An adult stories – Everland by Cromagnonman,Cromagnonman I trudged unfulfilled down the road. Fiona and I had been going together ever since her first day working with me, not exactly with me, just at the same company. We flirted at work, and I was looking forward to the continuation of this as our relationship stepped up a few notches from just good friends.
Unfortunately, every time it looked as if I would be allowed to the next level, she would get out the book of excuse and deny me. Tonight, it was page thirty-four that sealed my fate.
Head bowed and staring at my feet, I slowly made my way back home when I heard it. “Hist.”
I looked around, trying to identify the source. “Hist, over here.” There was a rabbit, a very large white rabbit, standing next to a hedge pulling the branches aside. “Over here.”
I walked over to where he stood. I assumed the it was a he, but I could be wrong.
“Who, or what are you?” I asked.
“Look.” He pointed to a hole in the ground behind the hedge. It wasn’t much as rabbit holes go, just big enough for me to look down. It seemed to go on forever, no light at the end. As my eyes got used to the darkness, I could see that the sides were smooth and round, not like a normal rabbit hole at all.
I didn’t hear who or what had snuck up behind me, but the next I knew was that I was plummeting at an ever increasing speed down the hole. It got steeper until I was going straight down. Just when I thought that I would never stop, it began to level out and then rise up. I could see daylight ahead of me, nothing else, just daylight, until I emerged, high above a lake. Wow! I immediately began a series of forward somersaults with pike until I was heading for the water. Straightening at the last second, I entered the water with barely a ripple. Down I went for some distance before turning to head for the surface.
A shape loomed above me, a long streamlined shape. As I neared it, its mouth opened wide revealing a formidable row of sharp teeth. This is it, I thought to myself, death by great white shark, not the way I wanted to die. As I neared it. It looked at me. “G’day mate, how’re you going?”
“Fine thank you.” I stammered, still unsure of what was happening.
“Don’t worry about me, mate, you’re much too skinny for lunch, no flesh and all those bones. There’s this fat sheila a couple of hundred metres away that looks much tastier, maybe too much fat, who knows. See ya.” And off he went.
I surfaced to be confronted by a crowd of cheering people and, in front of them a row of people seated at a long desk. They each held up a card with the number 10.
“A perfect ten from all judges, he is our new champion!” Announced the announcer in that voice that announces some magnificent feat of athletic prowess.
I swam to the shore and climbed the ladder onto the bank, hauling myself out. The crowd moved aside as the most beautiful young woman that I have ever seen appeared, holding a large gold medal in her hand. “Congratulations on a most magnificent dive.” She placed the medal around my neck and kissed me. “Won’t you come with me to the royal box to watch the rest of the games.” She didn’t wait for my response. I had no choice but to follow. “I am Princess Cecilia.”
“I am pleased to meet you, your majesty.”
“Please, don’t be so formal, you may call me Ceci, or Darling if you like.”
“But, but,” I stammered, “I do not know you.”
“But you will, you will”. She pushed open a door and led me into a sumptuous room furnished with much opulence. At the front, looking down over the events, was a man wearing a jewel encrusted crown and a woman wearing a diamond tiara. “Father, Mother, I would like you to meet.. ”
She turned to me, “What shall I call you?”
“Timothy, Timothy Smith.”
“That won’t do at all. I would like you to meet Lawrence Harmon.”
“Pleased to meet you, my boy.” The king said. “My word that was a spectacular dive.”
“Thank you, sir.” I didn’t know whether to bow to him or not, so I stood there looking uncomfortable.
“Take a seat my boy.” He pointed to the chair beside him. Cecilia quickly sat in the indicated seat leaving me to sit beside he.
“Isn’t this wonderful.” She said, linking her arm with mine.
“Where am I?” I asked.
“You are in Everland.”
“I’ve heard of Neverland but never Everland.”
“No, not Nevereverland, just plain Everland.”
