The girl in the pic\u00adture said that her name was Kayleigh, but I knew she was lying. So, I called her Dilly Dilly after the song, Lav\u00adender blue dilly dilly, Lav\u00adender green. She didn\u2019t like that. Whenev\u00ader she was get\u00adting on my nerves, I would just say, \u201cYes, Dilly Dilly,\u201d and she would stop get\u00adting on my nerves. She would stamp her feet, and stick out her tongue, and then frown like an old man think\u00ading. She insisted that her hair was red, but it wasn\u2019t. It was bright like the sun, sparkled like the stars, and smelled of the ocean.
\nMum bought her pic\u00adture for me at a car boot sale. Paid fifty pence for it. She could have paid twenty five pence for it, but the smal\u00adlest thing she had was a fifty pence piece, and she said that she felt guilty ask\u00ading for change.
\nThe man selling the pic\u00adture said, \u201cThank you.\u201d And gave her a wink and a smile, and then he looked ever so stern, opened his eyes wide like the lights on the front of his car, stared mum right in the eyes, and said the darned\u00adest thing.
\nHe said, \u201cBe care\u00adful with that \u2018un, she\u2019s trouble all right.\u201d
\nHe then turned to the woman look\u00ading at the egg timer next to me and said, \u201cThat\u2019ll be a pound love.\u201d Bright as a but\u00adton as if noth\u00ading had happened.
\nI shivered des\u00adpite it being the hot\u00adtest day of the year.
\nMum bought the pic\u00adture because she said it would look good hung on the wall above my little yel\u00adlow desk. And she was right, it did. The pic\u00adture was of a girl, sat on a swing that hung from a large oak tree. The tree was in the middle of a field of Blue Lav\u00adender. Appar\u00adently it had been painted by some loc\u00adal celebrity artist. That\u2019s what the man had said. But I figured that they couldn\u2019t have been that good, because the pic\u00adture was selling for twenty five pence at a car boot. I think the man would have told mum that it had been painted by Mon\u00adet if he had thought he could have got away with it.
\nMuch later in my life I did find out who the artist was, but that\u2019s anoth\u00ader story alto\u00adgeth\u00ader. It wasn\u2019t Mon\u00adet by the way, just in case you were wondering.
\nIt was many weeks later before Dilly spoke to me. I was sat at my desk doing some maths home\u00adwork. Maths, I hate maths, all those num\u00adbers, give me the hee\u00adbies. Any\u00adway, all of a sud\u00adden I heard this voice, quiet, but smooth like the purr of a kit\u00adten. She said, \u201cThey are com\u00ading you know.\u201d
\nShe was always say\u00ading things like that. She didn\u2019t use that voice of course, because that was not how she soun\u00added. That had been for dra\u00admat\u00adic affect. Nor\u00admally she just soun\u00added like any oth\u00ader girl. At least like you\u2019d expect any oth\u00ader girl to sound like.
\nLet\u2019s do an exper\u00adi\u00adment shall we. Stop what you are doing, and turn the telly on. Flick through the chan\u00adnels until you can see some children\u2019s chan\u00adnel with a kids pro\u00adgram on. Wait a while until a girl appears and starts talk\u00ading. Can you hear her? Well, that\u2019s how Dilly sounds, exactly like that.
\nBut hang on a moment, I\u2019m get\u00adting ahead of myself. How rude of me. Just like me of course. Bab\u00adbling away without think\u00ading. Let me start again.
\nMy name is Anna\u00adbelle, Anna\u00adbelle Cloud. I\u2019m ten years old. And I have dreams. The oth\u00ader chil\u00addren call me the Day\u00addream Believ\u00ader, like the Mon\u00adkees song. If you don\u2019t know who the Mon\u00adkees are then ask your mum or dad, they prob\u00adably know. If they don\u2019t then watch Shrek, they sang the song \u201cI\u2019m a believ\u00ader\u201d, actu\u00adally that won\u2019t help you either, because they didn\u2019t sing the ver\u00adsion of the song in the film, so for\u00adget that then.
