She Sleeps
She stands in the middle of the great
room... silent ... listening. No sounds emanate from anywhere in the house. She
smiles and the visible tension drains from her body. She is alone again. She can
do anything she pleases. No one will know.
Joy stretches, then turns with a grin toward the greenhouse. As she reaches the
door, her hand outstretched to open it, she stops .. her hand dropping to her
side.
Pivoting, she steps silently across the room, dimming lamps as she walks ... a
light shiver coursing through her, whether from the lack of kanda or another
source, she cannot say.
She moves to the long hallway and to his room. She enters, glancing first to his
couch ... He is not there. She quickly straightens the room, picking up a
discarded towel ... abandoned sandal ... smoothing the blanket.
The struggle raging in her belly, she shrugs the silks from her body, dropping
them to the floor next to the mat. She lowers there, curled on her side, her
head resting on her outstretched arm. She will not think of lessons learned
earlier. Not now. She will sleep and sleep well without the chain. So she
believes.