Part VI
As soon as Emily got home from the jazz club, she was much too tired to discuss anything, let alone ask questions about the note. Once she was settled with the idea that her sister was beyond suspicion, it was enough for the night.
“I’m going to bed,” Emily yawned.
“Okay, I’ll see you in the morning. Fun night, though.”
“It was. The music was really good. Harry never ceases to surprise us.”
Once her head hit the pillow, dreams began to invade Emily’s mind. She floated in a cloud to a secluded place a few miles outside of town. A house stood on the property, although it was not abandoned as one might expect.
Emily pushed the door open. “Hello? Is anyone here?”
Inside she found a living room much like her own, a radio playing instrumental music from its place on an end table. The lights were on but low. Emily crossed into the kitchen. It, too, was empty, but when she returned to the living room, there sat Julian. It was as if he had never left.
“Julian! What are you doing? I’ve been looking all over for you.”
He embraced her. “I’m here now, honey. I’m so sorry to make you worry. Let’s go outside and look at the colors.” He wiped away her tears with the pad of his thumb. “It will be great from now on. You’ll see.”
The sky was ablaze with colors, growing more intense as they descended toward the ground. Soon the pinks, purples, reds and blues were living things with scent and tastes that filled their senses as well as the landscape. The entire desert was lit up in an otherworldly light show. Strains of music poured forth from some of the hues that danced and wound their way around the earth.
“It feels as though the lights are alive,” Emily giggled in Julian’s arms. “They’re watching us.”
“They are,” he said. “I owe them my life. They’re here for a reason, but trust me when I tell you that they have the best of intentions. Don’t you remember the night we first saw them?”
Emily shook her head. “No, I don’t. I only know that you flew away and I haven’t seen you in a very long time.”
“I’m right here,” Julian reassured her, holding her closer. “And you know where to find me. Where the colors are. They’ll always be playing our song. Look!” He pointed to an empty patch of earth a few feet away.
The colors reached into the dirt and sand, bringing roots from deep beneath the surface and made them blossom before their eyes. Roses, tulips, morning glories, irises, orchids, sunflowers and begonias sprang forth from the once barren ground. Emily laughed in delight as they erected an arbor in the middle of the tremendous garden.
“For us?” Emily asked.
“Yes,” Julian took her arm and led her through the garden.
Then wakefulness drew Emily back to real life.
Etcetera 