On the Table
From Blushes Supplement 20 Angela opened her eyes. Some seconds of frantic confusion and then she realised she was awake in bed, in her bedroom. It had been a dream. She swallowed. Her mouth was dry but her body was sweating. She groaned. Christ! Jim woke up. ‘What is it? What time is it?’ ‘Nothing.’ Another groan. ‘I don’t know.’ She turned to look at the luminous bedside clock. ‘Oooh… six. Almost.’ The horrid dream was still with her. Still vivid. Christ. She knew who he was, the man in the dream. He was the man in the furniture shop, where they had bought the table. He wasn’t exactly the same, people never were in dreams, but that was who he was. And of course there was the table. Their super new glass-topped dining table. Everyone said how super it was: the table and the six matching cloth-backed chairs that went with it. The man in the dream was the man in the shop who had sold it to them. Six weeks ago. He had been absolut...