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- @BEGIN_FILE_ID.DIZ
- The Halflife of Dreams@END_FILE_ID.DIZ
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- In the smooth blue mist of the night, a figure is dimly
- visible in the distance. As the shapes and sensations of barely
- recognizable events drift past he pursues the figure, or he
- thinks he does. The pace of the shifting memories quickens, but
- he will not be daunted, he feels passionately driven to fix the
- vision of the figure before, before... It seems to be getting
- closer now, a woman with raven black hair. As the distant figure
- gathers out of the mist, others appear as well. One of the
- shapes edges towards him.
-
- At work, and his hands seem glued to the keytops of the
- computer console. One report after another flows from mind to
- hand to screen to paper, they come and go so quickly that he can
- hardly even remember what he's writing. But he doesn't really
- care, as his focus shifts to the small square of the cursor
- blinking patiently, it always scoots to the right just in time to
- avoid being trampled by yet another letter pursuing it's own
- journey from mind to paper. In the pulsing of the little square
- he fancies he sees her. Who? But she's gone again, just a
- fleeting tickle in the back of his mind, enough to stir him back
- to the task at hand.
-
- Some more coffee just may banish this nagging vision long
- enough to finish these reports. As he picks up his mug and heads
- to the other room for a refill the monitor blinks out, in seeming
- approval. Why don't they just let me DO what I do best, instead
- of always writing these infernal reports about it.
-
- He walks the path to the coffee machine without the slightest
- regard for his surroundings, completely preoccupied with his
- thoughts. Perhaps it's time for a change of jobs, or ... Yes, a
- vacation.
-
- The images cascade freely out as if they were themselves a
- wave crashing upon the sand that courses between his feet. The
- sand crabs edge by skidishly as they forage for the tidbits that
- float in the brine. The coast is a wonderful place to loose it
- all, always touching some primal place in his soul. A day could
- be as simple as a swim and a read, or stretch out to include
- sumptuous dinning and lively conversation.
-
- The smell of the coffee snaps him back. The sand crabs return
- to a darkened recess of his mind where they continue their
- business undisturbed, until called upon once again to dance
- across the playing field of his mind. He takes a sip of the warm
- coffee as he starts back to his office, stepping nimbly aside as
- the commuter train whisks by toward Oak Park.
-
- If I catch the 10:18 I'll get to O'Hare by 11. He still
- hadn't checked to see whether the secretary had pre-booked the
- seat or not, but either way he'd have enough time. He places his
- coat over the back of the seat and once again removes the plastic
- cover from his coffee, still hoping that by the time he finished
- the cup it would clear his mind of the remaining wounds from the
- previous night's drinking.
-
- As he surveys the faces of his fellow passengers he feels a
- sense of consolation as many of them slowly nurse a cup of joe,
- or gaze out through dark sunglasses, in spite of the gray
- overcast that obscures the sky, from the lake well into the west.
- He settles for a lazy view out the window, as the scenery bounces
- by.
-
- In the distance, down a broad alley, he sees the Blue Moon,
- the dance hall where he had often drank as a teenager. This is
- where he played his first game of pool, learned to polka and slam
- dance, even bought his first condom, from the machine in the mens
- room.
-
- Sheila was older than he was, but after much prodding from
- Tom, the bartender whom he'd known since he was a kid, and some
- number of vodka-tonics, he finally makes his move. He plunks a
- couple of quarters into the jukebox and picks out a few songs.
- First a song a little slower than whatever is playing, anything
- would prove a welcome respite to the incessant Barry Manilow and
- Bee-Gees, then a classic show tune, and then the polkas.
-
- Wednesday nights are his favorites, the crowd is a good mix of
- young and old. The working stiffs are tired, and will leave at
- the slightest provocation once the clock gets past ten-thirty -
- his song selection providing that impetus. The older folks, his
- real friends, were in no hurry, they lived for their polkas,
- bingo and gin. Those that remained were either other kids like
- himself, the invisible hangers-on that slipped in and out of
- society as it suit them, or else people with a need - a shoulder
- to cry on, a drink to lean on, or a body to press against in the
- night, to wash away whatever chains of shame or loneliness or
- guilt bind them into that closed box of urban night life.
-
- She's in this last group, he's sure. He slowly winds his way
- over to her, dodging the remaining pool players and dart boards
- as he approaches her table near the dance floor. Sheila
- nervously pushes about the butts in her ashtray with her
- smoldering Salem, hoping that the recent exodus of people from
- the bar won't mean another night ending at bar time, with her
- barely sober enough to make the drive home. She's brushing her
- long black hair from in front of her face as he makes it to the
- table.
