Nightmare

  The summer afternoon droned on.  The humid air pressed tight against every living thing, stifling the air, making everything seem ominous and unreal.  Janie sat listlessly on the front porch, bored and hot.  An airplane hummed in the distance.  Suddenly the humming grew louder.  The stillness was broken by a breath of wind.  Janie stiffened and straightened up.  There- just a hundred yards away she saw it.  A monstrous ugly green glider landed in the middle of a field of green alfalfa.  Janie jumped up and hurried to investigate the strange plane.  As she drew nearer, second thoughts began to flood her brain.

  Rows of soldiers streamed out of the plane and marched steadily toward her, trampling the alfalfa flat.  Their faces were grim, unmoving and determined, and their guns were loaded.  More and more soldiers poured out of the plane as Janie stood watching in terror.

The waves of soldiers flowed nearer and nearer, straight toward Janie.  She stood rooted to the spot.  Her face was pasty white.  Every joint and muscle in her body tensed.  She couldn't move, she couldn't talk, she couldn't even think.  Colors and lines swirled in front of her eyes, and she couldn't even see. 

  And then, as her vision cleared, the sight grew worse.  She could see the soldiers' faces now, their mean narrowed eyes and their evil grins as they marched to destroy her.  She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to yell for help.  But all she could do was stand there, waiting for the end.  It was like a nightmare. 

  Her eyes closed, and she was falling, falling...

                                                              ~~~~~

  The sheets were soaked with sweat.  Her heart thumped in the stillness.  As her breathing slowed, Janie realized that it had  been a nightmare.