Yukiko dreamt she was searching for Priscilla because she could hear her crying somewhere. A storm was gathering, and in the distance, a sheet of rain stretched from the clouds to the land. It was coming closer, the rain, and she kept thinking, “When is it going to hit? When am I going to get soaked?” Then in the unexplainable way she became aware of her dreams while she was still in them, she thought, “This is a dream, and Priscilla is actually crying somewhere.” She woke to rain pelting the windows and flashes of lightning illuminating her room. She got up and went to Priscilla, who was splayed out in the dog bed and crying, her head whipping back and forth. Yukiko knelt and touched her. “Priscilla, wake up,” she said. Priscilla opened her eyes, and she seemed confused, as if she were wondering why it was Yukiko, not Sam. But after a moment of hesitation, she fell into Yukiko’s arms, and Yukiko held her until she was asleep again, till her breathing was slower and steadier....
reflections and whimsies on literary fiction