"Wake up!" the tiny voice squeaked. "Wake up!"

"Huh?" Beth mumbled incoherently.

"Wake up my dear," the tiny voice replied. "It's just a dream. Now go back to sleep."

"Huh, what?" Beth asked again, as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. "Who are you?"

"Why, I'm your vacation fairy!" the tiny voice answered merrily. "You were dreaming that your vacation was over and you were back at work, buried under an avalanche of issues."

"You are and I was?" Beth asked in wide eyed wonder.

"Yes," the Vacation Fairy giggled, "I awoke you from that terrible dream to tell you that it's just a dream. You still have a few more days of vacation left. It's too early to be dreaming about the 1407 e-mails in your inbox and the mountain of issues piled on your desk."

"What!" Beth gasped. "Over 1400 e-mails and a mountain of issues!"

"I know!" answered the Vacation Fairy, agreeing with Beth's outrage.

"Those bastards!" Beth exclaimed. "Don't they know the purpose of an 'away' message!"

"The idiots!" the Vacation Fairy agreed. "But remember, you still have a few days of vacation left. Forget about those e-mails and issues. For now, just relax. Go back to sleep and dream about happy things."

"Okay." Beth mumbled softly as she drifted back to sleep.