Before I give you a little more insight into how wonderful life is on Manono, I’d like to return to Pete and Giovanni, who walked Lucy home before their afternoon soccer practice and then chatted on the way to the field.
“Something is wrong with Lucy lately. It’s like she’s ill” Giovanni said, deep in thought.
“She has been pale for days and hardly speaks, even though she used to be the first to answer every question. There’s definitely something wrong with her. Shouldn’t we ask her parents?” Pete asked, concerned.
“Oh no! You know how her mum is. She probably gets angry about the F-s, but that’s all. And her dad won’t be back from the rig until the Christmas break in any case. I think Lucy just needs to rest,“ Giovanni said, kicking the football in front of him as he spoke. “That reminds me, what was in your sandwich today? That green thing looked so weird.”
“Nothing, just a tomum… a cucumber. Mum likes to cut my vegetables into silly shapes like that because she thinks it’s funny.”
“It is really funny,” Giovanni laughed. “Last one to reach the field is a knob!” he shouted, as he started to run.” “Pete, as promised, went home immediately after soccer. As he approached the island, the real clouds were visible and the waves were rising, so he paddled quickly. He was greeted on the shore as always by his mother.
“Guess what happened! A machine broke down at the dream shield factory, so Dad won’t be coming home until they fix the problem. So, I haven’t even cooked dinner, let’s go to the Chubby Gnome instead, their stuffed parnion is to die for. Along the way, we could stop by the smilopractor, Dad will need to relax when he gets home anyway. He must be frustrated out of his mind by that machine.”
The owner of the Chubby Gnome was indeed a chubby gnome, and his cuisine would have been world famous if anyone had known about him and his restaurant.
“So, two stuffed parnions and two lavender spritzes in a coconut glass, anything else? Let me get that started for you. I’m letting you know that we are out of the stardust balls, so if you want dessert today, I can recommend the peacock nest au chocolate,” the gnome said before disappearing behind the counter, while Pete turned to his mum.
“Something is wrong with Lucy. I think she’s not well, but we don’t know what her problem is.”” “Dad arrived in the evening very upset indeed, so he needed all the smiles that Pete and his mum had got at the smilopractor in the afternoon.
“We have no idea what the problem is, I think it’s a programming error, the system’s dream image filter is simply not working. It could also be a virus, and that’s the worse version, because if a virus was able to attack our software, it means that someone has found out about Manono.”
“Oh no, not the tourists!” Pete exclaimed.
“For the moment, there is no reason to panic, but we must be cautious. Though I only have a hunch for now that it’s virus, I updated the system to see if that solves the problem.”
“And Pete’s little friend Lucy has been unwell lately, hasn’t she, Pete? Darling, is it possible that these two things are somehow connected?”
Dad turned pale and turned to Pete:
“Tell me, what are the symptoms of the little girl?”
“Well, she’s pale, she can’t remember what she’s learned, she’s tired all the time, and says she feels as if she hadn’t slept at all, despite getting plenty of sleep.”
Dad jumped up as if lightning had hit him.
“I must go to the shaman immediately! Don’t wait up, I’ll be late!” Dad said, as he stormed off.” “You should know that Pete’s father was a system administrator at the Manono Dream Shield factory. What are the dream shields there made for? It is very simple. These wonderful objects make your beautiful and sweet dreams possible. The shields, coated with invisibility nickel, ensure the children’s colourful, vivid dreams and also protect them from nightmares.
You have no idea how much you actually owe to these hard-working islanders! For example, the smilopractor, where Pete and his mum went to cheer up Dad, is the one responsible for your laughs too, and the friendship welding factory is where friends for life are produced.
The biggest kudos, of course, must go to the ghost repellent plant from Manono, which has kept the island and your world free from ghosts for a long time now.
That’s how life goes on the island of Manono, and you had no idea! The streets of the island are lined with the most interesting shops on the planet, with the most extraordinary craftsmen and artisans working every day to ensure that you can sleep soundly, laugh a lot and, on the whole, have a happy and carefree life in the other world.” “Dad came home very late. He tried to sneak quietly down the corridor towards the bedroom, but Pete woke up to the noise, and what he heard afterwards shocked him.
“The situation is much worse than we thought,” whispered Dad to Mum. “According to the shaman, the dream thief is back. You may also recall that years ago, when he was banished from the island for acting out, he vowed to come back and wreak havoc. It’s here: last week, he infiltrated our system at the plant and planted a nasty virus in the dream image filter. The shaman is now trying to cast a strong protective spell around the island, to see if that will weaken the virus enough for me to find and eliminate it. What’s a bigger problem though is that the dream thief has already ventured to the continent and is now stealing the children’s dreams, which he can do with ease because of the system shutdown. All the symptoms of the little girl suggest that she is one of his first victims. She feels unwell because this monster is stealing her dreams at night.”