Only Dreaming
A short story
I looked at the passing landscape. Greenfields, almost endless, still damp with morning dew, although it was already noon. The sun did not give warmth, not much, but the light made the foggy fields seem almost unreal. We entered a small town and I turned away from the window, looking at my fellow travelers.
It was noon and few traveled at noon. I had effortlessly secured a seat for myself alone and made myself comfortable. The people who entered the wagon ignored me, no one asking me whether the three seats around me were taken. They didn’t need to.
We were moving again, I noticed, leaving the town behind. More fields, occasionally cut by a straight canal, probably meant to relieve the ground from excess water. I didn’t know, didn’t care. It was just another thing to look at. It struck me how empty it all was. No animals, no people. The entire scene breathed loneliness much like my own.
“What are you thinking of?”
I startled, looking up to see one of my seats (funny how I came to consider them mine) occupied by the loveliest creature I had ever seen. Her deep brown eyes showed genuine interest, and her small smile, almost encouraging, made me for a moment forget everything around us.
“What were you thinking of?”
