Just Like A Dream

Just Like A Dream

 

Who knows how it happens? One look, one little smile, and your heart is lost forever. 

And suddenly, they're gone, and all you are left with is the shadow of a smile.

But the story is not over until there is a happily ever after... 

and so you keep looking and waiting and hoping... 

for the one of your dreams to just come around the corner and... 

just be there. 

"What'm I bid for this fine piece of craftsmanship, ladies and gents, what'm I bid? Who'll start the bidding at two hundred? Two hundred…"

"Where are they selling the good stuff?" Richard frowned at the long rows of antique furniture and shook his head. "Getting lost in all this museum junk…"

"It ain't junk," Eric raised his eyebrows. "This is high quality stuff, man, just look at this beautiful old couch and these silver candlesticks and this… this…" his voice trailed off.

"Words fail you, huh?" Richard laughed.

"What is it?" Eric leaned closer. 

"I dunno, but it's the most hideous thing I've ever seen… looks like a pineapple…"

"With red and green lightbulbs all over it like polka dots. It's perfect! Exactly what I need for the side table in the living room, Rich. It'll go just dandy with those paisley chairs," he nodded in the general direction of said paisley chairs, dreadful things in turquoise and bright yellow.

"Wow, my eyes," Rich turned away dramatically. "Your taste is so bad I bet you eat chocolate peanut butter banana sandwiches with pickles. You gotta get someone to help you straighten out your decor choices or your place will look like a haunted house. You need a feminine touch, that's what," he winked meaningfully.

"Heh, says you," Eric rolled his eyes. "Now that you say it, this would be a good place to start… that house ain't gonna furnish itself."

"Can't believe your dad is just giving it to you," Richard scooped a striped, tasseled antimacassar from the back of an easy chair and dumped it on Eric's head. "This would be perfect… whaddya call these things anyway?" He stepped back to study the effect, but got it thrown immediately back in his face.

"Twenty rooms of emptiness to be accounted for, I dunno how I'm gonna do it," Eric sighed dramatically and plopped down on a settee, which squeaked alarmingly.

"What happened to all the old furniture?" Rich dropped on the settee beside him, causing it to shift and creak as if it were about to collapse.

"Got sold when Gramma died… Grandpa couldn't stand seeing it anymore. Man, the old place just doesn't seem right anymore, all emptied out and without Gramma and Grandpa in it… and now I got it. Heh. Just think of it… a hundred acres and a house all to myself…"

"And the cabin." Rich leaned back on the settee, folding his hands behind his head. "Gonna let me live in the cabin?" The settee gave a final groan and something snapped. Rich flipped over backwards and landed hard, half propped up against a solid oak bedstead.

"No way, Hosea," Eric laughed as Rich picked himself up, moaning dreadfully. "You're liable to knock the place down. And that cabin is special. Not to be trusted with the likes of you."

"What is up with the stupid thing anyway?" Rich kicked the ruined settee, more than a little angry. 

"It's your problem now, you gotta buy it." Eric rose quickly, so as not to look suspicious, sitting on the remains of the settee. "Hey, that china cabinet… the one the lamp thingy is sitting on… isn't that pretty?"

"Watcha gonna put in it?" Rich rubbed the side of his head ruefully as he glanced sideways at the cabinet in question "You got any of them fancy knick knacks that go in china cabinets?" 

"Books! That's what…" a girl cried, slipping past Eric to kneel beside the cabinet. "Just perfect for books…" she wasn't talking to Eric though, but 

into her phone. "Oh, Linnie, you gotta come see it, it's just darling… and the turnip guide and company would fit to a T on the top shelf!"

"Gonna let her have it," Eric shrugged, speaking in a stage whisper to Rich. "Consider it my contribution to the secret society of turnips." He retrieved the antimacassar from the floor and tossed it back onto the couch from whence it came. "C'mon, Rich, let's go fess up and pay for your new couch." 

"Sure and I'm donating it to you, along with that pineapple lamp."

"You wouldn't…" Eric shot him a terrifying glare.

"Oh Sophie, let me see!" a voice cried eagerly and yet another girl brushed past Eric to kneel beside the china cabinet.

"There's the other member of the secret society of turnips, I presume," Rich muttered. "Let's vamoose, or we'll be overtaken by them."

Eric agreed and started to follow his friend, but he stopped in his tracks. The newcomer had stood, brushing off her skirt as she chatted excitedly to her friend. She was completely oblivious of his presence at first… but then, for just one moment, she turned and saw him. Their eyes met and he felt himself suddenly weak at the knees. How could it be possible in just one glance to feel all he felt at that moment? Had he tried for a hundred years he never could have found the words to describe that feeling… it just felt right. Like… like home. 

She smiled slightly, as if half-confused by his baffled stare. Something about that smile and he was over the edge… a lost man forevermore. 

"Hey, Eric," Rich called over his shoulder. He was rubbing his arm now, a woeful expression on his face. A faint bruise could already be seen on the side of his head. "We gonna go or what? Gotta pay for that thing and I wanna get to the machinery auction before all the good stuff's gone."

"Yeah, sure," Eric answered vaguely, not comprehending. The spell was broken now and the girl had looked away, but he felt that something monumentous and life-changing had taken place. His head was reeling and his heart was pounding like it never had before. 

oOo

"Hey, Linnie, earth to Linnie," Sophie shook her friend, laughingly. "What's gotten into you? Didn't you see it…?!" She indicated the china cabinet. Linaea shook her head as if to clear her mind and attempted to snap back to reality.

"I thought…" she frowned, looking from Julie to the direction he had taken and back again. "His eyes…"

"Huh?" Sophie began, confused.

"Huh?" Linaea repeated, and both girls nearly collapsed in hysterical giggles. 

"Nooo, not the huhs," Sophie gasped.

"You started it!" Linaea cried in mock indignance, directing her attention back to the cabinet. "And ohhh, Sophie, you are zackly right, this would be perfectly perfect for the turnip guides!"

"I know, right?" Sophie squealed. "Quick, get the number and let's go for popcorn or something before it goes up for auction, I'm starving."

"Starving? You just got through an entire bag of cotton candy, singlehandedly, I might add…"

"I did not!" Sophie cried. "You snitched! And yes, starving. I'm gonna die…" she groaned dramatically, raising a hand limply to her head. "Feed me, Linnie, 'ere I die.. I needs bacon, lots and lots of bacon…"

"Oh, you're getting delirious, come along and be fed decent food," Linnaea grabbed her friend's arm and dragged her away from the furniture.