These Dreams of You

~ ~ ~

Zan walks over and looks up into the rafters. “Sheba,” he says, “come down. You could fall. There’s food,” indicating the enchiladas. The girl glances at him, then back toward the sea, then climbs down the ladder.

As she sits eating her enchilada, Viv says to her, with what she hopes is just the right degree of bluntness so as to arouse a response, “Would you rather be called something other than Sheba?”

“What?” the girl says.

“Would you rather be called someth—”

“But what.”

“Whatever feels like it’s your name.”

The girl thinks. “Isn’t Sheba my name?”

Viv says, “Yes. But you can always change your mind later.”

“I can?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe later.”

“O.K.”

“When I grow up to be who I am.”

“All right.”