Marge Simon
He is dreaming …
A beautiful woman stands at a window overlooking the ocean. She is wearing a gossamer fabric that ripples along her contours like ascending smoke. She is eating a peach. Her skin is flawless. Her golden curls are swept off her neck in a pearly net.
Once I was young like you, Robert._ She takes a bite. _My body got the best of me. My loss. You can't fill the empty spirit with food, Robert.
You're very quiet, Robert. Why?
His eyes follow the tip of her tongue as she licks the fruit.
Three times she asks her question. Three times he can't answer. She finishes the peach.
Flings the pit at him. Disappears.
He is dreaming...
He stands before a rolling mansion. A beautiful woman in a red cape much darker than her hair walks toward him. She says something he can't understand, and motions for him to come through the courtyard gates.
The woman seems happy to see him. She wants him to play with her pets, one is gray and one white. They are Great Danes, but he has never seen one before, and thinks they are ponies. The gray one comes up to lick his hand. He tries to feed it some grass, but it runs off.
She brings him tea and sugared apricots. They make a picnic by an indigo stream. She says it is immortal, this stream. He doesn't know what to say. He smiles, touches her hand. It is a soft hand, but strong. Her nails are immaculate. He likes this. He likes to look at her.
Once I was young like you, Robert. She takes an apricot, holds it between thumb and forefinger.
Once before, my body got the best of me. My loss. You can't fill the empty spirit with food, Robert. You're very quiet, Robert. Why?
He watches her tongue flick juice from the fruit.
Three times she asks her question. Three times he can't answer. She finishes the apricot. Flings the pit at him. Disappears.
He is dreaming....
Sunlight flickers in and out of the dense foliage as he runs through a forest. A clearing forms ahead. As he draws closer, he sees a beautiful woman bathing in a pond. There is an aura over the pond and the air is alive with pebbled light.
The woman nods his way and ,smiling, rises from the water At last you've found me, she says. I've been waiting so very long. Before he can speak, she is in his arms. Her hair smells like golden apples.
Once I was young like you, Robert. It is a whisper. She plucks an apple from the air, nestles it under her chin. Once before, my body got the best of me—
Her lips tease the apple. Her teeth are so white, so sharp.
You're very quiet, Robert. Why?
He watches her teeth dig into the apple and tells himself this is a wondrous thing, this woman, this apple.
Three times she asks the question. Three times he cannot answer.
She frowns. I'm sad for you, Robert She opens her mouth. It is a very large mouth that becomes wider as he stares.
In this forest, he could see no horizon until now. It is lined with razor teeth. In his nostrils, the smell of decaying fruit.
Once again, my body gets the best of me, Robert...
C is for Captive