\nI have adven\u00adtures. I have adven\u00adtures in my dreams, and dreams in my adven\u00adtures. And they all star\u00adted the day my mum gave me the pic\u00adture of Dilly.<\/p>\n
I nev\u00ader fully under\u00adstood the trav\u00adel\u00adling. I tried to ask Dilly about it, and she told me that she was a con\u00adduit, or a portal, or a talis\u00adman, or some\u00adthing like that. Actu\u00adally, she told me that the pic\u00adture was the talis\u00adman, and that she was just trapped inside of it. That\u2019s and inter\u00adest\u00ading story in it\u2019s own right, and I\u2019ll likely tell you that one later.
\nI just think about her as being the key. She unlocks doors that I can travel through. And when I can smell the ocean in her hair, I know it\u2019s time for a jour\u00adney. Some\u00adtimes I start the jour\u00adney before I smell the ocean. I think I\u2019m hav\u00ading a nor\u00admal dream, and then, all of a sud\u00adden, the ocean fills my nose, and I know that Dilly and I are going on a trip.
\nShe told me about the chil\u00addren, and the twelve Dream Stones, and how they were usu\u00adally the talis\u00adman of choice, and that she was an anom\u00adaly, and she was\u00adn\u2019t really sure if the guard\u00adi\u00adans knew any\u00adthing about her.
\nI met the chil\u00addren once, well I met Grace. She was lovely. But their story is a much big\u00adger story, and not mine to tell. So hope\u00adfully someone will tell you that story soon. But again, I\u2019m get\u00adting ahead of myself.<\/p>\n
I like telling stor\u00adies, love writ\u00ading. I try to write down everything that I can remem\u00adber from my travels. I\u2019m like a travel writer.
\nMrs Popple my teach\u00ader says, \u201dWhen writ\u00ading a story, you must make sure that you show and not tell.\u201d
\n I think that is really odd state\u00adment, because I\u2019m writ\u00ading a story and not mak\u00ading a film, so I\u2019m always going to tell you the story. Appar\u00adently, it\u2019s about how you tell the story that turns it into a show. You the read\u00ader, or the listen\u00ader, needs to think they are in the story and not just being told about it, even though I am just telling you about it.
\nIt doesn\u2019t make much sense to me really, but then few things do. So I am going to apo\u00adlo\u00adgise before hand, and just tell you my stor\u00adies any\u00adway, and you can listen, that is if you have the audiobook ver\u00adsion, oh I do hope they make an audiobook ver\u00adsion, if they do I won\u00adder who they would use to nar\u00adrate it? Oh, that\u2019s so grand, they could have some really fab\u00adulous act\u00adress to be my voice. You will get lost in the lovely lilt of her, or should I say my voice. It sounds really nice by the way. It sounds like Rasp\u00adberry Ripple on Vanilla ice cream, on a very hot day. All smooth and sugary.
\nOh, but if you don\u2019t have the audiobook, and you are read\u00ading this, what will my voice sound like in your head. That\u2019s a tricky one. I don\u2019t think Rasp\u00adberry Ripple really helps you does it? You know what, just pick a voice, I don\u2019t mind which, just make it a fab\u00adulous one. Hmm, be care\u00adful though, because if they make a film of my stor\u00adies, the act\u00adress might not sound like the voice in your head, and then you will be all of a quandary, because my voice will be so import\u00adant to the telling of this story, that you won\u2019t be sure that you want to go and watch the film, because you might think that the act\u00adress will spoil in. You\u2019ll be like to your friends, \u201cThat act\u00adress, well she\u2019s noth\u00ading like Anna\u00adbelle Cloud, I don\u2019t know why they cast her.\u201d But one of your friends, you know the one, the one that knows lots about films, they\u2019d be like, \u201cNo, she\u2019s per\u00adfect\u201d. And you know what, that friend is right, because she is per\u00adfect. The film will be great, so make sure you go and watch it.
\nOh, dear, I\u2019ve done it again. I\u2019m waff\u00adling. I have a habit of doing that. What I really wanted to say was, I\u2019m going to tell you these stor\u00adies, and there might be some show\u00ading in it, and there might be some telling in it, and for that I am sorry. But hope\u00adfully we can all get along majestic\u00adally and have a good time.<\/p>\n
So back to Dilly. Dilly has become my friend. Actu\u00adally. She\u2019s prob\u00adably my best friend. I know that she can be hard to live with some\u00adtimes, but most of the time she is ok. We have our argu\u00adments every now and then, but don\u2019t all friends do that?<\/p>\n