In The Beginning . . .

Chapter I

William

He could not understand the dream. Her face was so real. Her features so beautiful – so regal. Michelle was her name. He felt her – her hands, her face, her lips. His body against her silky, soft skin. But, it was just a dream. Each morning, William awoke to an empty bed. Michelle was only a dream, yet so real to him. She was always on his mind. The woman of his dreams from his dreams. When did these dreams begin and why?

William began to experience his second reality when he was just five years old. He always knew Michelle. He always loved her. She has always been an important part of his life. The most important person in his life. They met one summer at his grandparents’ small farm in northwestern Missouri.

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William always had a vivid imagination. He loved playing with his imaginary friends, mostly since he was an only child. Plus, he thought being around adults often was very boring. Adult talk wasn’t always interesting. They often talked about who married who, who slept with whom, who gave birth to whom, and all that silly adult stuff. So, William would steal away to the meadows of his grandparents’ farm where he could chase butterflies, watch the cattle graze and the horses run. He would lie down and stare up at the clouds in the beautiful sea-blue sky while listening to a cricket symphony. Life for a five-year-old was great.

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It was the last weekend of the summer, and William’s last weekend with his grandparents before school started. He was going to be a kindergartner and William was excited. His grandmother taught him how to count to one-hundred, the alphabet, his colors, his birthday, and his address. William felt like a genius! So, when he went to his favorite spot in the meadow near the horses, William was surprised to see a little girl picking flowers.

She was different than he was – very different. Her skin was the color of his grandmother’s famous chocolate silk cake. He had never seen skin so beautiful. Her medium length hair was very curly – almost like sheep’s wool. The daisy placed in her hair made her look more beautiful. William could not recall seeing such a beautiful girl. Michelle was so pretty.

As William took another step toward her, he stepped on a twig, snapping it. The sound startled the ebony beauty, and she turned quickly in William’s direction. Startled and holding her daisies close to her chest, Michelle stared at William for a moment, but then slowly began to smile revealing deep set dimples in each cheek.

“Hi. My name is Michelle. What’s yours?”
“Wil…William,” William stuttered.
“William! Where are you boy?” Grandmother called. William jerked and realized he had fallen asleep in the meadow.

“Here I am, Grams,” He replied but very confused. William looked around for the ebony beautiful, but she was nowhere to be found. How could he have fallen asleep when he was wide awake? He was confused.

“William! Come on in for dinner, son,” Grams called. In a daze, William could not understand what had just happened; but solving this mystery had to wait because he was hungry and Grams didn’t like to be kept waiting. Plus, he wanted some of her chocolate silk cake for dessert.