Alice

Last night I dreamt we had a child; a little girl. She must've been 11 or so, she had long brown hair and olive oil skin. I cannot recount more than a small fragment of what my dream entailed, but we were visiting this city, and she walked around telling people that "We are friends, from Romania". She said that in the same way you'd imagine aliens coming to earth and introducing themselves to humans: "we. are. friends." - to you; treat us like we are humans, like all of you. It felt as if we were in a world still where being Romanian was not good enough; at least not as great as being English. But she seemed proud in some way; she had a fearless aura around her as she walked confidently on her feet holding my hand. We turned right going uphill on this paved road which was bordered by flowers to the right, and to my left you were walking. A step behind and to the middle of the road, as if - if anything were to happen - if we somehow slipped backwards or a car came driving by, you were there to protect.

And then we stopped on a bench by the sea; it was so hot. She and I were sat down and you were standing up facing us, telling a story. I couldn't hear the words in my dream, though your lips were moving. I could not hear anything for a moment, I just observed you with the sun shining from behind you. You looked like you were truly happy, if one can imagine that in a dream; the white tee shirt you wore contrasted so beautifully on your skin darkened by the sun in this city. I looked to my right, she was eating an ice cream; a cone with one white ice ball. Then I looked up again. You opened a bottle of sparkling water to drink from, but in the course of your story forgot about its fizziness and it splashed your face. We laughed. Her laughter pierced through that moment of absolute silence like lightning pierces air; so delicate yet mighty. You laughed with us too; you had not shaved for a day or so, and your dimples were showing, contouring your smile.

Then wiped your face with your forearm, and smiling, you bent over and kissed me on the lips. You looked me in the eyes and briefly laughed again. You then turned and stepped to the left and kissed her forehead; she was now eating her ice cream again. I woke up.