Dawn (Cutler 1)

"Oh, let her sleep, Ormand. It's late," Momma would say.

"You tired, Dawn?"

"No, Daddy," I would say, even though I could barely keep my eyes open.

Jimmy was asleep on his side of the car.

"So? Where shall it be this time?" Daddy asked again.

"I think . . . an airplane," I said. "Soaring above the clouds."

"And so it will be. Feel the lift-off," he said and laughed.

A short while later I really was soaring above the clouds.

Sometimes, when we dream hard enough, those dreams come true, I thought.

And I looked ahead toward the long stretch of blue sky and dreamt of thousands of people in an audience listening to me sing.