Wendell G Sweet

City of the dead Wendell G Sweet

I was so caught up in wondering about the sparrow, that I paid no attention to the old man wandering slowly up the path behind me. The grit of a footstep at nearly the last second was all that alerted me. My hands came up reflexively and caught the edge of the wire as it came down to circle my throat. It bit into my hands momentarily before I was able to duck, roll off the bench; pulling myself free, hanging onto the wire with one hand. Pulling Abignew with me over the top of the bench. Catching him by surprise. Blood ran down one of my hands from the bite of the wire, but both of my hands closed around Abignew's neck, my thumbs on his windpipe, crushing. Squeezing. I suddenly shot forward into empty space, off balance as Abignew vanished before my eyes. But I caught his scent, closed my eyes and followed. My feet touched down in a new world. One I had never seen before. One I had not even known existed. Tall, gray pines. A worn path snaked away and I could see Abignew's shaggy head disappearing into the woods off the side of the path not far from me... Slowing... Not yet aware that I was following. I crouched, left the path, laid my dreamer body down into the tall grass, as hidden as I could make it, and began to follow with my Dreamer's Eye. My body remained off the side of the path, barely into the woods, but safe for now I hoped. My spiritual self hovered close by... Watching... Back in the real world my physical self lay in the bed in the Motel room. Light creeping around the edges of the heavy drapes. Lost in the Dreaming... Breathing shallowly. Waiting to be awakened... My Dreamers Eye sped along the air currents, found Abignew, slowed, and began to follow him as he made his way deeper into the trees...