INSIDE:
A sky of white hovered over the ground. She lay still, taken aback by what She saw. It was her first sight. She sat up, her pale hands sinking into tilled soil. She looked to her left and then to her right and saw only the blank, whiteness that pretended to be her sky. She stood slowly, allowing a brown dress to drape down her frame. She could see only a few feet from her was a disturbance in the ground beneath her feet: a hole. A small, well-dug hole in the soil. It prompted her. She stepped forward, her bare feet pressing into the cold ground. In her hand, She could feel a small thing.
“Seed,” he soft voice sounded from behind pink lips. She looked at the little green seed with awe as She walked toward the hole. Instinctively, She knelt down in front of the small hole and gently placed the seed on top of the depressed soil. Her small hands ran together, scraping the soil into the hole and forming a mound.
And then she drifted backwards, lying down in the field as if She were floating down a river.
“River,” She said to herself. She recalled floating down a clear river with her son. Although She didn’t have a son. And She thought, “how could I remember this?” For She had awoken for the first time only moments before.
OUTSIDE:
A man lay still in a large bed. His face was shadowed by the dark room but his eyes were wide with anxiety.
“Goodmorning, dear,” said his wife as she rolled over and embraced him. “Did you sleep?”
“Not even a wink,” he said in a slow and tired voice.
“I’m sorry. Do you want to talk about it?”
“I’m not sure what to say,” he said.
“Do you think you’re ready?” his wife sat up and looked at her phone. “Ha!” she exclaimed. “I feel like it’s 8, but it’s 5:30. Coffee?”
“Yeah,” he said as he shifted himself out of bed.
The couple somberly made their way to their kitchen. Their coffee machine knew to brew two cups by 7AM so his wife had to manually set it to brew.
The brown liquid steamed its way into two tin cups.
“Gracie?” he said to his wife.
“Yeah?” she turned quickly to look at her husband. He admired how beautiful she was even in the early hours of the day.
“What will I do after this?”
“Dear,” she said as she embraced him. “You’re a talented man. And just because they don’t see the value in your program, doesn’t mean others won’t. Learn what you can from this and carry it on to the next firm.” She smiled and kissed his scruffy face.
“I just can’t believe it’s been three different times with the same result.”
“Don’t worry about the time. We’re blessed to have my work. Besides, Jethro and I are easy, right?”
Gracie made him laugh. But he was saddened all the more. His dreams didn’t provide for his family. And what would his seven-year-old son think of an unemployed father? Again.
INSIDE:
She awoke again. This time, she remembers a man whose face was darkened by shadows. His wife hugged and kissed him and the two spoke of something.
“Gracie,” She found the name slipping from her mouth. She looked around and saw the same whiteness surrounded her and the brown dirt beneath her. She gazed to her left a little longer than last time and saw a slight reflection. It was her. She had light yellow hair. She hadn’t noticed that before.
And then she stood, seed in hand, and approached a little hole pre-dug in the field. She buried the seed with soil and drifted back to sleep.