The Golden Desires by Ann M Pratley Read Free Book Online Page B

grass, and immediately everything was dark again, and
it was dirt they were on. But still she sat there before him, exactly the same.
She was in his view, no matter what he did.
    "What is happening? What do you see?"
she was asking him, full of curiosity and intrigue herself at what new and
exciting things appeared to all of a sudden be happening in her home village.
    He focused on her once more as he lowered his
hands down again, and once more was forced to see a different landscape.
    "It is all changing, Isabella. When I have my
hands down like this I can see what I think you see - this is green grass we
are sitting on," he said and she nodded. "And I can see buildings
that look intact, over that way."
    Isabella smiled at him.
    "Yes. You are seeing my home. But why do you
not see it when your hands are not down? Who is seeing real? Me? Or you?"
    His eyes were deeply focused on hers.
    "You are the constant here, Isabella. You I
can see either way. Do you have a power that is making me see you?" he
asked and she shook her head.
    "No, I have no power. I am just me. No-one in
my village has powers, I do not think."
    Suddenly his stomach growled and he knew he was
well overdue for food but did not know how he could get to any. She heard the
sound though and laughed softly.
    "You must eat."
    "Yes, but how?"
    She looked thoughtful for a while, also seeming to
do calculations in her head about how she could help him with the current
dilemma. Suddenly she stood up and held out her hand once more.
    "Come with me," she said and he
immediately took her hand and walked. "I do not know if this will work as
I do not know if this will happen on all of our land, but our orchard is this
way."
    She held his hand as she walked him through what
now looked like dry dirt and overgrown areas of growth. But eventually he could
see what must have once been healthy trees. Now, though, they were just dried
and dead stumps.
    "Sit down here. Let us see if it works
here," she said and he obeyed.
    As soon as his hands touched the ground, he could
see he was in an orchard with a vegetable garden nearby.
    "Oh!" he exclaimed, unintentionally
indicating to her that he could indeed see what was around them.
    He watched her as she leaned up and picked a red
apple off one of the trees that he could now clearly see was a fruit tree, and
she went to hand it to him, but as he reached out to take it, even with just
one hand, the image died … and so did the fruit. He was suddenly looking at
nothing.
    Isabella was thoughtful enough to comprehend what
had happened so she instructed him to put his hand down once more, while she
reached up and took another apple. This time she came to him and pulled out a
small knife from the side pocket of her dress.
    He watched as she cut off a slice and leaned in to
place it in his open mouth. It wasn't the most gracious way to eat, but he let
her feed him like that. He did not want to think about what would happen to the
food inside of him once he moved his hands.
    As he sat cross legged, she was close to him,
leaning over him almost, and he was very aware of her as the beautiful woman
that she was. It had been so long since he'd had a woman's company … since he'd
had any company in fact. But it was more than that. Because of the
dreams, he felt like he knew her … like they were meant to not only know
one another, but completely be together.
    Perhaps the fruit would end up being real -
perhaps it wouldn't. But in the moment, it felt to him like his stomach was
getting nourishment, and the fruit was far fresher than anything he had ever
had in his life. He let her feed him, partly because he knew his body needed
it, but also because he wanted to be this close to her. He had dreamed
about her and now she was real - seemingly in either reality. Whichever vision was the reality. That was the ongoing question to which the answer was
completely and utterly unknown.
    When the apple was finished she threw the apple
core away onto what