Everland

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.