There were no two ways about it. Danni loved dreaming. Dreaming the totally amazing vivid dreams she had at night when she was snug and warm in her bed with Pan her toy panda by her side.
For the past few nights she and Pan had been exploring a desert kingdom where stony sphinxes spoke to her of long lost treasures and genial genies emerged out of magic lamps to grant her every wish…..
She sat upon a crimson cushion, her hands resting on the arms of the amethyst throne of Xanubia smiling at the colourful throng. Pan climbed up the steps before her with the diamond studded crown in his paws. He raised the crown high in the air.
“In the sight of your people I crown you Princess Danni, ruler of Xanubia.” He said in a loud voice and lowered the crown gently onto her head.
“Hail, Princess Danni !” Pan declared to the throng and they all bowed or curtsied.
“Hail Princess Danni.” Came their massed reply, echoing around the high hall of her white and pink palace.
“Let the festivities begin.” Pan said with a wave of his paws.

The royal musicians played her favourite tunes, her courtiers danced, it was the perfect coronation. Then she noticed an odd couple of tall thin strangers amongst the colourful throng that swirled about her throneroom. Not only did she not recognise them but they had definitely not brought her a present like everyone else had; now that was very rude.
“Pan, who are they ?” She asked of her faithful toy standing at her side.
“I have never seen them before princess Danni.” Pan replied. “Shall I have them removed from your palace ?”
Danni regarded the pair, they seemed out of place despite the bright gaudy clothes they wore. They were, well, wrong. Their eyes were far too big and far too blue. Their waists too small, their legs too long, their arms too thin. Their hair was impossibly long and golden. Danni’s own hair was brown and quite short and she was the princess ! That wasn’t right at all.
“Yes Pan, throw them out !” She ordered imperially, waving a dismissive hand at the pair.
“Yes your majesty.” Pan said with a deep bow and strode down to the pair of unwelcome guests, grasped them firmly by the arms and led them out of the palace, never to trouble Danni’s dream again.

When Danni awoke the next morning she wondered about the strange people in her dream, they seemed a little familiar, but she couldn’t decide why. It wasn’t until she came home from school that she noticed an advertisement board beside the road.
‘Dahling’s are here to play ! Dahling’s are here to stay !’ it trumpeted in large pink words on a psychedelic background. Then as she looked at the brightly clothed dolls she realised that they were the strangers in her dream, how very odd !
That same evening there were adverts on the TV for Dahling’s, riding in their beach buggy, living in their luxury beach house, flying in their personal jet. It was all supposed to be so exciting, but even the flashy adverts weren’t a patch on her own fantastical dreams.
That night Danni sat atop a camel and led a long column of her warriors across the burning sands in search of the lost pyramid of Amonhotep, and the fabulous treasure inside it. She bravely battled her way past the sentinel gryphons and daringly swung across the river of molten lava, that bubbled and blooped like a bad stew, and had finally reached the jewel encrusted treasure chest. She was about to open it, when she saw them again. Standing on the other side of the great golden chest were the two Dahling dolls.
“Come and play.” One piped in a high reedy voice.
“Yes, let’s go for a drive in our dune buggy.” The other said in a sing song voice and pointed to where the pink buggy stood, incongruously, in the heart of the ancient pyramid.

Danni put her hands on her hips and scowled at the two dolls, what were they doing in her heroic dream ?
“Pan, get rid of them.” She huffed.
“At once your majesty.” Pan replied solidly.
He marched around the treasure chest, grabbed both of them by their arms and frog marched them towards the lava stream where it bubbled and blooped in its deep chasm.
“In you go.” Pan said cheerily and pushed them over the edge.
The pair disappeared without a sound until a double slurping plop announced that they had landed in the lava.
There was a small disappointed ‘OH’ from somewhere in the dark chamber.
Princess Danni looked around with a scowl on her face that would have fried a fish, just daring anything else to disturb her dream. Very sensibly nothing else did show itself.
 
With a nod of satisfaction Danni proceeded to open the golden treasure chest and run her hands though the gold, diamonds, rubies and fabulous jewellery. She had just lifted out the necklace of tiny blue flowers to admire it, when she realised that this was not a part of the fabulous treasure of Amonhotep, it was just junk jewellery belonging to those dratted dolls.
Now she swung around so quickly that the tall black robed figure had no time to vanish.
“Who are you ?” Danni demanded angrily. “And what are you doing in MY dream ?”
The figure looked nervously to the left and the right.
“Errr, me ?” It asked timidly.
“Yes, you.” Danni stated in her full imperial might.
“I….I’m the GRIM SLEEPER !” It answered in a booming voice and made a wild flourish with its left hand.

Dannis Dictionary
 Amethyst  am – meth – ist. This is a really pretty stone that is a mix of purple and blue in colour. Having a throne made of amethyst is really cool.
Gryphon  griff – on. This is a very strange animal, it’s got a lion’s body but has an eagle’s head and beak and wings. It’s very fierce and wild.
Imperially  im - peer - really. Its how rulers do things, when you own an empire or a kingdom you have to act in a way that shows you are better than other people.
Psychedelic  si – ka – delic. Weird patterns of lots of colours are called psychedelic, they make your eyes go all funny.
Sphinx  s - finks. Sphinxes are really odd, they have a persons head and a lions body, but they are really cheerful and fun to talk to.