“Everything’s so dusty,” Clover said, sliding her shoes through the dirt as she walked.
“That’s ’cause it’s just like the wild west,” Shamrock said, eagerly moving from one site to another. He stopped by every house, every cactus, every tavern, and every shop. People filled the streets and buildings, wearing leather vests and tall boots, and some brought their horses with them. “I’ve never seen one of these dreams with so many people in it before!”
Watching Shamrock move around quickly, Clover looked for any signs of trouble. Nothing about this dream interested her. She hoped to find someone in trouble so she wouldn’t be bored.
“Aren’t you even in the least bit excited?” Shamrock asked.
“I walked around here for over an hour waiting for you. Everything here is dull. No one needs my help.”
“In a town like this? You’re just not looking hard enough. Look over there for example.” Shamrock pointed to a saloon. “There might be an exciting fight going on right now. Com’on, let’s check it out.” Shamrock skipped down the dirt road to the saloon, Clover shuffling her feet as she slowly followed behind.
The door to the tavern was designed to be only a few feet tall, with a few feet of open space over and under it. At the saloon doorway, Shamrock bent over to look under the bottom of the door. He frowned to see only people sitting at the bar and tables, drinking from glasses.
“Is there a fight?” Clover asked as she approached Shamrock. She squatted next to him and look inside. “That looks boring, too. When will someone need some magic?”
“Aha, look over there, in the corner. Those men are playing a card game. One of them might be cheating. Let’s check it out.”
The two kids entered the saloon. They stood behind one of the four men, looking at his cards. “Wow,” Clover exclaimed. “You’re really good at Go Fish. You have all four A’s!”
The man set his cards down on the table, and looked at the kids. “Just who are you, and why do you have a death wish, kid?”
“Leave ‘er along, Jesse,” one of the other men said. “B’sides two of your aces are hearts.”
Jesse turn back at the man. “You ‘ccusing me of cheatin’?”
“Give it up,” a young man, dressed like a general store shelf stocker, at the table said. “You’re the one that put your card down on the table face up.”
“You too, Kid?” Jesse pulled out a gun. “Let’s hear you say that again.”
The other two men slid their chairs back, and turned them toward other tables. Kid remained.
“You’ve got to the count of three, Kid, then I’m makin’ Swiss Cheese out of you. One. Two…”
Clover waved her wand. “Make all the guns shoot water.”
“Three.” Jesse’s gun flashed green as he pulled the trigger. A stream of water shot out, dousing Kid’s shirt. Jesse lifted his gun to his face to get a closer look at it. “It’s made of see-though green plastic. And I can see water inside.”
Clover ran around the table. She grabbed Kid’s hand. “Come on, we’ll take you somewhere safe.”
“Wait,” Kid stutters as Clover pulls him up from his chair. Shamrock hurries behind Kid, and pushes him toward the door. Kid finds himself with no choice but to follow along.
Outside, the three watch as people run in every direction, hurrying inside shops and behind water troughs. A moving dust cloud in the distance reveals a stampede of horses carrying tan-skinned men.
“It’s the Injuns,” Kid said. “We need to get inside before they skewer us with arrows.”
“Transform all arrows,” Clover said, waving her wand over her head, “to have suction cups instead of points!”
“Clover, you keep ruining everything,” Shamrock said. “You’re doing it all wrong. Westerns don’t have guns magically shoot water and arrows magically stick to peoples’ foreheads.”
“I can’t help it,” Clover replied. “I’m a magical girl. I’ll use magic to help out anywhere. If it’s in a jungle or at the beach or in a snowstorm, or even in the wild west, I’m supposed to use magic.”
As the two talked, a couple of Injuns rode by, each grabbing one of the kids. The two are taken back to the Injun village, where they’re tied to tall wooden stakes. Clover’s wand is taken from her, and presented to a young lady called the Injun Princess.
The princess accepted the gift, then inquired about the kids tied up. After hearing about their kidnapping, and how the wand was taken from the girl, she scolded the men of her tribe for doing such a thing. “These are only children.” She demands the wand be returned, but the Injuns found the two kids had vanished.
