“I….I’m the GRIM SLEEPER !” It answered in a booming voice and made a wild flourish with its left hand.
This was not actually a very good idea, as it revealed that the tall figure was in fact a rather short man standing on a stool.
“I am princess Danni and in my kingdom of Xanubia there is no such person as the Grim Sleeper.” Danni retorted irritably. “Now who are you and what is that ridiculous stick you’re holding ?”
“Who…this…ridiculous…” The man spluttered indignantly and threw back the cowl that had been hiding his face.
It was quite a plain round face, but now the cheeks glowed red, where Danni could see them, for he had big bushy mutton chop whiskers and frown lines crossed the broad forehead. His hair was a light brown colour, nicely wavy and cut neatly, and his narrowed eyes were blue. Truth be told he didn’t look that grim at all.
“Young lady I have already told you who I am, I am the Grim Sleeper. Kindly have the courtesy to believe me.” He told her with hurt dignity.

“Huh.” Danni retorted with her chin in the air.
“And this.” He laid a reverent left hand upon the massive scythe he held in his right hand. “Is a very old and treasured family heirloom belonging to my great uncle Mortimer.”
“It certainly looks old.” Danni told him. “Its all cobwebby, don’t you ever clean it ?”
“I…” The man blinked owlishly at Danni and then looked up at the scythe blade, where, sure enough, a spider had spun a web. “It’s supposed to look old.” He said defensively.
Danni closed the golden lid of the treasure chest and climbed up on it to sit down at the same eye level as the Grim Sleeper and tapped her lip thoughtfully.
“I’ve heard of the Grim Reaper.” She said after a moment.
“Yes, yes.” The Grim Sleeper almost yelped, waving a hand at her. “That’s him, great uncle Mortimer.”
“So what is that thing of his ?”
“His scythe of course.” He replied in an offended tone. “Don’t your parents teach you anything ?”
“What’s a scythe ?” She asked innocently.
The Grim Sleeper almost fell off his stool in his surprise.

“You…you don’t know…but it’s a…” He stuttered into silence he was so astonished at her ignorance.
Then he drew himself up to his full height and looked down his rather short nose at her, trying to look very important and dignified.
“The scythe is used to cut the corn.” He said in a superior tone of voice.
“Corn, like crops ?”
“Yes young lady, like crops.”
“Doesn’t he have a combine harvester ?” Danni enquired remembering the TV programme about farming.
The Grim Sleeper’s mouth flopped open, he was just at a total loss for words, then he looked upwards and shook his head.
“It’s just not working.” He muttered, stepped down from his stool and slumped down on it to rest his chin on his hand.
Danni looked down at him triumphantly, she had won her dream back, but as she turned to summon her warriors to come and carry off the treasure her eyes saw only the walls of her bedroom. She was awake. Very slowly she turned back to the right side of her bed and there he sat with the over size black robe draped around him, the huge scythe laid across his knees, the Grim Sleeper.

“You’re real.” She said very quietly. “I thought that I dreamed you.”
“Real, dream.” The Grim Sleeper shrugged dejectedly.
“But what were you doing in my dream ?” Danni demanded of him. “You and those Dahling dolls.”
“Just trying to bring a little happiness into your life.” He said morosely.
“But I am very happy, especially in my dreams, you were just spoiling my dream.”
“That’s not what she said.” He grumbled, idly flicking at the cobweb’s owner as it scuttled down the handle and tried to spin more web on the scythe.
“Who said ? Someone sent you to interfere with my dreams.” Danni accused him.
“No, no. Well not you specifically.” He said defensively. “I was just doing my job and she woke up, a bit like you just did, and asked me why I didn’t go away and bring some joy to girls and boys instead of making her dreams miserable.”
“You were making dreams miserable ? That’s horrid.” Danni told him in no uncertain terms.
“But I’m the Grim Sleeper.” He protested, looking up sharply. “It’s what I must do. I prick the conscience of the cold hearted and mean spirited in their dreams to make them change their ways.”

“Then you only do it to nasty people ?” Danni queried him.
“Naturally. Good people don’t need their conscience pricked, they know when they’ve been bad.” He replied seriously.
“And this lady had been bad but wasn’t sorry ?” Danni asked.
“That’s correct. She was as cold hearted and mean spirited as you can get, so I’ve been putting in extra time on her case.” He said with evident pride. “I was making progress when she woke up and errrm, we got talking.”
“Like us.” Danni said perkily.
“Ummm, yes like us.” He admitted rather sheepishly
“Look, I shouldn’t really be doing this. We Grims have a reputation to keep up you know.” He said abruptly.

Dannis Dictionary
Conscience con - she - ance. When you do something naughty and you feel bad about it afterwards that's because your conscience is nagging you about being bad.
Dejectedly dee - ject - ed - lee. This is when you are feeling down, your shoulders slump and you just want to crawl into a corner.
Flourish flo - rish. Making a big wave of your hands or arms
Heirloom air - loom. This is usually something very old, and probably dusty, but your family keeps it because it's very special.
Scythe si - the. This is a very old thing that they used to use to cut corn and wheat with. Its a big heavy stick with two handles and a long sharp curved blade. Great uncle Mortimer's scythe is called Trevor, I know, it's a funny name for a big stick.
Stutter stut - ter. You stutter when you can't get your mouth to work properly and the words just don't come out right.