Robert A.V. Jacobs....Author

Story One.. Geraldine

 

 

 Geraldine just wants to go to sleep. Lots of things are going on around her, most of which she

does not understand. It’s hard for her to decide whether she is really asleep or not.

 

 

My name is Geraldine and I will be eighteen tomorrow. Well there’s a good possibility that I may be eighteen tomorrow, then again I may not. I suppose it really depends on what fate has in store for me. I asked myself whether I was asleep when I saw her last night. But then she came and sat on the bed.

 

I mean, how can you tell? How can you tell if someone is real or not? I asked her who she was and she said Doris. Doris who I asked and she said Mother Nature. Yeh right I said, do I look like an idiot? Since when has Mother Nature been called Doris? She got a bit shirty at that and then vanished. I thought that was the end of it. Well until he came, I did anyway.

 

He looked a lot like my Uncle Alistair, and I said as much. He said that’s because I am your uncle Alistair. Don’t try to con me I said, my uncle is dead, and I’ve always been told dead is dead. So I said stop being stupid and tell me who you are,

 

“This is going to be harder than I thought,” he said, and then he vanished too.

 

Now perhaps I can get some sleep, but would you believe it? There was someone else there as well. Getting a bit like Piccadilly Circus was my first thought, and then I saw there was three of them, and I was convinced. Yep, I really am in Piccadilly, but then I noticed my knickers, bra, and a couple of skirts on the floor. OK, so I am not the tidiest of people, but it’s such a pain putting everything away all the time. Mum usually comes round and picks them up and puts them in the linen skip for washing. She mutters a lot about being a skivvy to an ungrateful teenager, but she still does it.

 

It was sort of odd, when my big sister came in. She obviously saw I was asleep. Well she must have believed that I was asleep. It was darkish, and she wouldn’t have been able to see my eyes. She didn’t say anything, just sat in the chair by the bed. Something must have upset her, ‘cos she was crying a lot. It was probably that pig of a boyfriend she’s got, she should dump him first chance she gets. If he had been mine, I would have pushed him under a bus or something by now and cut my losses. I was going to say something to try to comfort her, but she got up and went out.

 

It was strange that she never mentioned my other three visitors in the corner. But then I looked and they were gone too. Sometimes I have this really strange imagination. I had to have been dreaming and didn’t know it. It’s really weird how that happens sometimes. Not knowing whether you are asleep or not. I think I’m awake, but when I try to sit up I can’t. So I must really be asleep mustn’t I?

 

This has got to be the strangest of dreams. I must tell mum about it in the morning. No wait, she just came in, perhaps I can tell her now. I try, but I really am asleep because I can’t speak. She comes across and sits on the bed. Then she gets up and picks up my clothes. Then she comes and sits back on the bed. Why would she do that? She has hold of my hand. She’s squeezing it. She’s telling me she loves me. Well of course I know that. I’ve always known that.

 

What was that? It was nothing really, just someone calling my name. I really, really must be asleep, because I could swear that there is an Angel in the corner of the room. So, I look again, and sure enough, it is a real, wings ‘n all, Angel. She wants me to go with her. I don’t want to, I just want to sleep.

 

But she’s getting insistent and calls my name sharply. I turn towards her in surprise, but she smiles at me and calls my name again and beckons to me. She obviously wants me to go somewhere with her, and I hesitate. She looks nice though, so I suppose it will be alright if I go. Mum won’t mind. She says I am responsible for my age. And it won’t be for long now, will it?

 

 

The End of ‘Geraldine’