Grant Me a Cloud

Copyright © 2006 by Helena R. Carvalho

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ISBN-13: 978-0-595-39695-5 (pbk)

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ISBN-10: 0-595-84101-5 (ebk)

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Contents

C H A P T E R 1

C H A P T E R 2

C H A P T E R 3

C H A P T E R 4

C H A P T E R 5

C H A P T E R 6

C H A P T E R 7

C H A P T E R 8

C H A P T E R 9

C H A P T E R 10

C H A P T E R 11

C H A P T E R 12

C H A P T E R 13

C H A P T E R 14

C H A P T E R 15

C H A P T E R 16

C H A P T E R 17

C H A P T E R 18

C H A P T E R 19

C H A P T E R 20

C H A P T E R 21

C H A P T E R 22

C H A P T E R 23

C H A P T E R 24

C H A P T E R 25

C H A P T E R 26

C H A P T E R 27

C H A P T E R 28

C H A P T E R 29

C H A P T E R 30

C H A P T E R 31

I woke up this morning and realized it was going to be another one of those days. Last week was a horrible week, but none of it was my fault. Let me start from the beginning. I woke up at 6:00 AM and started my daily routine. This consists of taking my dog, Elmo, he’s a four year old English Sheep dog, for a walk. When I got home, I started the coffee pot. I opened up the blinds in the living room. I went to the bathroom and hopped in the shower. Since it was such a beautiful day, I figured I would shave my legs. Shaving is not one of my favorite things to do. I reserve it for when I have a date with some hot guy who deserves a clean-shaven body. So I shaved and showered, had some coffee, and put on a cute little shorts outfit I picked up this weekend. And off I went. My baby, that would be my black BMW convertible, was waiting for me already idling out in the garage. What a wonderful gadget, a remote car starter. I hit the road.

I was on my way to the antique shoppe, when a guy in the car behind me kept blowing his horn and gesturing for me to move out of the way. I was driving fast enough, so I knew it wasn’t because I was driving too slowly. I looked around and realized that I had no where to go that was safe. The idiot was getting impatient with me, and decided that he would just make me find a safe spot; in the ditch, along side the road. At this point, I was very aggravated and ready to drop someone. I thought the guy would have stopped, so I looked around for him, but the jerk kept on going! He never stopped to see if I was okay or anything. He must have assumed no flames-no worry. I pulled out my cell phone and tried to call the police, but my cell wasn’t catching a signal. I had forgotten to charge the phone, as usual. I got out of my car to check for damage. Fortunately, I didn’t find any. I, then, walked to the road to see if anyone was coming. A few minutes passed and a car with a bunch ofhigh school kids drove by. They chucked me the bird and laughed. I guess I can understand that, since there I was in my cute shorts outfit flailing my arms about and screaming like a lunatic. The kids probably figured I was some kind of nut. I decided to wait a little longer, since the nearest gas station or pay phone was quite a ways away. Finally, someone approached. I started flailing my arms about, and the car stopped. This, believe it or not, is where my strange day begins.

C H A P T E R 1

STRANGE HAPPENINGS

A blue, funky-looking foreign type of car stopped a little ways ahead of me. I could tell by the lights that it was about to back up. The car backs up, and stops right in front of me. I can’t see inside the car because the windows are tinted; just like in the movies, I thought. As I’m waiting for the window to go down, I hear this voice asking me if I need help. Now I feel like a fool, because I’m about to talk to a closed window. I tell the voice that my car was run off the road and I am stuck in a ditch. I tried to call for help on my cell phone, but I couldn’t get a signal. I asked if they had a cell phone. I figured that if the car has an intercom system, the occupants must have a cell phone. Unfortunately, the voice said no, but it would be happy to give me a lift to the nearest station. I hesitated. My mom always told me to wear clean underwear and never get into a car with a stranger. As if knowing that I was a little freaked, the passenger side window started going down.

