In Search Of Dreams

Episode 13

I’m walking in the mountains, the world lush and
green around me. Appalachia. Dew drops on the
kudzu. A slight mist in the air as the heat of the
sun evaporates the morning moisture.

I walk, and the path narrows, gradually
disappearing, and I’m falling, sliding down the hill,
my fingers grasping at branches and vines and
rocks, unable to find purchase on anything.

Suddenly a large, strong, warm hand clasps mine,
stopping my descent. The hand pulls me up,
setting me on solid ground again. I look at the
hand holding mine. It is pale, peachy-gold, long-
fingered and broad. My eyes follow his arm
upward to a wide shoulder, then to a muscular
neck attached to a strong jaw.

I know whose face I am going to see, but still I
gasp.

Unusually full lips, dark dusty pink, and a straight
nose lead to a pair of eyes, curiously tender, blue
streaked with gray, all beneath a crown of golden
hair.

“Didn’t I tell you that this is what I do?”

Lori’s eyes fly open and she sits up in bed.

She looks at her alarm clock. 2:15. Clutching
her sheets to her chest, she blinks in the
darkness.

“All right, Lord, if that wasn’t a sign, I don’t
know what one is.”