Near the village, Clover and Shamrock hid behind a wide cactus. Shamrock adjusts his glove, having used its magic to make the ropes longer, so they slid off the two. Seeing no one looking for them, the kids hurried back to town.
In town, the two bumped into someone. They apologized for their hurry, then they took notice of the man’s attire. He sported a cowboy hat, and a folded-over kerchief covered the lower half of his face. A water pistol sat holstered on either side of his belt.
Clover looked at the man’s eyes. “You look familiar.”
Shamrock looked, too. “You’re right. He’s that Kid guy. I didn’t know you were a cowboy, too.”
“He isn’t, yet,” Jesse said, stepped out from the saloon. “He’s my gang’s newest member, but only if he passes his initiation. To show his loyalty, he’s got to pistol the Injun Princess.”
“That doesn’t sound bad,” Clover said.
“It will be once they find out what we loaded those pistols with. Let’s just say it’s not just plain water, and it’ll sting the eyes something fierce.” Jesse and Kid mounted their horses. “And since the Injuns’ arrows have turned harmless, they can’t hurt us.”, The two rode off for the Injun village.
“We have to warn them,” Clover said.
“I don’t see why,” Shamrock said back, “since they kidnapped us and tied us up. But we should get your wand back. Maybe we can take it while the cowboys and Injuns are fighting. Let’s at least go in style.” Waving his gloved hand out, Shamrock said, “We’ll take a bike.” A three-wheeled, two seat bike appeared.
“I can’t ride a bike without falling,” Clover said.
“It’s okay,” Shamrock told her. We’ll both be on the same bike. I’ll make sure we don’t fall.”
The two climbed onto the bike, and headed for the Injun village. They stopped and got off the bike at the edge of the village. From there, they could see Jesse and Kid approaching the Injun Princess, who held the wand in her hand.
“Shamrock, do you think Kid’s the one dreaming?” Clover asked.
“Probably.”
“Are we supposed to help him hurt the princess?”
“Maybe we have to stop him from hurting her. This western’s about to turn into a magical show.”
Shamrock ran out as Kid lifted he gun to the princess. He waved his gloved hand, and a clear umbrella appeared opened between him and Kid. “Go ahead and shoot,” Shamrock said, with the princess standing behind him. “You can’t shoot through this.”
The Injun Princess put her hands on Shamrock’s shoulders. “He’s not going to shoot me. Even if he’s started hanging out with a rowdy crowd, even if they say bad things about me and Kid joins in, I know he’d never do anything to hurt me.”
“It’s you,” Shamrock says, looking up at the princess. “You’re the one dreaming. You and Kid, both. And right now, both of your dreams are connected. When you wake up, neither of you will renumber this dream, but the thoughts and feelings expressed will stay with you.”
“What do you mean?” the princess asks.
“Yeah, I don’t understand, either,” Clover said, joining the two behind the umbrella.
“If something really bad happens to the princess because of Kid, then Kid will remember the feeling.”
Clover thought for a moment. “You mean like, if he hurts her, he’ll feel bad about it when he wakes up?”
“Exactly. The feelings expressed in a dream carry over when you wake up. If he shoots us with that funny water, and we get hurt, or even if we played dead, he might think twice about being mean to you after he wakes up.”
“Hey, I’m still here,” Kid said, holding the gun pointed at the open umbrella. “If you think you can play dead and get my sympathy, it’s not going to work.”
Jesse slowly walked up behind the princess and the kids. He pressed a water pistol against the side of Clover’s face. “Try anything funny, and this kid’s eyes are going to sting for a week.”
“Jesse, I can handle this,” Kid said.
“I don’t trust you anymore.” Jesse nodded his head to the side, and the two other men from the card game grabbed Kid’s arms from behind. Jesse grabbed onto the princess’s arm, the wand dropping from her hand. “It’s a change of plans. This water’ll sting more than those harmless weapons the Injuns’ll be sending at us. Come on, let’s go.”
