Rachel Sunnyside-Up was walking along unaware that her life was about to irrevocably change. The sky was an unremarkable colour, the route taken was the same as on any other day, and as on any other day she was slightly late. The day had begun in a typical fashion, burnt toast, lost keys and odd socks. She had woken up at a reasonable time, left the house slightly later than was reasonable and was walking to work slightly slower than was necessary. To all intents and purposes, this had begun as an exceedingly average day. Just look at her walking, in the hazy mid morning light. Head down, squinting slightly, shoelace undone, bag slightly open. You would hardly notice her . Her mind was not focused on the journey in the slightest. Other than to look at a tree that she hadn't noticed before, or to gasp in horror as a stray dog circled round and round the busy road, she was completely unaware of what passed her by that day. She was walking along listening to the sound of "Mary Jo" which originated deep inside of her head. Had passers-by looked, they might have noticed her lips move marginally from time, as she quietly sang along to the song. But just as Miss Sunnyside up was unaware of what passed her by, passers-by were unaware of small movements from her lips and the song within her head. Miss Sunnyside-Up Liked that song but it worried her slightly: "Because life is never dull in your dreams" Sometimes just lately her dreams had become dull. That worried her more than slightly. The journey ended outside an ugly grey building. The journey ended outside the university where Miss Sunnyside up worked. She climbed in an ancient lift and pressed 5. Unusually, since Miss Sunnyside up entered on the ground floor, the lift appeared to go down. Appearances can be deceptive and this would have been impossible. Miss Sunnyside up emerged, a few seconds later, on the fifth floor confirming the fact that the lift had indeed been ascending rather than descending. Miss Sunnyside up sat down at her desk and looked at the two postcards in front of her. They were pictures taken from different angles of a place in Japan. A far off place that Miss Sunnyside up had never visited but quite often thought about. She often sat staring at those two pictures and had come to know them quite well. In a way they had come to feel like a place that she had visited. Looking at that place from different angles imaging what it must feel like to be stood between the two views. Looking behind at things that weren't in the pictures. The sky in the two pictures was blue. A stark contrast to her own sky which sat just above her head monotonous and grey. draining the colour from everything around and about. The blueness of the sky made the pictures appear slightly unreal. It also made the greyness of the surrounds a little less than real. The morning passed with out incident. Or rather the morning passed without unusual incidents. Miss Sunnyside-Up dropped a few items and spilled a few things. At mid-day she left the grey building, following her morning footsteps, as far as the newsagents situated half way between her house and her place of work, she picked up a copy of the local newspaper. Her eyes focussed on an advert towards the back of the paper and she rushed home more excited than she had been in a very long time. That evening after a few frantic phone-calls Miss Sunnyside Up ventured across a darkening city and out into the countryside. After a few wrong turns Miss Sunnyside-Up reached her destination and returned safely home. The bundle of fluff she brought back with her looked around anxiously. It was Miss Sunnyside-Up who spoke first of all: "so what do you think of your new home belle?" The dog didn't answer Miss Sunnyside-Up's initial question. Deciding that there were more important things to be doing. The small dog seemed to relax somewhat as if deciding to give the place its seal of approval. The dog trotted over to the corner of the room grabbed a cushion and proceeded to chew. Miss Sunnyside-Up sighed, things would never be the same again. Miss Sunnyside-Up smiled, things would never be the same again. Take Care Rachel _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. 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