Glynnis (Empire of Oz series, #1)

Glynnis by Ellie Bernard - Chapter Fifteen

Glynnis awoke with a start. She was starving! And she had slippery tubes taped to her inner arms! She ripped those out; some sort of beeping noise started to wail. She flung off a blanket, rolled out of an unknown bed, and bumbled her way into a kitchen. Relief appeared in the form of a well-stocked fridge; Glynnis sat cross-legged in front of it, barely registering, her butt cold upon the floor.

She stuffed handfuls of bread, globs of peanut butter, squirts of jam, all at once, into her mouth. She glugged milk from the carton, snarfing down several cold hot dogs. She sucked passionately on the bottle of chocolate sauce; as her hunger began to slightly abate, she felt she could no longer tolerate the cold seeping through to her skin.

Why does this dress tie in the back? she secretly wailed. Dress...dress? Why am I wearing a dress? Where are my clothes? 

Glynnis crept cautiously back to the bed, slowly sitting down. She felt oddly weak, despite having eaten her fill. The beeping noise was still going strong. After casting her eyes round about this modest, albeit unfamiliar, bedroom, she found her clothes folded neatly in a pile, at the far end of the room. She rose off the bed, made to collect them, when several things happened at once.

She heard a door slam. Her knees gave way. She fell to the floor, only to find herself facing an empty space under the bed. And then that smell - that smell which always told Glynnis, Glinda, and all she stood for, did not exist - that smell which always filled her stomach with white hot anger - she felt the anger rise, volcano like, up thru her chest, into her throat and nose. Opening her mouth, she heard frantic footsteps coming her way, "Glynnis! No!" gasped a man's voice, strong hands reaching for her shoulders.

Too late - her own vicious hell-fire, rekindled on behalf of Glinda. She made no attempt to hold back her dragon's fire; she wondered for an instant, how she managed to hold it back at the Pigeon State-School of Art, no matter. She just let the fire flow right out of her, burning nothing but empty air under a strange bed.

The strong hands lifted her upright; she was turned to face Abes Braun.

"How could you?" she wailed. "Did you think I was lying? All that stuff I told you? All that stuff about porn smells?"

"Your right," he softly answered, sitting beside her at the foot of the bed. Glynnis crawled away from him - forgetting, once again, she was wearing a dress which showed her backside - she turned, sat on the pillow she'd been sleeping on, and roughly asked,

"Why am I here...is this your bed?"

"Yes," he replied. "You passed out in my office," he continued, as though he had this speech rehearsed, "since you hadn't given me a phone number, to call in an emergency, I began to search your pockets...I pulled out your hat, only to have it yanked out of my hands...it just vanished! Poof! It was gone! And I knew...I just knew, right then, there was something different...something special about you, and, well...it didn't seem right to call an ambulance, have you listed Unknown in the hospital, 'cuz I didn't find any I.D. on you either...so I just brought you home, borrowed some hospital equipment, gowns, hooked you up so I could monitor you while I'm at work, and-

"How long have I been here?" Glynnis interrupted, not quite as gruff.

"Three months," he replied.

"Three months!" she exclaimed. "How did that happen?"

"Er..." he hesitated, "you seemed to be...well...hibernating, actually."

Hibernating? she thought, sounds like me...like something I'd do, thank you...animal prowess...Glinda said he loved me...and I've been sleeping in his bed...Phooey! she inwardly wailed, doesn't he know, porn is just...just...idol worship! You are responding to it, in a way it cannot respond to you! And what does idol worship do? she silently pressed, as though actually talking to him, instead of sitting quietly with her hands in her lap, her barely-covered butt on his pillow. Idol worship distorts feelings! Idol worship maintains deceit! Idol worship ruins relationships! 

And just as she was thinking, she'd rather not be with someone, especially a shrink; whose own profession had not been able to keep him, from maintaining the integrity, of years-worth of gender-biased careful discouragement; when a scripture, once quoted by the Wizard, wafted into her mind, "Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee."

Glinda said he loved me, thought Glynnis, watching Abes Braun, who hadn't moved or uttered a sound - he merely faced her with an expression of measured calm - she hadn't seen any of those informative green words from Lurline, floating atop his head, to tell her what he was really thinking. But is he wise? she secretly wondered. What could I possibly say, to rebuke him enough, to convince myself, porn smells will never come between us? 

As if by magic, the rebuke came to her mind, in the form of a question - a question with only one right answer - a question so strong, if the wrong answer was given, Glynnis knew, she would have the power to walk away from Abes Braun, forever. She asked out loud, "Do you believe in Glinda?"

The surprise on Abes Braun's face, was as though he'd been slapped. He reddened a bit, his eyes became misty, he swallowed hard, cleared his throat; looking Glynnis straight in the eyes, he said in all seriousness, "Yes...I do...I believe in Glinda."

Glynnis was unsure; what to do next, so she did the only thing, she'd ever done, once before. She reached for his ears, pulled his head towards her face, kissed his forehead, whispering softly, "So you'll never feel lonely or afraid."

Abes Braun reached for the nape of her neck, looped his fingers into her hair, brought his own face level with hers, and kissed her lips in such a way which promised Glynnis that, yes, with him, all of her wants would be fulfilled.

EPILOGUE

His hands were here, her hands were there; as Glynnis was beginning to feel, there was nothing she'd like more, than to happily toss aside her...um...timing and believability, she remembered something else she'd been wanting for a very long time. She pulled her hands off him, unlatching her mouth from his, and innocently gasped,

"Do you have a Bible I could read?"

The End.