“What about the kids?” one of the men holding Kid asked.
“Leave ‘em. They’re just kids.”
Clover picked up the wand as Jesse backed away with the princess. She looked around. “Where’re all th’villagers? Why aren’t they here? They should be helping their princess!”
“This happens sometimes,” Shamrock said as he watched the three men walk away with their two captives. “People appear or disappear from dreams. One of them might wake up soon. We have to resolve their problem before that happens, or we might not get another chance. It’s very rare for two people to share a dream.”
The two hurried to their bike. Jesse’s gang had moved out of sight, but Shamrock told Clover they were certainly back in town by now. “It’s not unexpected to have time jump ahead in a dream when the dreamer is close to waking up. Let’s hurry.” They cycled to town as fast as they could.
Just as the Injun village , the town had become a ghost town. The kids set their bike against a store wall. They hurried in different directions to look for Jesse and the others. “Don’t open any closed doors,” Shamrock called out as they went their separate ways.
Clover ran up one street and down another. As she passed by the saloon, Clover stopped and look in. She found Kid tied to a chair inside. She entered the saloon and ran over to Kid. She pulled at the ropes, unable to figure out how to untie them.
“Don’t worry about me,” Kid said. “Find the princess. Help her.”
“I can’t do that,” Clover told him. “You have to help her.”
“Why me? I can’t do anything right. If I try to do anything, Jesse’ll and his gang’ll beat me up.”
“Is that why you try to hurt the princess?” Clover continued to fumble with the ropes.
“I didn’t mean to. But I don’t want to get hurt, so…”
Clover lowered her hands. “So you hurt the princess instead.” She slowly walked away, walking to the saloon’s entrance. “I guess y’really can’t help her.”
“Wait!” Kid called out as Clover reached the saloon door.
Clover stopped walking, resting a hand against the door. She didn’t look back at him.
“I’ll try. I’ll try to do the right thing. Even if I have to get hurt, I’ll stand up to Jesse and his gang.”
Clover lifted her wand out to her side. The ropes around the young man transformed into strands of cotton candy. Kid easily tore free.
Back outside, the two looked around.
“Where are they?” Clover asked.
“It’s sunset,” Kid said, looking west. “There should be a showdown somewhere. Let’s go toward the sun.”
The two followed the dusty road passing through the middle of town. At the edge of town, they found Jesse, with the two men holding the Injun Princess. Shamrock stood near Jesse. The two turned to stand back to back.
“What are they doing?” Clover asked.
“They’re having a showdown,” Kid told her. “They’re going to walk a few steps, then turn around and fire their weapons. See? Your little friend has a water pistol with him. But, I doubt it has any of the tabasco added to it. It’s probably ordinary water. There’s no way he stands a chance.”
“What should we do?”
“Maybe I I can try to rush Jesse when he’s about to draw.”
Jesse and Shamrock each stretched out a leg, and took a first step. Then a second step, and a third step following. As Shamrock lifted his leg for a fourth step, Jesse turned and lifted his gun. Kid leaped out, knocking Jesse over.
Hearing the sounds, Shamrock turned quickly, lifting his water pistol. His glove glowed, the water pistol glistening. Shamrock pointed the water pistol to the side, and unleashed tomato juice at the first man holding the princess, then on the second. “Let’s see you clean that out of your clothes.”
Jesse climbed out from under Kid. He reached for his water pistol, but Kid grabbed it first.
“It’s over, Jesse. Your plans to send a message of power to the Injuns has failed.” Kid lowered the water pistol. “They won’t back down from you now.”
“I’ll enlist everyone in town.” Jesse stood. “They will side with me against the Injuns.”
“You can try, but once they see I’m no longer intimidated by you, one by one, they’ll stand by my side.”
The men standing near the princess vanished.
“It’s almost time,” Shamrock said. “One of them can’t sleep any longer.”
Sarah’s eyes opened. She sat up in her bed. “Who was really dreaming…? Was it Kid? Was it the princess? Was it really Jesse?”
