Joshua couldn't sleep. He couldn't sleep. He still couldn't sleep. Joshua was too worried to sleep.

He'd heard the front door close with a bang. Not any sort of bang in particular - it wasn't for instance a cross bang, or an impatient bang, or an I'm-in-a-hurry-to-get-out bang. Just the regular bang that their front door made when it was closed. Mum and Dad are home.

He strained to listen for their conversation. Total silence would be bad. That would mean trouble. They were definately talking, so that was one thing. A low rumble - that was Dad - and a shrill squeak in response - that was Mum. He strained harder to catch words, so hard that his throat hurt and his cheeks throbbed with the effort of listening ... camel... arctic... cake... spinning was all he caught. That was no help.

He heard them stamping up the stairs, boom-boom-boom, but of course they weren't stamping, they were creeping up, but his heart was beating at every step. One of them paused outside his door - had to be Mum - listening to see if he was asleep. He briefly considered a fake snore, but decided that silence was more believeable. Then they were in bed. A few mutters and snorts. Silence. Sleep.

What were they thinking? What had happened. He was desperate to find out. Well of course he would find out. Eventually. Tomorrow. All he had to do was lie here and wait. So here he was, lying in bed, not sleeping, and imagining what might have happened...

It hadn't been a very good year for Joshua. Maths hadn't gone well. English was no better. Geography had been hideous. In fact there wasn't really anything that had gone well for Joshua at school this year. He was certain that words such underachiever.... lacks enthusiasm... daydreams would have come up during parents evening. He could visualise Mr Crabtree and almost hear his Yorkshire drawl "Joshua is very slow and needs to be regularly prodded awake during Georgraphy..."

He jolted himself awake. Of course! There was a way to find out what his parents were thinking. A very difficult way. It probably wouldn't work. In fact it had never worked before, but Joshua had never let a low probability of success deter him from anything. Joshua decided to go dream-dipping.

Joshua turned his light on and lay back on his bed. He very deliberately relaxed every muscle, until even his jaw and the top of his head were limp. He stared up at the light, unblinking, for as long as he could, and then a little longer. Red, black and purple suns were swimming in front of his face and tears were forming in the corner of his eyes. Click. His stomach lurched as if his bed was in a lift that had just dropped seven stories, and at that moment his eyes snapped into focus onto a circle of white light.

Suddenly the light divided. First blue light started to pour out of the white light and gather itself into a weak blue puddle. The puddle was pulsing gently, gradually drawing more light into it. As it grew the edges started to collapse in forming a small sphere, still pulling blue light towards it, but faster now. Joshua's blue curtains started to look almost pinkish, as slowly all the blue was drained out of them. At the same time a red puddle was forming, drawing red light from the room. The red stripes on his duvet were fading to grey. By the time the green puddle had started to form the colour was bleeding out of Joshua's bedroom so rapidly, it was like watching a photograph develop in reverse.

When it was done, Joshua got out of his black-and-white bed, looked around his gray bedroom, and thought, "I've done it! I've got to Eden!" The only thing now was to find his parents dreams, and quickly, because no one can stay long in Eden. Joshua jumped.

____________________________________________________________

Joshua's first visit to Eden was on a Friday. It was double Geography. Crabtree. A test. The worst possible combination. Joshua was staring at a white page with a big outline map of the US, and on the reverse side was a list of states. He was supposed to have learnt them. Sigh.

Perhaps if he stared hard enough at the test sheet, and really concentrated, the answers would come to him. He remembered being told once that humans only use about 10% of their brains, and that you made a memory of everything you ever heard or saw, but the trick was being able to access that memory. Perhaps if he tried to imagine what the letters of the states looked like backwards N-O-G-E-R-O... As he stared at the white page his head started swimming, and letters seemed to be weaving and wavering across the paper. click.

Suddenly Joshua was alone. His classmates had disappeared. Not only that, but the room was dim, and sort of grey. He pinched himself - falling asleep in Geography again Joshua - but he couldn't feel the pinch. He walked out of the classroom to look for someone, anyone. His school shoes were silent on the wooden floor. He reached out to the door, and half expected his hand to sink into the wood as if he was a silent ghost in this strange world.

He pulled the door open, slowly, so slowly. It felt very very heavy. He walked down the corridor towards the Headmaster's Office. The Headmaster would know what to do. But before he got there he had a strong urge to lie down and rest, perhaps he could actually fall asleep here. After all, he must already be asleep, so what harm could it do?

Suddenly he saw the golden boy, "Quick - jump" the boy yelled. Joshua started blankly at him, the same blank stare he reserved for algebra, or the hardest chemistry questions. "Quick - jump, you've got to jump, there isn't much time. You must get out of Eden at once!" he repeated urgently. The golden boy, who really seemed to be made of pure gold, and shine with his own light, grabbed Joshua's arm and shouted "come with me". Click.

Joshua felt dizzy, nauseous, and must have passed out, because when he opened his eyes he was in a garden, surrounded by tall grass. The golden boy, who was no longer made of gold, but just a regular looking boy, stood over him. Next to him was a big black dog.

"Does he bite?" Joshua asked, worriedly. The boy laughed.

"I'm Lyle. I take it that was your first time in Eden?"

"I'm Joshua. Where's Eden?"

"Eden is the world-between-worlds, where dreams begin. You mustnt stay long, or you will fall asleep there and never wake up. It's lucky I found you. I'm very surprised to see you at my old school though - most people who accidenly find themselves in Eden enter in the place they fell asleep, or at least the Eden version."

"I did. I'm supposed to be in double Geography at the moment. But I don't recognise you from school, Lyle, what class are you?"

Lyle laughed. "Actually I left school over 60 years ago! But in Eden, as in this dream, I like to return to the time when I was about your age. How old are you?"

"I'm 11, nearly 12. Are we in a dream? How do I get back to Geogra..."

"Oh I'm sorry Joshua, are we keeping you awake?" Mr Crabtree's voice was quiet, but dangerously quiet,

"Sorry sir, I was up all night studying." Joshua surprised himself with such a quick thinking response.

He spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about what had happened. He must have just fallen asleep in Geography, and had such a peculiar dream. But it seemed so real. Still, he would probably have forgotten all about it by the time the bell rang, if it wasn't for one thing. The photograph.