“I don’t know what is happening, there I was looking down this rabbit hole, the biggest that I’ve ever seen, and I felt someone, or something push me. I plummeted headfirst down the hole until I shot out over this lake and, ever the exhibitionist, I decided to make the most of the situation by turning an ungraceful entry into the water into a series of forward somersaults with pike before straightening up into a dive to enter the water with as small a splash as I could.”
“It was indeed a small splash, much better than that of those who have come before.”
“How many have come before?” I asked.
“I have three older sisters, so one for each.”
“So, this is the way that you trap young men, is it?”
“We didn’t trap you so much as entice you to join us. The rabbit hole that you looked down no longer exists now that you have joined us, joined me.”
“So, there’s no way that I can leave, is that it?”
“Do you want to leave?”
“As things stand, no.”
“Well then, you have no worries. In Everland there are no worries.”
“Something odd happened as I swam to the surface, I met this ferocious shark who I expected would eat me, but he explained that I was safe because there was a fat lady further away.”
“Oh, that would have been Noah, take no notice of him, he’s harmless and the fat lady is safe.”
“Are there any other talking animals?”
“Oh, they all talk. Some are quite interesting while others, like Simon the Sloth, waiting for him to complete a sentence is the most boring time you can ever spend.”
She led me from the marquee to a waiting open carriage. “Where to mistress?” Wellington, the lead horse asked.
“How many times must I tell you that, when my parents aren’t around you may call me Ceci. Take us home.”
“Your home or Sir’s?”
“My home and Lawrence’s are the same destination. He and I are to marry.”
“My congratulations to both of you. Wake up!” He said to Farncombe, the other horse, “We have work to do.”
It seemed strange to me, never having ridden in a carriage of any sort to find myself in one without a driver. I know that there is talk of driver-less cars, but driver-less carriages is different.
“Isn’t this wonderful?” Ceci asked, her head on my shoulder and her arm linked to mine. “Do you know what we are going to do as soon as we reach our home?”
Now, me being a normal red blooded young man, I know what I hoped would happen, the culmination of all of my sexual dreams. “No, what are we going to do?”
“I am going to introduce you to my staff, and my animal friends, as their new master. They are to obey you implicitly as they do me.”
“Oh, that will be nice.” She caught the disappointment in my voice.
“There will be plenty of time for that once we are wed. You will not have long to wait for that, and you will not be disappointed.”
“I can’t wait.” I tried hard not to sound disappointed.
She kissed me. “This is the first of many to keep you interested until our wedding day.”
“And when will that be?”
“Father is even now organising for the banns to be posted, we then have to wait for one week for our great day, you can wait that long, surely.”
“It will be a struggle, but yes.” I kissed her to let her know that I was happy.
One week. What, in the real world would I miss? My job? No, it was not my chosen career. My parents? I would miss them more that they would miss me, they were so busy with their business of making a lot of money, that they had little time for me. Then there was Fiona. Fiona and I were engaged to be married, although the wedding date seemed to be forever changing. There was always some reason that she would move it back. What else was there? My mates in the football team? They were fun on game day and at training, but they all had their own lives that didn’t involve me, so no, while I would miss game day, I had nothing to miss the rest of the time.
“A penny for them.”
“What, oh sorry.”
“You were thinking about your old life and whether you would miss it, weren’t you?”
“Yes, I was. I don’t think that I will. Maybe a little, but not enough.”
“I am so pleased. I will make sure that you will not even miss the little bit. You and I are going to be happy, happier than any other person in the world.”
“Speaking of the world, where exactly are we?”
“We are in Everland, the place where your dreams come true.”
“So, you are just a dream, is that it? Someday I will wake up and find you gone.”
“No, this is your dream, and I will change it from a dream to reality.”
“Do you promise?”
“Pinky promise.” She linked her little finger with mine to seal her promise.
Ceci woke me early the next morning. No, we were not in the same bed, or even room. My door opened and she ran across the room and jumped on my bed. If I had not been awake already, she would have scared me, but I was awake thinking about what was happening to me and what was about to happen. I must admit that there was a stirring in my loins at the thought.
