Sand Glass by A M Russell Page B

and No.’
she smiled, and little splinters of light fell like shattered
glass, yet floated silently to the ground like sparks; ‘Not
everyone has your inheritance. There are others. And the nature of
all you unusual people makes the science work. Without such people,
there could be no fault line in time. It could not be. I am one;
and you are one. But you are also the most envied creature in the
whole creation.’
    ‘What am
I?’
    ‘Human.’
    ‘But I’m
ordinary; just me, nothing more. What is so special about me?’
    ‘You have the
right amount of our fire, and your fallen self… and by mortal
dreams all this be made new.’
    ‘I don’t
understand.’
    ‘You are; as I
said, the most envied;’ she closed her eyes, ‘and the most pitied.
For unlike you; we cannot see what may be, only what is.’
    She opened her
eyes again, and their fire had returned. She let go of my hand. And
her face was full of pain.
    ‘Turn from me.
Do not look at me.’ Flame like shapes licked round her shoulders
and shimmered over her head, in a searing violet-white blaze.
    I looked to one
side; ‘But how come I could see you as a child? Why did you look so
different then?’
    ‘When you are
innocent you have nothing to fear from the light. But now you are
only on the first part of the road back to that innocence. Travel
the path Davey. Then you can see us all as we are; and our light
will not burn you! But for now, please look away!’
    I could feel
the heat coming off her in waves. I put my hands over my face, and
then crouched down. There was a roaring, crackling cacophony, like
a fire on bonfire night. I twisted sideways and looked back towards
the house. I felt a sense of vertigo, despite being close to the
ground. The whole world seemed to be a riot of colour and light.
Bands of brightness that burned and then sunk back into the
background.
    Oh No! Alex
stood at the door. His mouth open in what I took at that moment to
be a long drown out Oh!.... he just stood watching. It was only a
few minutes later that he noticed me.
    ‘What have you
been doing out here?’ he seemed dazed, but unharmed.
    I was sitting
in the middle of the now cool, damp, and quiet lawn and realised
that his question was certainly in need of an answer.
     
    ‘I want you to
come up with a very clever way out of saying goodbye to Janey.’
    ‘Oh?’ Alex. On
closer inspection seemed quite confident in himself. But his eyes
were wide awake…. Like…. well just like a kid at Christmas.
    What on earth
had he actually seen?
    ‘You really
have a talent for attracting the attention of these blondes, don’t
you! What’s the secret? If you don’t mind, I’ll not take the sad
little kitty inside. Because I’m bagging that one!’ he pulled me
up. He seemed as calm, as I was not.
    ‘You were
looking at her? Just Then?’
    ‘Yeah,’ Alex,
herded me back into my kitchen, ‘I know what you need.’
    ‘Hair of the
dog that bit me?’
    ‘She’s not a
dog is she?’
    ‘I’ll just have
coffee.’
    ‘I guess this
is it.’ Alex, for once wasn’t joking. He was calm, smiling,
serious. And added… ‘I heard that entire last bit. I know what to
do.’
    ‘But how
weren’t you….?’
    ‘Fried to a
crisp?’ he put his hand on my shoulder, ‘Some people are innocents.
Some are divine. And some are like Me.’
    ‘What?’ he was
doing it again; always ten steps ahead.
    ‘And that is
why….’ He tapped me on the chest, ‘I’m the brilliant odd ball sent
to cover your ass; and you are still the trainee.’
    ‘But she
was…..’
    ‘She was a
woman. A beautiful, glorious woman. I think I’m in love.’ said
Alex, ‘But before you give her a call for me, let’s set the world
to rights. Do ten clever things before breakfast. And… avoid the
wrath of said petite fire pixie.’
    ‘You mean
Janey?’
    He looked at me
sideways; ‘You really do have a talent for finding the most
difficult types. You really don’t have an entry level mentality