-
- He asks her if she wants to dance. She's a bit apprehensive
- at first, this lanky kid in the shark skin suit isn't exactly her
- type, but the very idea of being asked to dance a polka by anyoneyounger than
- thirty peeks her interest. As soon as they hit the
- floor he's on automatic pilot. Ol' Frankie had taught him well,
- he knew that. There's barely a soul on this side of town who can
- polka like he can, and before long she's caught up in the energy
- and excitement of the dance. The old timers give him plenty of
- room on the floor, he's their boy, as they keep dropping quarters
- into the record machine.
-
- By the time the music stops they're laughing and giggling as
- they applaud their own performance. For the first time since
- seeing her from the bar he sizes her up on the way back to her
- table. Her black hair flies out in a wild spray from her head,
- with curls so chaotic that they had to be real. The sweat from
- the dancing outlines her breasts perfectly in the now nearly
- transparent fabric of the danskin she wears. An ankle length
- denim skirt, cut to hug from waist to hip, and habatchi sandals
- complete the outfit that marks her as someone not given to the
- trend of the moment.
-
- He drops into the empty seat, already envisioning her body
- riding up and down on him with the same careless energy and
- rampant lust for excitement that she displayed on the dance
- floor, when she surprises him with the question. She is still
- standing, one hand on the back of her chair the other on her out
- thrust hip, as she asks simply, "Do you want to come over to my
- place, I've got a dance I'd love to teach you."
-
- The night turns into one long delirious orgasm, neither of
- them noticing the sun's tentative arrival in the eastern sky. He
- buries his face between her legs, wanting, for once, to give a
- woman the greatest pleasure he can, rather than just satisfying
- some inner feeling that this is what she expects. As he tastes
- the saltiness of her musk he feels driven from deep inside,
- eliciting shrieks and moans from her without a single thought for
- what he is doing. He hardly even feels his own erection bouncing
- against her leg as he focuses on, even feels, her excitement
- building. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realizes that
- what he'd been doing up until now was having sex, this is making
- love.
-
- With a deep guttural moan she pushes him back, and then pulls
- him up to face her. As he props himself up on his hands, she
- grasps his erection with one hand, spreading her lips with the
- other, pulling him into her. He is amazed at his own passiveness
- in all of this, he is drawn along, his every motion directed by
- some other mind. With every thrust they stare into each other's
- eyes, a tantric lust passing between them far surpassing any
- single sensation he has felt before.
-
- For awhile her ear or shoulder or knee becomes a point of
- focus for him. He has not a single thought other than to consume
- her, or feel her. She rubs his chest and nipples with one hand
- while slowly, gently consuming him. Slowly drawing him into her
- mouth and then tickling him with her tongue while pulling away. He finds even
- more arousal in watching her movements, her lips on
- him, the clarity in her face, her breast sliding up and down
- along his thigh, than in the sensations coming from his groin.
-
- Then she rises, half silhouetted in the breaking dawn, and
- mounts him. There's no question but that she is in control,
- although he senses from the look in her eyes that she too is
- being lead by some deeper spirit. As she rides him up and down
- he remembers his impression from earlier in the night, as he
- imagined the diaphanous fabric of her danskin melting away and
- her skirt falling in threads as she humped him wildly.
-
- But now it was not wild. Last night seems so far away - he,
- in his shark skin suit, out for a piece of ass, and she, another
- lonely drinker praying that the night would soon end, even though
- a lifetime of them lay on the horizon. As he felt yet another
- orgasm building he looks up to her eyes. Her face is cast in the
- mold of Aphrodite, eyes closed and a mouth without a smile
- displaying the most sublime pleasure. They move together toward
- the precipice.
-
- "Would you like some more tea?", his mother asks. He wheels
- around, profoundly embarrassed at the sound of her voice. Even
- as he realizes the absurdity of her presence here in Sheila's
- apartment the world starts do slip away. "Mom! What are you
- doing here?" barely makes it's way out of his mouth than he
- starts to sense the room around him, and the sound of the morning
- traffic report blaring through the tinny speaker of the clock
- radio. With a swing befitting a Golden Gloves boxer fighting for
- his right to the belt he smacks the snooze button and rolls over.
-
- Closing his eyes he starts to plunge deep into his mind
- fighting against time to catch the remaining vestiges of the
- image. Racing against the clock, and the diminishing halflife of
- dreams.
-