“Come on sleepy head, out of bed, we have much to do today, but not yet.” She lay on me and kissed me. She obviously felt me rising to the occasion. “Hold that thought.”
“I don’t know whether I can.”
“That’s it, no hot water for your shower.”
“What is more important than that?”
“I have to be at the dressmakers in one hour and you have to be at the tailors for a fitting of your ceremonial uniform. A decision will have to be made as to the medals you shall wear and the colour of your sash. Father will help you with that decision. But first breakfast. Enter.” Benson, her butler, opened the door and ushered in a maid pushing a trolley laden with a sumptuous feast
“Good morning m’lady, sir, your carriage will be ready for you in one hour.” With that he reversed out of the room.
“He had no problem with you being in my bedroom.”
“No, why should he?”
“Has this sort of thing happened before?” What was I thinking? Well, thinking it was okay but saying it was not.
“No, this has never happened before.” She kissed me. “But it will happen again.” She looked at me and burst into laughter. “After we are married this will happen every morning, although I will instruct Benson to delay it for at least an hour because we will be busy with other things.” She spread butter and marmalade onto a slice of toast and held it to my lips. When I had reached the last morsel, she held her fingers for me to lick. I returned the favour, and we came close to forgetting our plans.
“And who is this?” A cat had jumped onto the bed and was glaring at me.
“Thomasina, this is Lawrence, he and I are to wed.”
“Did you ask permission for this foolishness? I don’t recall you asking and me granting permission for this new development. I will not stand for it.” She jumped from the bed.
“Thomasina, come back here this instant!” Ceci said sharply.
“Speak to the paw, the face is ignoring you and this situation will not change until you understand who is in charge here.”
“Oh dear, I guess that this reception will remain frosty until she calms down.”
“How long will this take? I’ll not come between you and her. I have a cat back home and she is just as demanding.”
“She’ll be like this until she starts to get hungry. I won’t feed her until she gets desperate.”
Just then we heard a herd of something galloping down the passage way. This smallish black dog came slithering around the corner, sending an irate Thomasina flying. It bounded onto the bed and came to a screeching halt on Ceci’ lap. “What can I do, what do you want me to do, can I do anything for you, can I, can I, can I?”
“And who is this handsome dog?” I patted his slobbering face.
“This is Ralph. He’s a Schnoodle and very friendly, aren’t you boy?”
“Yes mistress, I’m very friendly, I’ll do anything for you, just ask.”
Thomasina was glaring at us around the door jamb, she was not amused, but then cats are seldom, to my knowledge, amused.
An uneasy truce descended on the bed as Thomasina joined us, hissing at Ralph who licked her face and only just avoided her claws. Ralph scoffed the breakfast remains while Thomasina demanded gourmet cat food.
“Come with me, I’ll show you where her food is.” I walked beside Ceci, a glaring Thomasina inserting herself between us, she didn’t need to say it, but to her I was intruding on her territory.
Ceci dished out a generous serving of gourmet deliciousness and handed me the bowl. “You give it to her.”
I took the bowl and placed it in the indicated place, but Thomasina was having nothing of it. “Suit yourself.” I picked up the bowl.
“Where do you think you’re going with that?” Demanded an irate feline.
“You didn’t want it, so I thought that we’d save it for when you are hungrier.”
“Did say that I didn’t want it, smart arse?”
“Thomasina, behave yourself. Now you tell Lawrence that you’re sorry for your behaviour and accept the food that he is giving you.”
“All right, if you insist. Lawrence I’m sorry for my attitude, now put the freaking food down.”
“Certainly madam.” I placed it in front of her. She thought about it for a while before letting out an exasperated sigh and started eating.
“It will probably take time but I’m sure that, sooner or later she’ll accept you.”
“I hope so. I gather that she usually sleeps on your bed.”
“Will it be a problem if she sleeps on our bed?”
“Not at all. I’m used to a cat on my bed.”
“Did you hear that Thomasina, he likes cats.”
“I’ll reserve my judgement.”
I looked at myself in the full length mirror at the establishment of the royal court tailor and decided that, in the right like, I was a handsome devil.
