' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' Now The World Has Come Between Us(For Scarlett)

She lay still (perfectly still) eyes wide open like a doll’s. Her husband lay beside her “eyes wide shut” (the phrase came to her) . She smiled secretly to her self imagining he (Tom her husband) was “the” Tom Cruise. “Mmmmm! ” she relished the thought. “Mmmmmm! ” she cried aloud. “Australia! ” she said as if answering a question in a quiz. The stain growing from his head resembled (for all the world) “Australia! ” There was no need to phone a friend or go for 50/50. “Australia! ” she said decisively (so sure of her self) . “Hey...it’s ok! ” the stranger bending over her told her. She believed in the voice in what the voice told her. It was warm and husky ‘round the edges like her Daddy when she was little. Her knee pained her. “God...” how it pained her. “What’s your name...love? ” the voice cajoled her. She had to re-focus to make the voice visible.. ...lights...coloured... ...flashing lights... dancing like a chat up in a disco under a glittering ball. “Oh you are handsome! ” she told him. “I am indeed! ” the ambulance man agreed. “Alan Handsome...how did you guess? ” She felt herself blush to her roots. She turned her head looking at her husband’s head the stain that was Australia had imperceptibly become South America then a badly blurred early map of the world. Then she closed her eyes and the world went away.