slightly wide-eyed and with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes. She answered my prayer.”

Lucy hugged Rupert more tightly.

Her mom shared a smile that was blended with both warmth and sadness, as she walked over and gave her daughter her own warm embrace.

“I’m glad she helped you find him. See, I told you. Prayers do work.”

Lucy smiled freshly, clutching her favorite toy.

Ana stood quietly to the side, lovingly watching and also smiling—happy her granddaughter had her Rupert and was at peace again.