"Huh?", was all the intelligent comment she could think of to say. Looking around, she was no longer in a graveyard in the middle of the night. Instead, she was sitting in some sort of old-fashioned classroom, in the middle of the day. Bright cheery sunlight poured through the large expanses of windows. Clunky, antique-looking computer equipment occupied an obscene fraction of the desks around her. Normally she would have been highly curious, eager to play with them. But the people proved to be even more interesting.
The other students (?), kids about her own age, were all strangers instead of being re-cycled aquaintainces like all her other non-monster dreams. Maybe these kids were forgotten extras from some of the many shcools she'd transferred through? But *where* did her mind dig up all these turbo-retro outfits? Maybe the same historical costume-drama that spawned this blast-from- the-dead-past school room, she offered in answer to her own unspoken question.
The teacher's voice reached her through her puzzlement, providing a few more jarring elements.
"...and that's it for 'rings'. Monday, we'll start on binary 'trees' and searches. If there's enough time before the test, I'll go over 'heaps'. That should be heaps of fun.."
Computer data structures in a school of this time period? And the teacher- mega shock. The person at the front of the room was a kid Anne's age, yet she was holding down an adult's job.
THe few giggles the instructor's lame joke inspired were cut off by a ringing bell and the ensuing clatter of jpeople getting up and leaving. The teacher (?) brushed a strand of her long red hair behind and ear, looked straight at Anne and said, "Hi. Could you stay a few minutes? We probably should talk, seeing how we have the chance..."
Nobody else in the room had paid the slightest attention to her, or even acknoledged her being there at all. Untill then, Anne had felt more than a little invisible. Which, she discovered, had probably been a good thing - seeing as she was sitting there barefoot, wearing just her sleepshirt.
"Could have been worse, like that recurring dream back in Jr. High...", Anne mumbled half aloud, half to herself. "While this is plenty strange in it's own unique way, I have to say it does make a pleasant intermission from the non-stop creature feature marathon."
She and the other girl were now alone in the otherwise deserted room. The stranger walked over and perched herself on top of a nearby desk. Even compared to the students'd old-time costumes, her outfit seemed out of sync somehow, more like something sombody twice her age would have chosen.
"Hey. You must be new," the girl said, "I don't remember meeting you before."
"Probably. Being the 'new kid' is the story of my life. I've never spent three semesters in the same school since I started, even two in a row was a rare deal."
"Sounds awful. I'm glad we did get together, you seem really nice, and I'm usually not so dull. I was just wondering why you picked my computer class to drop in and see me?"
"I dunno. Didn't know I was going to, or get a menu of options, either. Maybe 'cause my programming project is on my mind? There's some bug I just can't find that's driving me bats."
"In that case, I can so totally help you out. Let's see your code."
A heartbeat later, the entire chalkboard filled with line after line of text, all printed in standard- sized type. The last meter or so spilled over onto the wall.
The other girl shrugged, fiddled whith her hair absently while saying, "Well, at least it's typed. I hope that stuff comes off the wall or we're both in trouble."
"Whoa. Time out on account of wierdness. This *is* a dream I'm having, right? "
"Of course. I thought you'd figured that part out right from the begining. Unless you usually go to school dressed like that when you're from." She pointed to the board and prompted, "C'mon, show me which part blows up on you."
They both got up and walked closer to the front. Feeling more dream-like than ever, Anne led them to a familiar section.
"Right here in about the middle, this big loop.. that... won't loop."
"That's usually either a huge logic error, or a tiny little typing mistake. Smart money usually bets on a typo. They can be almost impossible to find yourself, since when you read your own work you tend to see what you meant, not what you actually wrote."
"Aha!", she pointed to the line right at the start of the offending loop. "Got it. Or at least the biggest part. You have an extra semi-colon where it isn't needed. The loop command is one of the few statements that doesn't end in one, and you put one in anyway, probably out of habit while in a hurry."
"Anyhow, " she continued, picking up an eraser. "When this gets compiled, the machine reads the extra semi-colon as an immeadiately following blank line. At run time, the loop runs the blank line a hundred times. Then the next block, that you meant as the body of the loop, only gets done once... The rest looks really good, there may be a few minor bugs elsewhere, but this is the big fix."
She throughly rubbed out the offending punctuation mark. Turning to Anne she said, "Think you can remember this when you wake up?"
"Duh. Embarrasment at missing something so simple has burned it into the mush I use for brains."
"No need to be harsh. Just when, not if, you get stuck again, have a buddy proofread your code. New eyes will pick up on things you can't find. Do the same for them. Now lets get out of here, and just talk."
Without any transition, the scene changed radically. They were seated on a bed in a very neat and orderly room. An empty aquarium sat against one wall, bookcases bulging with science texts and medical references along another. The other girl was now also dressed for sleeping, except that in addition, she was wearing slippers made to look like small furry animals.
"This should even things out, maybe make you a little more comfy. Other then homework, how's the rest going?"
"Uh... umm... fine, I guess." For a moment Anne was tempted to hit this dream-construct with the truth, see if even her own sub- concious would run away screaming or think her demented. She decided not to ruin the moment, to play along and delay as long as possible the nightmare replay of the graveside horror show.
"Good. 'Cause it can be a little rough getting used to it, a..at first." The red-head mimed a stabbing motion with an empty fist. Picking up on Anne's startled expression she went on, "Of course I know, and not just 'cause I'm in your dream. I was one of the first outsiders in ages to find out." She stopped, then continued, "But then I wasn't an outsider anymore, not technically. Enough of me babbling, I can see the tension in you from here. Turn around."
Anne dutifully complied, allowing the other girl to begin kneeding the muscles of her neck and upper back. It wasn't untill the stranger's fingers began to loosten things up that she realized just how tense she'd been.
"Starting to feel better already. Gahd you're good at this."
"Practice. I've had to do this a lot. Slayer muscles. You gals get all revved up with nothing to clobber- spasam city. Man oh man, are you wound up tight. You have to learn how to let go once the creepies are gone. As my best friend once said, you're gonna see a lot of seriously cringe-worthy things in your career. If you don't learn how to relax in between, you'll burn yourself out with stress. That part was from me."
The backrub and mostly one-sided conversation continued. Whatever part of her created this symbol, what it was saying made a lot of sense. What didn't was talking to herself, a habit that might just spill over into waking life, so Anne mostly confined herself to do no more than grunt assent here and there.
"Let me pass along some advice I was given a long time ago, by the same friend, "Sieze the moment." She repeated it while doing deep pressure on Anne's lower back, "Sieze the moment. Don't spend a lot of time and effort worrying about what *might* happen, because it might not happen, and then you've wasted all that energy, and blown a perfectly good *now* for nothing. Even if something does happen later, it's almost never what you were worried about anyway, so you still have to deal as it happens."
"You'll need the good times to get through the bad times, so friends and fun are as, if not more, important then weapons practice or demonology lessons. Don't take your Watcher's advice about 'secret identity' too to heart, you're gonna need all the help you can get; just try to make sure that the people you bring in are together enough to hold up their end- because when the party starts you're gonna be way too busy to babysit."
"I hope this helps some, it's all I have time for. You're slipping out of REM sleep now, and I probably won't be here when you come back. Good luck, and good hunting...."
The girl and the room faded, and rather like the cat in the old story, her gentle smile was the last to go..."
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