Chapter One

Cassandra

In this cold and ugly metropolis every day is exactly the same. I wake up, shower, go to work, come home, eat, sleep, wake up and do the whole thing over again. Day after day after day. I break up the monotony by eating out occasionally. I work Mon.-Sat., off on Sundays.

I often look at people in my office or in the break room, hoping to make some kind of personal connection with someone. Everyone seems wrapped up in their own separate worlds, living lives without beauty or meaning, staring at their I-Phones. Other than exchanging trivial conversation, no one bothers to talk to or make eye contact with each other. Life has gone on this way for many years, around and around in the same endless circle, like the spokes of a wheel. But on the evening of my 29th birthday something extraordinary happened to me. A bright light suddenly shined into the darkness of my existence.

My birthday started out like any other tedious day in my life. I woke up, went to work, made sales and came home. Other than receiving the annual card from my Mother, nothing out of the ordinary happened. I didn’t have anyone in particular to celebrate with so I figured I’d spend the evening either food shopping or grabbing dinner alone. It didn’t matter which one. Since my refrigerator was empty, I decided to go out food shopping. I know it’s pathetic, but I didn’t have anything better to do. Even my birthday was pretty boring, life sucked, etc...

Walking aimlessly around Safeway, I stopped to look at the cantaloupes. I was feeling particularly vulnerable on my “special day”. It had been months since I last went out on a date and I missed the physical contact of a woman, the touch of a hand, the sensation of long hair slipping through my fingers, a light kiss on the lips. As there was no one in the produce aisle to stop me, I took one of the melons into my hands, shut my eyes and pretended it was a woman’s breast, squeezing the rind, fondling it. I put down the cantaloupe and picked up a honeydew melon, brushing my thumb lightly across the smooth skin.

Suddenly, I felt the presence of someone watching me. I opened my eyes, looked over my shoulder and there she was, appearing as if in a vision, an aura of bright fluorescent light surrounding her. I gazed for a moment into her lovely face. Just as I was about to look away from her, she spoke to me.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself…”

I looked around to see if there was someone else she was talking to, but we were alone amongst the fruits and vegetables.

“What?” I asked. “I’m sorry. Are you talking to me?”

She nodded and smiled. The way she stared so deeply into my eyes made me feel I no longer was invisible, no longer alone.

“I’ve been watching you. You seem to really enjoy squeezing those melons. They look like they’d be juicy and ripe. Are they in season?” she asked, blinking her eyes at me.

I parted my lips to respond but no words came out. In the awkward silence, she arched her back and her breasts stood out quite prominently before me, her puffy nipples clearly protruding under the light silky material of her dress. A silver chain with a small gold cross dangled from her neck, drawing my eye to her crescent-shaped flesh. Envious of