“Does sir approve?” The tailor asked.
“How could I not, it is perfect. I hope that Cecelia will think the same.”
“She will young sir, she will.”
If I thought the ceremonial suit was spectacular, you should have seen the array of medals that were pinned to the coat, but even they paled to insignificance compared to the medallion pinned the crimson sash. If I’m permitted to say so myself, I looked the part of a regal young gentleman. If this didn’t impress my bride to be, I don’t know what will.
Cecelia was happiness personified at dinner. “My dress is amazing, it is cut to highlight this.” She stood and passed her hands down her body.
I had a thought, if this perfection was highlighted, I was in danger of consummating our union right there, in the cathedral, in front of her parents and the invited aristocracy.
“Tradition decrees that it is bad luck for you to see the dress before the great day.”
The days leading up to the nuptials were spent going over the protocols to be observed. If I had any ideas about leading a life of indolence, I was sadly mistaken. It was hard work, this royalty gig, and the only upside was that I would spend the rest of my life with this beautiful person that I was holding in my arms.
“I can’t wait for, is it only two days, until you and I are alone in our marriage bed, you holding me, kissing me and importantly, loving me. I can’t wait to feel your manhood in me.” She whispered.
“You do not need to wait to feel my manhood, it is ready for you.” I whispered in return.
“But we must not, not until our first night together.”
“Who will know?”
“The world will know, Thomasina will tell mother and she will feel obliged to tell the world of our betrayal of the traditions that we are guided by.”
“Thomasina doesn’t have to see us, not if she isn’t in the room.”
“If we exclude her from this room, she will know what we are doing.”
“What about our wedding night, will she be in the room with us then?”
“No, she is aware that this will be our time, and that she cannot be here.”
The day before THE day was spent touring the countryside, being driven in a gleaming in the sunshine, gold and mahogany open carriage, through the cheering crowd filled streets of the towns and villages. It was a momentous occasion, the fourth royal princess was to be married the next day to this handsome young man, who had been chosen for her. Clouds were forbidden and sunshine was ordered. Nothing was to spoil this day.
I perfected the royal wave and everyone we spoke to said that I was the perfect young man and would be a most suitable husband for this beloved young princess. Any doubts that I might have had were dispelled by the enthusiasm shown by the people.
I heard my bedroom door open, and Ceci slipped into my bed. “Wake up sleepyhead, this is our big day. This will be our last breakfast together and the last time that we can kiss and cuddle as single persons.” Her lips met mine. “I can’t wait for this night.”
“Then why… I know, protocol and tradition.”
“Thank you, my darling, almost husband, I knew that you would understand.”
Any further conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Benson with our breakfast and Thomasina and Ralph to join us.
Ceci left me at nine-thirty. “Why must you go?” I asked, my saddest face asked her.
“I must, it will take almost forever for me to be dressed.” She kissed me, “I promise that, when the dress is removed all, you will see will be me.” She kissed me again and withdrew from my room before I succumbed to my obvious temptation.
I spent the next few hours pondering my luck in finding myself in this situation. Here I was in Everland when, by rights I should still be in Hardlyeverland with the teasing Fiona. ‘Huh!’ I thought to myself, ‘look what you could have had, all you needed to do was to allow me to make love to you when I desired it, not when you felt like it, which wasn’t often enough for me. Now I have this beautiful young bride who will love me fully and often.’
An equerry arrived with the uniform that I would wear, that of an officer in the Kings Own regiment, scarlet jacket over navy trousers with a gold stripe down the leg. Gleaming black boots and a golden scabbard holding a ceremonial sword.
My future brothers in law arrived to escort me to the cathedral. Adrian, the eldest, was to be my best man and Phillip and Brendan the groomsmen.
We arrived at the cathedral ten minutes before Ceci was due to arrive and took our positions in front of the altar and the heavily robed archbishop. He smiled at me, probably thinking that this would be the last time he would have to do this.
