Surviving the Dreams

Chapter 4 - Soul Mates

The hut that served as the guest room in Baja's Village was small. Much smaller than either the cave or the boat they previously shared, though it was they observed, larger than the cabin on the boat had been. The structure itself was essentially square, but the room within was L-shaped due to a large closet or possibly a small storeroom which occupied the corner diagonal to the door. There were glass-less windows to let in light and air, one on each wall, and each of those was equipped with mat-covered frames on primitive hinges to serve as shutters when privacy was needed or the weather turned bad. There were hooks of a sort in the closet, but no shelves nor any other furnishings of any description there.

"What do you suppose they sleep on here?" Greg asked looking at the uncomfortable floor.

"Probably on mats. Most of the floor space was covered with them in hut I visited that belonged to the women."

"Too bad none of ours survived."

"I can make more in a couple of days," Susan assured him as she began to go through their bags of the things they had saved, "provided of course that we stay here that long. I saw plants that looked like the right kind to make them with growing nearby. I'm more worried about the holes in the walls."

She glanced out one of the windows at the sky. Clouds had been gathering most of the afternoon and she'd thought it might rain, but so far the weather had remained dry.

"I will be certain to inquire as to whether or not we would be allowed to make repairs, in the event we are here very long. I wonder also if some sort of furnishings would be allowed, provided we made our own."

"I don't see why not, but you never know."

She began to spread out the items from their two bags on the floor. There were their few clothes; two obsidian knives, the awl, and an axe; the stuffed bunny she'd rescued from one of the sites where their fellow passengers had been murdered, a package of airline cups, a handful of coconut utensils and bowls, the compass with the rabbit's foot, the map in it's baggie with the pearl, the stick calendar and a blanket.

"And at least we still have a blanket to our name."

"We have only one," Greg reminded her.

"We can share. We've done it before."

Greg looked at her thoughtfully but seemed hesitant to agree.

"Besides, it is my understanding that married people often share a bed," Susan told him in a serious tone.

Greg looked at her with a start. "I didn't mean to imply that we should behave privately as though we are actually married ..."

"You mean you don't want to share a bed with me?" she asked looking slightly hurt.

It was Greg's turn to look shocked. "Susan, you know that's not true! I mean you can't mean that, You can't really be suggesting ..." he floundered a bit. "I would never ... I mean couldn't, I mean you're not ..." he hesitated, trying to find the right words.

She pouted slightly. "You mean you don't care?"

"No! That's not it. Surely you know ... Susan, I do know that you're married in this lifetime ... to somebody else, not me. I didn't mean that we should behave as though we'd forgotten that."

The distress on his face was genuine and she relented, smiling up at him with a playful look. "Greg, don't. I know you care, at least within the parameters of what we've experienced."

"Yes."

"And I know you wouldn't intentionally put me in such a compromising position. I was teasing you and I'm sorry."