Waltz of Her Life

He took her hand, saying "It's good to see you! I've missed you so much!" They were gliding along, floating past the forest. Still there was a heaviness to their travels that told her they had connected with the ground. When she looked down, she saw roller skates on their feet. A wooden, ramped, and tiered roller skating rink had built itself beneath their feet. Tom swung her around and led her through a backward-skating waltz. She thought of something she always wanted to ask him: "Tom, are you asleep now, too?"

His clean, noble, male features took on an earnestness that straightened out his smile, but only for a moment. It was incredibly poignant. Linda wished she could take a snapshot of him and bring it back to her waking life with her. "Something like that," he said. They spun around and around together, a maneuver that would have caused her to become dizzy and nauseous in real life, yet in the lucid world she simply held onto him as they swung around and around in circles.

As soon as the swinging and the circling had started, though, it stopped. The wooden roller rink beneath her feet had disappeared, and so, unfortunately, had Tom. Linda found herself on a path through a dark, lush forest and felt a surge of tingling anticipation.

The next moment, a familiar voice called her name. Lauren! She ran toward the source of the sound as it echoed in her ears.

"Slow down, stupid! I'm back here!" Lauren said.

Linda stopped. Straight ahead, she could only see the forest on both sides of the path, with the tree branches hanging over. "Where?"

"Turn around!"

She shifted herself so that she turned a step at a time, since in the past, swiveling around too quickly would cause her to lose lucidity and wake up. A scene with bright, smooth rocks with marble skeins revealed themselves to her. Light intensified, becoming blinding and as her eyes grew accustomed to it, she could see the silhouetted outlines of Lauren's hair, her shoulders, and her upper body.

Gradually the light dimmed enough so that Lauren fizzed into view. Linda walked toward her, desperately hoping for all the details of her face to reveal themselves to her and confirm that it was indeed her long lost friend. Soon it became crystal clear. Lauren was sitting atop one of the rocks like a mermaid, but she was wearing the type of clingy-top, blue-jeaned look she always recognized. Linda rushed forward and hugged her. The two of them rocked each other and babbled cries of joy. Linda marveled at how Lauren seemed so real, of flesh and blood, which she could feel through its warmth and softness.