Kindred Spirits

The ballroom floor was filled with ballroom dancers. A cake about fifteen feet high stood in the middle of the floor adorning the room on all sides with its massive, beautifully colored edible embellishments. The handsome bridegroom came out, escorted by his beautiful mother. The groomsmen filled the room with bridesmaids of every ethnicity, sporting cultural garb in their splendor. Beautiful music was blaring through the speakers honoring each of them and their home country as they filed into the room. Children were playing by her feet as Meridia smiled brightly. Her feet and the crown on her head were enshrouded by vibrantly colored flowers. Rudolfo was dancing on ninety-something year old legs and his wife, Lydia, who seemed ageless, was dancing with him. There were Siculo and Calabro-Sicilian shouts of cheers and congratulations. Although Ramaya understood none of it, she knew her grandparents did. The windows of the building were made of beautifully stained glass while the ceilings in each room were painted in fresco. Ramaya appeared, driven in by horse and carriage, and escorted to the floor by the driver, who was dressed in a white tuxedo with long tails and a top hat. The guests burst into applause at her entrance and began tossing gold coins and flower petals, then heightening the festivities with cultural Siculo dance and toasting. Ramaya saw herself smiling when suddenly a hand came up from nowhere, as if to ask her for a dance. As she reached for the hand, it became a hoof! A big, black, ugly hoof! The dark tuxedo on the other side of the hand turned into thick, coarse hair and the owner of the hand fell to the floor on all fours, and began snorting wildly! The cheers turned to screams as the being began to grow into an oversized hog, which began darting toward the cake! Those who once danced were now paralyzed with fear, and all other movement around them declined to slow mo. The hog started on its course toward the cake until Ramaya could be heard ordering it to stop its “fat ass” in its tracks. It could be heard grunting and snorting, and seen salivating as it entertained the idea of ruining her day, but she wasn’t having it! She ordered the boar out of the room but it refused to go. In her anger, she swiftly kicked the wild hog between its eyes, reducing it to a barrow hog within seconds. The crowd erupted in applause and the festivities resumed as if nothing had ever happened. Ramaya woke up to Jeremy softly crying in his sleep. “Don’t go. Please don’t leave me again. I’ll be good this time.” “Jeremy,” she spoke softly as she tried to no avail to shake him awake. “Jeremy,” she said again but louder and with a more vigorous shake. “Yeah…um…” he muttered as he awakened. Lying down on the couch on his back, he looked up at her with one eye still closed. For a second, he thought he was dreaming but then she asked him a question. “Are you okay?” He jumped up slightly, almost butting her with his head and said, “Sure. Why?” “You were talking in your sleep.” “I was?” he asked surprised. “Yeah,” she whispered. “You were asking someone not to leave you again.” He didn’t remember the dream, but she seemed to be staring down at him, waiting for details in Technicolor. He wiped his eyes, sat up straight, and stared back at her. The awkward silence lasted for more than a few minutes, as neither of them was going to budge. She sat silently demanding he tell; he sat in silence refusing. They were facing each other when all of a sudden, a door opened and Ramaya quickly retreated to her couch.