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Angela
awoke to find herself dressed in a white robe and lying in what
appeared to be a giant four post feather bed. She was not wearing
anything under the robe, and her clothes were nowhere in sight.
At first she took all this to be a dream and she went with it,
trying to enjoy this amazing white bed that she was convinced
existed only in her subconscious. After a while she became bored
of the dream and decided to try for a lucid dream and maybe fly
around a bit just for fun. She perched on the edge of the bed
and was quite ready to jump off and start flapping when a heretofore
unnoticed door to the room opened up and two young girls moderately
dressed in white robes similar to her own walked in, one carrying
a small basin of water and the other carrying a small stack of
fluffy towels. Suddenly the dream was looking up, thought Angela.
The girl with the washbasin set it down on the floor next to
the bed and looked up wonderingly at the beautiful woman standing
on the mattress for no apparent reason. The other girl set her
towels down on the bed and reached up to take Angela's hand,
gently pulling her down into a sitting position. Then the one
girl (who, for the sake of clarification, we will henceforth
refer to as One) started to wash Angela's feet, pouring the warm,
clean water over each foot with her little cupped hands, and
then rubbing the sole and toes of each with her delicate fingers,
slowly but surely removing all dirt and discomfort.
The other girl (who we shall refer to as Other) got up on her
knees behind Angela (who we will continue to refer to as Angela)
and proceeded to massage her shoulders, which Angela suddenly
realized were as tense and pained as they had ever been. In fact,
she didn't understand why in a dream she would feel so worn out
and so much in need of the One and the Other. Suddenly an image
flashed in her mind of herself clinging to the side of a pit
and she gasped, remembering everything that had occurred before
that point (the tunnels, the jeep, the pyramid, Mexico, Trinity
College, unhappy childhood) but unable to remember how she got
out of the pit and she definitely could not remember how she
got into this room.
Still open-minded to the idea that she could be dreaming, Angela
had to admit that a couple of other possibilities existed. On
the one hand she could be lying dead at the bottom of the pit,
which would mean that she was in Heaven, or at least in a very
acceptable Purgatory. On the other hand this could really be
happening, and she just didn't know how she got here. Of all
the options, she kind of liked that option the best, since that
would mean that she was both still alive and that she was not
about to wake up in what would undoubtedly be a far worse place.
During this contemplative time, Other finished working the kinks
out of her neck and shoulders and proceeded to stand up behind
Angela and began to massage her head, working the skin around
her temples in a circular motion and then running her hands through
Angela's long brown hair. Other pressed her fingers into Angela's
scalp in all the right ways and places, and as before the woman
realized an ache in her head just as the girl was doing her best
to relieve it. At the same time, One continued to massage Angela's
now-immaculate feet and also began to sing very softly in a language
that seemed to come from the sea or the sky or some magical place
in between. When she finished her song she took one of the towels
and dried Angela's feet and helped to lift her legs up onto the
bed. Angela had never felt so relaxed and at peace with the world,
if this experience really was of this world.
One and Other pulled back the sheets of the bed and then gently
helped Angela out of her robe and motioned for her to get under
the covers. Before she could thank them they scrambled out of
the room (though she wasn't sure if they would have understood
her anyway). With them they took the basin and towels and also
her robe. She lay in the middle of the softest bed she had ever
known and wondered what it would be like to fall asleep in a
dream, and could she dream inside her dream? The fact that she
was completely naked (sheets notwithstanding) in a strange, unknown
place had convinced her that she definitely was asleep and dreaming.
(That, and the fact that there was plenty of ambient light in
the room even though there was no visible light source.) For
some reason she was often naked in her dreams, and sometimes
when she woke up she would remember being naked, though she often
would not be able to remember what her body looked like. She
lifted up the covers and looked at herself, deciding that she
liked the way her body looked in this dream and hoping that the
dream would last at least a little while longer. And she hoped
that this time she would be able to remember the dream after
she woke up, every wonderful part of it.
Her eyes grew heavy but she was not quite ready to fall asleep
yet, afraid that as soon as she fell asleep in the dream she
would wake up in reality. But she was so comfortable that the
desire to let go and give in to sleep was growing with every
minute. Even as her sight grew dim and she was drifting off,
she thought she saw the door of the room open and someone enter
the room. In the few seconds just before she completely fell
asleep she thought she recognized the person who had come to
visit her, but it was too late, she was so tired and the bed
was so soft...
Fernando chuckled to himself as he sat down on the edge of the
bed and slowly brushed the back of his hand across her face.
"Get some sleep, my beauty. You have a big night ahead of
you." Even in her sleep, Angela was smiling.
Chapter
34
Chapter
33 was first written November 30, 2001
It
was last edited December 30, 2001
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CHAPTER 33
