Waltz of Her Life

"That's what we like to hear," Geraldine went on, nodding as she wrote down Linda's description of her dream.

"So then I guess I get to keep my job then, don't I?"

Geraldine laughed.

"I want to do it again! It's like going into another world!"

When Geraldine finished up with her notes, Linda put the mask and the wire back on and smiled excitedly when she eased herself underneath the covers. She did fall back asleep, but what seemed like only moments later, she heard voices in the hallway outside the room. It was already morning. Out in the lounge Jay met her with a broad smile. "I understand we had a breakthrough last night!" he said. He extended his hand for Linda to shake it, but she jumped up, hugging him instead.

"It was so real," she said. "I want to go there again."

"Yes, it's quite a trip," Jay agreed.

Linda rushed through the rest of the day, attending the Statistics lecture, studying in the library, before returning to her dorm room to excitedly relate the day's events to Nancy. "It would be funny if you never came back," she said, when Linda had finished. "And you magically transformed back into a seven-year-old, with the knowledge and wisdom of a nineteen-year-old."

If that lucid dream had excited Linda, the next one shook her to the very core. Thursday night started out just like the other two nights, when she would put on her pajamas and sleep.

It always took her awhile to get comfortable, but when she did, she plunged into another dream scene.

At first she felt as if she was watching a movie that did a watery dissolve and flashed forward. Gradually her vision returned, and she found herself in an opulent, marble hall, like a giant ballroom, an empty ballroom. When she looked down at her feet, she saw them dressed in strappy, high-heeled, glamorous sandals. Folds in iridescent chiffon kissed her insteps and the tips of her toes.

The marble floor gleamed below her, sending up a reflection. Forties style jazz music played loudly above her: the kind with fifty band members, lots of horns and percussion ticking a rhythmic beat. Still, she was able to hear a man's voice say "Are you ready, love?"

She turned and looked up into his eyes. The soulfulness and compassion in them weakened her knees, yet she gracefully took two steps to meet him. She reached forward to hold his hand. He gently tugged her to him, causing her to spin lightly on the balls of her feet and twirl into his arm. She rushed forward into his strong arms and chest, which were covered in a supple black tuxedo jacket accented with shining satin. His eyes flashed out at her from beneath a curling swath of golden hair. When she had twirled into his quick embrace, he released her, sending her in flight as though she'd been a dove.