Out Of The Golden Light

She could see the golden blush of sunset in the rearview mirror, and lacy gold interspersed with shadows on the stacks of hay next to the truck. She sat in the vehicle, listening to the only radio she owned.

"Out of this world," the singer crooned. "You take me all the way out to the cosmos, spinning as we go; butterfly wings and delicate things; loop-de-loops and ferris wheels; you take me all the way to gone..."

She closed her eyes, imaging double stained glass wings soaring into the vast blackness of space, illuminated suddenly by a shooting star. The music was haunting and ethereal and sweet, and it took her to the place of Love and endless dreams...

Then she opened her eyes again, looking once more at the magical light of the setting sun in the rearview mirror. A yellow sheet on the clothesline fluttered in the breeze, melding with the golden light, as if the light somehow came from it.

A brightness showed in the space it vacated as it danced in the wind, and it was from there he seemed to come, growing bigger and closer, until he was walking toward the truck, the mellow light making him a silhouette against the brilliance.

She gave a slight gasp. She wasn't expecting any visitors today out here in the boonies, and she hadn't heard a vehicle come up the long dirt driveway.

She turned to see if anything was parked behind her. Nothing.

He must have parked on the road, or come by foot.

Then she turned toward the clothesline, and gasped again. The space in front of it was filled with yellow light, but otherwise empty.

Frowning, and feeling slightly strange, she looked absently at the seat next to her in the truck.

Then she looked again at the rearview mirror. A visceral thrill moved through her center. The figure was standing still, but began to move toward her truck again.

She watched, riveted to the mirror. When he was very close to her back window, she turned again, sure she would see his torso through the window.

Her heart began to pound: she could see nothing but the yellow sheet blowing on the line.

Almost terrified to look again, she bit her lip and pondered what to do. She stared pointedly at the front passenger seat, aware that out of the corner of her eye there was no movement.

She stared that way for a while, sensing that the figure would not move forward unless she looked in the mirror again.

"What should I do?" she wondered.

She thought of the warm yellow light out of which he had seemed to come; of the beautiful music that had been playing on the radio; of the powerful images that had come into her mind; and a thrill once again moved up her spine.

She suddenly felt captivated: a little apprehensive, but excited, like the way she had felt last summer right before she got on the giant roller coaster at the State Fair.

With her heart in her throat, she looked again into the mirror. When he reached the back window, she could see the gold buttons on his shirt and a reddish-blond beard.

He moved around the truck to the right, so she looked into the right-hand mirror, where his face came into view. She stared, focused on the warm, sweet feeling in her solar plexus; and noted how gentle the contours of his jaw and chin were, how soft and full his features, how deep and sparkling his eyes.

The radio had moved on to a lovely instrumental, and she thought to herself that she had never heard the instruments before.

Gazing at the mirror, she heard a voice - or was it lyrics in the song on the radio? It was like one of the instruments was talking - only the song had no words...

"Close your eyes, let it be; open your heart and you will see...rainbow colors, faithful lovers, sisters, brother, fathers, mothers; love and peace, hatred cease, truth forever, starry river; heaven's bliss..."

She peered into the eyes in the mirror, and they blinked, telling her, "Close your eyes..."

So she closed them, and heard the passenger door open and close, felt a weight settle into the seat beside her, a touch on her hand.

She smiled, lazily turning her head and opening her eyes just long enough to see that there was nothing to see. Then she closed them again and sank into the sensation of his nearness, the heat emanating from him, and the evening breeze wafting through the open windows.

He breathed on her neck and smoothed her hand and arm; touched his lips to her neck with a kiss. Nibbled it then, planting kisses up and down her arm, stroking her cheek and the tear sitting upon it.

The music swelled and she breathed deeply, pulling the air into her lungs as if it was the first breath she had ever taken; letting it out with a trembling sigh, and then filling her chest again.

He caressed her throat, finding its little hollow with a long finger and pressing ever so gently. She felt the lump which had appeared when she first glimpsed him release and fade, taking with it the last tremor of trepidation.

A low hum in her ear sent vibrations through her midline, culminating in the bud at its base. She was a flower, opening, opening, opening; petal upon petal upon fiery petal, opening to the sunshine - the scorching, pulsing heat - taking it within and making it her own.

He rained on her forehead, her cheeks, her chest and belly. He slid within her shirt and flowed over her sleek breasts. His mouth was dewy, sipping her skin and the flesh of her lips. She breathed him in like summer air, and tasted and sucked his strawberry tongue.

His hands oozed over her body like mud, leaving a trail of sensation and weight over her torso and belly, her thighs and calves. They moved under the folds of her muslin skirt, holding and turning her hips in a swaying salsa.

He drew her across the seat and lay her down. It wasn't until later that she realized he must have floated over her in that cramped front seat...

Holding her thighs open, he found the sweetness at its source and drew it out and out and out, until she was ripe and bursting, and she saw rainbow wings and angel choirs, dancing stars and green-tailed comets: shooting at the speed of light...

Then his mouth was hot and musty on hers, and that soft hardness pushed into her with insistence, with so much confidence that it was what she wanted.

And she groaned with the pleasure of it, murmuring, "Yes, yes; that's what I want..." arching and pushing and holding on tight as the coaster climbed slowly, slowly, inching to the precipice, teetering for a moment; then plunged recklessly down, taking her down, down, to the center of the earth, to the molten center, to the origin of all things:

And she saw them as she went down; mother wolf and father bear, sister doe and brother frog; mother earth and father wind, sister river and brother rain. In one great symphony of love, she sang with them, swelling and echoing and filling the universe with song: one, all one, all together...

And landing once again upon the seat of her truck, he lay his perspiring head on her breast and sucked her nipple gently; and she knew how grateful he was for this moment, and for life itself, and for the chance to go all the way to gone...