The New Guide

The New Guide

Jen rolled over, her body pulling at the covers. Not ready to open her eyes she lay there, shivering a bit, slowly waking up.

She’d drifted from her dream, so serious, now hard to even recall. She felt her body relax. Still chilly though.

She lay there, eyes closed, trying to remember if there was anything she needed to get up for. Finding it suddenly hard to remember what she ever had to get up for. Then, realized, she couldn’t even remember what day it was. How did she get into this rut!

Right then and there she decided she wanted to do more. No more wasting her life away! There had to be something worthwhile! She would start looking for it today!

Hearing a noise, she realized Andy must be in the room, maybe trying to wake her up. “What time is it?” she asked.

“Fourteen hundred, Sir. We’ll be leaving in two hours, Sir.”

Jen opened her eyes. There stood a tall snake looking down at her. “Shall I bring you some breakfast, Sir?”

Jen nodded, for lack of being able to speak. The snake left. Sitting up she felt a body she didn’t recognize, and suddenly seeing herself in a nearby mirror, there was another snake! She screamed!

Outside the door, the guard was speaking to another soldier, “Oop, guess the new guide just looked into the mirror.”

“Still every day?”

“They say it sometimes takes about a year to adapt fully to the new body. It’ll be fine in a minute.”

“Guard! Get me some juice!” came a gruff voice through the door.

“See,” he said quietly, then, “Yes Sir” loudly through the door.

“They say these earth beings make great guides, but this one is a handful!” and he slithered away to get some juice.