There was a stirring at the front door and the organist launched into Mendelssohn’s wedding march as the king, with a radiant Ceci on his arm, began the slow walk to me waiting at the altar. There was a gasp from the crowd of invited guests as a smiling Ceci made her way to me, surely no bride looked more beautiful.
King Frederick passed his daughter to me with a smile before taking his place next to Queen Priscilla.
I know that the archbishop wanted his every word to be heard and understood, but did he have to talk so slowly? Ceci’s hand in mine was the only link that I needed, but we had to quietly endure this ceremony before we were allowed to be together, alone. It was difficult for me to hide my obvious anticipation, but I managed.
We moved to the vestry to sign the register. It felt strange for me to sign as Lawrence Harmon instead of Timothy Smith, but this was this life, the other was my past life.
Many speeches later and much toasting of the bride and groom later, we were led from the reception to our waiting carriage that would take us back to the palace and our marital bed. Tomorrow we would set off on our honeymoon to, I don’t know where.
I was in what was Ceci’s, soon to be our bedroom, as she began the task of removing her wedding gown. I had to unfasten dozens of hook and eye fasteners down the back before we could ease it from her shoulders, and she could step out of it.
The vision of my bride, totally and gloriously naked, spurred me into frenzied activity. My uniform was thrown into the corner of the room and my underwear followed it. I too was now naked, and my anticipation was very obvious.
“Come to me, my darling.” Ceci’s voice was husky, she too was anticipating this moment. We kissed for hours before I led her to our bed. Lifting her in my arms, I set her down, kissing her as I did. She held her arms open in an invitation that I could not refuse. We lay, kissing and touching for what seemed like hours, but was probably mere seconds, until I prepared to enter her. The moment had arrived.
There was this god-almighty shriek. I sat up, looking around me I found my offending alarm clock. Why the hell did my dream have to end at this very moment?
I dragged my unfulfilled arse out of bed and headed for the shower. No, it wasn’t cold, but might well have been.
Fiona was pleasant as I walked to my desk. “Hi, how are you this morning? I enjoyed last night, where are you taking me tonight?
“Where would you like me to take you?”
“I hear that there is a new restaurant that serves fabulous seafood, including my very favourite salt and pepper squid. Will you take me there tonight?”
“Of course. Do you want to go straight from work, or shall I pick you up from your place?” Please ask me to pick you up, that way I’ll get to take you home.
“Will you pick me up, I need to freshen up.” Is this a hint that I need to freshen up?
“Fine, I’ll do that then.” I got into the work that I had to do, and she did what she had to do. During the day we flirted, as usual. It was all very happy friends time, but throughout this whole exercise I felt that there was something missing. My dream had shown me promises that my reality was unable to provide.
“Fiona,” I had just kissed her goodnight. “Are you happy with us, where we’re at with our relationship?”
“Yes, I think that we have an attachment, why, don’t you?”
“I’m happy as far as it goes, but I feel that I, you know, want more. I think that we should be thinking of the future, of getting engaged, of planning for a life together.”
“I would like that too, but let’s no rush into this, I want to be sure, really sure, that there is a future for us. Good-night Tim.” She kissed me and stepped through the door, leaving me unfulfilled once more.
Our relationship drifted along for the next twelve months. In that time, I had been allowed to make love to her five times. In hindsight, these moments of sexual release seemed to occur when she chose, never when I wished. I think she thought that the occasional experiences were enough to keep me interested, but I had my dream to fall back on.
I was aware that I would never experience in real life the pleasures that these dreams brought to me, and each time I had one, my life with Fiona took a nose dive. It was soon after that she relented.
I again raised the topic of moving our relationship to the next level, but she again consulted her book of excuses and told me to wait. Wait for what? A life of waiting until she felt like it, of remaining continually unfulfilled?
I was slowly plodding my unfulfilled body past that same section of hedge where my dream began, when I heard it. “Hist.”
I stopped, could this be happening, or was it a dream?
“Hist, Lawrence.”
There was only one person that called me that. I turned and saw her.
“Ceci, is that you, or is it a dream?”
