Slumber

The sun's rays are dancing on the wall outside the window. They trace lines along the bricks in the wall and cast gentle shadows along the edges of the creeper vine. Birds twitter and beckon the sleeping souls out onto the street. Soon the light is drenching the road, bathing the landscape in colours it has not seen for weeks.

A girl lies on her bed in this street, awake. Her skin has breathed the air of the dawn. She does not have a mirror but she knows that today something is unusual. She has to go out and meet them. They are out there waiting for her and they are armed. All she has are her two feet and her conversation, and with these she supposes she will accompany them. She is not coming back. She rises from her bed and splashes water on her face. Her white gown ripples down to her knees and her hair flows down her shoulders. There is a beat of music as she leaves her doorstep to depart. There is no lock on her front door and she leaves it open.

The dark tar under her slippers feels like rubber and her feet are like springs as she skips down to the kissing-gate leading to the sidewalk. Nobody is there yet. She can look around once more and her eyes drink the blue sky. The air is thick with the fragrance of grass and flowers. There is water flowing nearby in the river. Sudenly sleep is overcoming her again. There is soft shade under the clump of trees across. Green grass welcomes her to lie down and enjoy her slumber.

While she slumbers, the years pass. The grass grows warmer and warmer, then colder and colder and freezes over. Snow covers her face while she sleeps. Little children play on the gentle slopes of the lawn and ducks and other birds waddle along the river bank.