dreams and grievances

Colm woke up crying yesterday. I went to his bedside and found him actually still have asleep still in the grip of something. He called for his mother. I wrapped my arm over him and murmured into his ear, "It's okay Colm."
"I had a dream."
"It's okay."
"I had a bad dream," he whimpered, drawing his knees up under his chest, his face pressed into the bed. "I was wearing Tess's shoes...I couldn't find my shoes and I was wearing Tess's shoes...and she took one of the shoes...and she wouldn't let me have it." With that he lifted up his head, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"It's alright Colm." I gathered him up. "Tess is asleep in Mommy's bed. You had a dream. Everybody's still in bed. You had a dream, didn't you?"
Colm whimpered a little, but as if to underscore something that I didn't understand, he added, "It was a dream... but one time...one time Tess really did it."
I nodded and carried him back to our bed to be with the rest of the family. Perhaps if he fell asleep one more time, it would be as if none of it ever happened.
K