“It is me, your betrothed.” She stepped over to me and kissed me. Fiona’s kisses were not in the same ball park.
“For the last year and a bit, I have lived with the belief that you were part of an amazing dream, tell me it isn’t so, tell me that you are real.”
“I am as real as you are and I have only recently came to realise that what I thought was a dream was reality and that you, my darling were not a dream. I had been moping around trying hard to avoid the questions about what had happened to you. The court psychic spoke to me at length before declaring that I had not imagined you and my love for you. We sent emissaries to the four corners of the world, seeking you. You don’t realise how many charlatans come out of the woodwork, all claiming to know either you, or of you. ”
“And here I was going through life thinking that you were a dream, a tantalising dream, but one that would not go away. The number of times I searched this hedge trying to find the rabbit hole to your world. I would have given up and resigned myself to an unsatisfactory life with someone who is more interested in what she wants than what I want, but that dream kept me from a fate worse than death.”
“So, what are we to do? If you wish, I will stay here with you, love you forever and a day.”
“No. My world is not for you. I will return to your world with you because I love you. How are we to do that, how did you get here, is there a rabbit hole around here somewhere?”
“Come.” She led me through the hedge and over to a copse of trees. “Roger!”
“Yes madam. I’ve been practising this, G’day Sir, how the k’nell are you?”
“Hey, that’s pretty good, we’ll have you talking like a true blue Aussie in no time.”
“Don’t push it mate. The hole is over here.” He led us into the trees and dived into the hole.
“Wheee!” He disappeared.
Ceci and I sat on the rim of the hole, our legs dangling. “This is your last chance to change your mind.” She said.
I looked at the hole, measuring its size. “I think it’s big enough. If you put your arms around my neck and hang on, we should fit okay, it’ll be snug but I’m all for snug.”
She looped her arms around my neck. “Is this what you mean?” Her face was touching mine, her lips touching mine.
“Yes, that’s what I mean. When I give you the word jump towards me and hang on, we’re going to build up some speed. One, Two, three, jump.”
One thing that I couldn’t get my head around, when we entered the hole, it was night, but when we emerged it was daylight.
As we emerged, I put my arms around her and pulled her to me. He was hard with anticipation, something that she felt. “It won’t be long now my love.”
“In my dream we are married, so that means that we can realise our dreams as soon as we get home.”
“You’ll never realise the frustration when my dream ends with Thomasina screaming at me, wanting to know why I should allow you yo sleep in her bed.”
“In my dream it was my alarm clock screaming at me. I hope that Thomasina can come to terms with the new living arrangements.”
“She has had it explained to her, as well as the repercussions of any misbehaviour on her part.”
“I don’t want to come between you and her.”
“I don’t want her to come between us. Father and mother are anxious to see you again. Father wants you to meet with him tomorrow to discuss your future with me and in our country.”
“How did they know that we were on our way?”
“Roger Rabbit will have spread the good news of our arrival.”
News spreads quickly, Wellington and Farncombe were waiting at the foreshore for our arrival. We climbed into the carriage.
“I thought of providing you with dry clothes but thought against it, you will not have had time to change by the time we arrive at the palace.” Wellington said as we got underway.
“As usual, the thought was there, thank you Wellington.”
A reception committee was waiting for as at the palace, the King and Queen along with Ceci’s sisters and their husbands and assorted kids. There were hugs and kisses all around before we filed into the informal dining room for a celebration.
Some little time later Ceci and I found ourselves in her rooms, in her bedroom, “Where were we?”
She asked as she began to undress.
“In my dream, you were gloriously naked, lying on your, our bed, for me to make love to you. Has my memory failed me?”
“No, I don’t believe it has.”
We waited for some time for Thomasina to interrupt us. She did not, although she was not amused at being shut out of the room for nearly two hours. “Me-ow!” She protested. “I hope this is not the new norm.”
“Thomasina, Lawrence and I are married, in case you’ve forgotten, and we have a new life to live. You are quite welcome to become a part of our lives, as long as you come to terms with our conditions and they are, you are a part, not the controller of our lives.”
