Aldo's Fantastical Movie Palace by Jonathan Friesen Page A

together into one story and … oh, who cares? We’re here!” He leaped and pumped both fists. “And I’m not blind in Retinya!”
    Chloe grabbed his arm. “That’s great. That’s — But how do we get home?”
    â€œHome? Who wants to go home? Chloe, I can see.”
    â€œBut what about your family and Hobo?”
    Nick paused. “I’m not going back through
that
window.” He pointed at the grayish arms still reaching out toward them. “If you want to go, that’s your business. But I’m going on a walk, a long, sighted walk, that-a-way!” He pointed away from the shack, and started to skip. “I forgot how beautiful blue was!”
    Chloe glanced back at the window.
    â€œHobo, are you still in there?” She listened, heard nothing, and cupped her hands. “Hey, Nick, did you write another go-home window ahead? I left the ending to you, so I don’t know what’s there …”
    Nick didn’t answer either.
    Chloe shook her head. “Oh, Grandpa Salvador, what do I do?”

CHAPTER
10
    G RANDPA S ALVADOR LOVED TO DREAM. While he slept, Grandpa said he sailed through the air, met old friends, and explored the Arctic. “I wake with a smile on my face, dear Chloe. It is a wonderful way to greet a day.”
    Chloe’s dreams rarely brought smiles. She routinely fell off cliffs, suffocated, or received fatal war wounds in dark, desolate lands. This was Chloe’s first clue that she may not be dreaming, for she stood in bright light with no sense of dread.
    Clumps of white mist rose from the surface of the lake on which she stood and skimmed over her shoes. It was a strange, weighty mist. She bent over and found it smooth and solid to the touch.
    What did you dream up, Nick? Wait … what did we dream up?
    Chloe stared at the fog. “I changed the lake with Hobo. I know we did. If I remember right, if I step up on top of the fog …” She gently placed her foot on the mist. The wispy patch skimmed forward. It was waterskiing without touching the water.
    â€œYou’ve got to be kidding!” Chloe smiled, hopped aboard, and away she zoomed. The lake sparkled like glass, and behind her, fish jumped and splashed in her wake.
    â€œI invented this! Well, according to Grandpa, Aldo had the idea first, but I put it on paper!”
    Her hair whipped her face and it took effort to keep balanced, yet she found that with many tiny weight shifts, she could remain upright. Inside, a feeling awoke, one dormant since the loss of her horse. Chloe felt free, alive, and her heart wanted the ride to last forever.
    Her legs didn’t.
    A deep ache soon eclipsed the thrill, and she tottered, bent down, then steadied on all fours. Chloe caught her breath and tried to recall all the scenes she had described, all the places she knew in Retinya, but this didn’t feel like anyplace from the script. Still her heart quickened, like she was near something familiar, something good.
    Finally, her transport slowed, and Chloe straightened. Ahead, she saw a thin, brown shoreline. Nickstood in front of it, standing on his own wispy patch. As Chloe came to a hovering stop feet from land, she stepped out onto the water and marched forward.
    â€œStop!” Nick grabbed her wrist. “Stop here.”
    â€œWhy? I’m stuck in your world, so I might as well look around.”
    â€œWe’re not in Retinya yet, but I just found out something about this place.” Nick reached into his pocket and took out his house keys. He tossed them onto shore, where they disappeared into the dirt with a splash.
    â€œNothing is as it seems,” he whispered. “That’s where we are. Nothing is as it seems.”
    Chloe stared at Nick. “We can’t walk on land? What can we do? I need the rules, at least until I come to something I recognize. There were entire scenes missing when you gave me the script … this must be