Date:         Thu, 25 Nov 1993 16:15:06 -0330
 
 
 
CONNECTIONS
 
 
Copyright Mary J. Farrell, 1993.
 
 
 
 
        She was dreaming, she knew that.  She knew exactly where she was.
She was on her couch in her living room.  She'd been so tired after she'd
gotten home from work today, she'd lain down and fallen asleep.  She knew
the couch was underneath her, and her cat was curled up near her feet.  She
knew it was a dream.
 
        She didn't care.
 
        In her dream she was walking along a beautiful beach watching a
magnificent sunrise.  She was barefoot...swinging her shoes in her right
hand and feeling the sand underneath her feet.  There was a cool breeze blowing
and she shivered slightly.  She was wearing her short-sleeved t-shirt with the
flowers on it and her right arm was cold.  Her left one wasn't.  She realized
then that she was walking with her arm linked into another person's.  She
turned her head away from the sunrise.
 
        It was Nick.  He smiled at her.  That wonderfully rare, special smile
of his that made her feel like she was the centre of the universe.  Before
she could speak, he stopped and looked down.
 
        "Look Natalie!  I'd forgotten how beautiful seashells look in the
daylight.  Look how they catch the colours!"  He held up a small shell.
 
        Natalie smiled back at him.  She looked at the sunrise again and
back at him.  "How?", she said simply.
 
        "You, of course."  He offered her the seashell.
 
        "No", she said, "you keep it."
 
.....................
 
        Nick woke up slowly.  He yawned and stretched.  What WAS that dream
he was having?  It was just on the edge of his consciousness.  He shook his
head.  He couldn't remember.  He shifted slightly in the bed and frowned.
What was that?  He put his hand underneath his right shoulder and came up
with a small object.  He turned on his bedside lamp and held it up.  Now
how in the word did a seashell get in his bed?  He examined it more
carefully.  Where had he seen it before?  It kind of looked like the seashell
Natalie kept on that little shelf in her living room.
.....................
 
        Several miles away, still on a sun-lit beach, Natalie smiled in her
sleep.