“It will take some getting used to, but I’ll try to remember. Now can I jump up on the bed to welcome you to my world, which coincidentally, is your world.”
We, that is the three of us got on just fine until Ralph came galloping down the hall and jumped blindly onto the bed, landing on top of Thomasina, much to her disgust. By the time we were summoned to dinner, we had settled down just fine.
My acceptance by Ceci’s family made up for the fact that my family cared little for me and my life. I don’t know which was worse, my parent’s lack of interest or Fiona’s disregard for my feelings.
“My equerry will call for you at ten in the morning, I trust that this will not be too soon for you.”
“Certainly not Sir, I’m sure that Ceci and I will be awake by then.”
“Oh, I’m sure that you will be awake, but will you feel like getting out of bed?’
“I’m sure that we will be caught up in time.” Ceci said, kissing me.
“Take a seat. Son.” The king said, pointing to a chair opposite him. “One thing that I insist on is that every person in this country has a job to do. I think that I have the perfect job for you that will suit your official position. You will be invested with the title of the Duke of Everland, and you will be put in charge of the treasury. You see, we have done our due diligence and are aware of you experience in financial institutions. Your major task is to work with your brother in law who is responsible for our major industry, tourism. You will ensure that there are always sufficient funds to cover any eventuality and to monitor the income derived from this industry to ensure that our CPI remains steady. If you are uncertain of your ability to carry out these functions, now is the time to speak up.”
“I am confident of doing a good job and to your satisfaction in my performance.”
“Thank you for your assurance. I will see you at dinner this evening, you may go.”
Thus dismissed I returned to our quarters and my wife.
“Well, what did father want?”
“I am the new Duke of Everland, how does it feel to be my duchess?”
“Wonderful. Did he give you a position? He said something about putting you to work.”
“Yes, I have been put in charge of the treasury. I have something that I need to do, I need to resign from my current job and write and tell Fiona that she should find someone else to lead by the nose.”
Dinner proved interesting. “I mean to ask, the rabbit hole used to bring me from my world to this, one minute it’s there and then it’s not, how does that work?”
“It’s an illusion, just as our place in this world is an illusion. Our driving force is to reward those who struggle with life with little or no reward, by using monies obtained, legally I might add, from those who use other people’s money to finance the illusion of power and wealth.”
“How does this work?”
“We have resorts around the world, t5he getting there is part of the illusion. For instance, we have our Fantasy Island in the Pacific. Commercial transport can only get visitors close, the final journey is by boat to the island that cannot be seen from the main island. We use these resorts to reward those who work hard with little or no recognition, and finance it by providing an overpriced service for those for whom spending monies that they didn’t earn, merely to preserve the illusion of wealth and power. Round the world luxury cruises are one source of revenue. Charging the wealthy thousands of dollars a night to stay in a hotel room that cost little more than a standard room to build and maintain. Oh, it might be bigger than the standard, but that just means that there is more air in the room, and air is cheap.”
“It sounds all very Utopian, but there is a difference between a dream and reality, isn’t there?”
“Sometimes you need to dream. Take you and Ceci, she was your dream woman, as you were her dream man, but to appreciate that this was not just a dream, we had to wrench you apart for a time so that you could recognise that dreams could become a reality.”
I could concede that he was right, my dream/reality was very real. The warm, loving woman, nestled against me tonight, following some serious lovemaking, was very real.
I went to what was my office the next morning to meet my staff, another dream I thought, until I realised that they were all competent at their job. Before getting down to business, I had to write a couple of letters. The first was to my boss, tendering my resignation and requesting he place monies owing into my bank account. The second was to Fiona, informing her that I was now living in Everland, married to the most amazing woman, and would no longer be existing at her beck and call in the land of Hardlyeverland.
Ceci and I are happy, I have my work that I enjoy, she has her civic duties that she enjoys, and we have our lives together that we, dare I say it, we enjoy.
There will be a change to the status quo will need some adjustment, “Darling, I have some goods news. You and I are to become parents.”
Happiness got so much better.