Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 151, Nos. 1 & 2. Whole Nos. 916 & 917, January/February 2018

Wake Me When It’s Over by Robert Garner McBrearty

Robert Garner McBrearty’s short stories have been widely published in leading literary journals, including North American Review, Missouri Review, New England Review, Narrative Magazine, Story Quarterly, and Mississippi Review. He is the author of three short-story collections, A Night at the Y, Episode — stories from which won the Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award — and Let the Birds Drink in Peace.

Samuels came out of the tent in the Serengeti and realized his wife Julie had taken off in the jeep with his best friend Lyle, who was also their guide on this trip for some reason that didn’t make sense because Lyle didn’t know any more about Africa than they did. But here he was, their guide. Though Lyle was handsome in a goofy sort of way, with his droopy walrus moustache, it was hard to see why Julie had fallen for him, but there’d been nights around the campfire when he’d caught them staring at each other, then glancing furtively at him. Now his suspicions were confirmed. No jeep and they had left him to die with many miles to cross in this lion-infested, waterless, barren land.

He did the sensible thing, of course, which was to realize he would need to bond with nature, go wild to survive, and so he took off all his clothes except his underwear, walked a few feet, winced, realized his mistake, put back on his boots, and set off at a good pace. Now just up ahead a lion rose from the grass, and now another, and he walked on, and now there were more lions. He started to run but within moments they pounced on him and tore him to shreds, with hyenas already moving in and dragging off body parts, though it seemed he was watching from a distance now, that it was someone else’s body that was being ripped to shreds. Heart pounding, Samuels woke now in his comfy bed in the city with Julie beside him and he was sweating and breathing quickly, and it took him a few moments to settle down. He was a little angry at Julie, even though he was relieved to know this was all a dream and what would she see in Lyle anyway? It was ridiculous to imagine anything between them, even if Lyle did come over quite a bit, maybe a little more than one might usually expect. But after all, they had been best friends for many years, long before Julie had come into his life.

“What is it?” Julie asked, rolling over. “What’s wrong?” It always bothered her when he woke in the night. She said it kept her from falling back to sleep herself.

“I had a dream,” he said. He told her about the dream. He chuckled and said, “You and Lyle, silly, isn’t it?”

Julie was silent. Then he heard her quiet breathing. “It’s not so silly.”

“What?”

“We didn’t know how to tell you. I’m leaving you for Lyle,” she said in that brusque way she sometimes had.

Samuels bolted up in bed. Julie was still sleeping, snoring slightly but firmly in that lovely sort of way she had of snoring. My God, he realized, it’s one of those double dreams. It’s one of those dreams where you thought you’d woken up but you were actually still dreaming. He was afraid to go back to sleep right away, so he rose, put on his bathrobe, and went into their living room. They lived in a condo on the ninth floor, the highest floor in the building. He slid open the glass door and stepped out onto the small terrace, closing the door behind him. He looked out on the lights of the city, spreading out, so pretty, and he could see the river in the distance, the way the lights glimmered off the water. He loved the wind up high where they lived, blowing his hair, making his eyes moisten, bringing him back to his senses.

He heard a noise and turned to see Julie sliding open the door, slender and lovely in her nightgown. Julie, the light and love of his life. It seemed a miracle that they had found each other, both of them so searching and lost when they first met, until they found happiness together. Well, happiness most of the time, anyway, more than he’d ever known before. Maybe he was inclined to moods, but she’d brought out the best in him. She stood beside him at the railing, which came to their waists.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He told her about the double dream. She held her nightgown to her throat and her head ducked down and away, and she looked up at the lights of the city, but not at him. “It’s not such a strange dream... Look, it hasn’t been right between us for a long time now, you know that.”

A burning sensation rose in his throat. “What are you talking about? I thought things were great.”

“That’s the problem, isn’t it? You never understand anything.”

“What are you saying?”

“It just happened, okay. I didn’t mean it to happen. Lyle’s fun to be with. It’s always depressing with you. You’re gloomy all the time. Is it so wrong to want a little happiness in my life?”

He stared at her and then he laughed.

“What?” she said. “Why are you laughing like that? You sound weird.”

“A triple dream,” he said, still laughing. “It’s a triple dream. That beats all.”

She was moving away toward the sliding glass door when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the railing. “Come here.”

“I don’t want to. Let me go.”

He tilted back against the railing, holding her to his chest as she struggled. The lights of the city spun around his head. “It’s just a dream,” he said, laughing. She fought him, broke free of him as they went over.

She screamed and clawed at the air and kicked her feet. He went down smoothly, his hands up, the lights of the city dazzling and beautiful. He knew you always woke up before you hit the ground.