Once down, I looked in and saw this unbelievably handsome man. He had dark curly hair and a strong jaw. His eyes were colored an almost fake-looking ice blue. His voice wasn’t at all like the voice that came through on the intercom. It was a low, sweet sounding voice. A voice that made you want to squeal with delight. It was almost as if someone had read my mind, and placed the perfect man in front of me. Boy was I glad I decided to shave my legs. I accepted the ride. As I went to open the door, he stepped out from the driver’s side. He was a tall, lean, sharp-dressed man. He had on a gray polo shirt with black shorts. Not that this is sharp-dressed, but he could have been wearing a burlap bag and he would have looked sharp. His tanned legs went on forever. His feet rested in a brand new pair ofboat shoes. Boywas I feeling flushed. He took three steps and was around the car, opening the door on my side. I slid into the passenger seat of this strange car and felt myself sinking lower and lower into the seat.

He started driving along, and I could feel myself falling into a drowsy state. I knew I wasn’t sleeping because we were talking. I can’t remember what we were talking about, but we were having a conversation. Next thing I know, I am on this beautiful jacquard sofa in this enormous room all alone. I can hear voices in a distance, but I can’t make out what they’re saying. It sounds to be a foreign language, but not like anything I have ever heard. I started feeling drowsy again, and off to sleep I went. I awaken, and find myself on a big beautiful canopy bed. The bed is enormous. If you wanted to have an orgy you could certainly have one on this bed, no problem. At least 20 people could fit comfortably. Again, the voices are coming from the other side of the door, and yet I still can’t make out the words. The tones seem to go from high to low, very rapidly. There are beeps and whistles in their language. I must be going nuts!! Maybe I hit my head on something in the car, and don’t remember. Maybe this is a dream, and I am still in the car and just need to wake up. I started slapping myself. Damn, that hurts!

All of a sudden that drowsy feeling starts to come over me, again, and I started thinking about those ice blue eyes. Just as I am about to fall asleep, I hear the door knob turning. I forced myself to keep my eyes open long enough to see this woman, at least I think it’s a woman, enter the room. Without a word from her, she enters. She looks at the blinds, and the blinds start rising slowly to let in the sunshine. Wait that’s not the sunshine, I thought. Since when does the sunshine have a purplish color? It beams in through the windows that are shaped like flowers, almost like daisies. As I looked around the room, I noticed that each window is shaped like a different flower. The scent of each flower starts to permeate from each window. I thought that the different odors would mix together and cause an awful scent. I, then, recognized something strange. When I looked at the rose-shaped window, I could only smell the rose scent; ifI looked at the hyacinth

window, I could only smell the hyacinth. Momma told me not to do drugs, and that if I did it would eventually catch up to me. I think she was right.

The woman placed an empty tray in front of the bed and left the room. Being the chicken shit I am, I never moved nor did I speak to the woman. But I did know one thing; I was starving. The woman must have been sent to tease me. If this is room service, then I want another hotel. I walked over to the table where the tray was laid and I thought of a bacon cheeseburger, medium-well, French fries and a hot fudge sundae for dessert. Within seconds my favorite meal appeared on the tray. Not only did my favorite meal appear, but all the condiments that could go with it appeared. I couldn’t believe it. How could this be? Screw the thinking. Let’s see how it tastes, that is if it’s really there. I grabbed the burger and took a bite. Ah, made and taste to perfection. I tried the French fries and they were hot and tasty, too! Oops need a drink. Let’s see should I go with a coke, water or juice? Before I could make up my mind all three drink choices appeared. Unbelievable, this is great. I think. But where the hell am I?

After I finished filling my pie hole, I decided to see if the door was unlocked. Before opening the door, I quietly listened for any movement or voices outside the door. There were no sounds. I slowly turned the door knob and it opened. Hooray!!!! I opened the door a crack and peaked out; nothing and nobody. I stepped out into the hallway and found myself in this long narrow passageway. There, I noticed that the windows were shaped like different desserts. This is strange, I thought. Each dessert had its own smell. The apple pie was just like moms. The chocolate chip cookies smelled freshly baked and the brownies, what can I say, smelt so good I thought I was in heaven. I kept walking down the passageway and found myself in a never ending hall. There weren’t any doors. There wasn’t anything on the walls, and there were no people around. I felt alone, yet I felt like I was being watched. I continued on my way, knowing that there was no way out. I thought to myself that a nice hot Jacuzzi would clear my mind, but, unfortunately, my room didn’t have one. Damn, these accommodations suck! I walked back to my room. When I opened the door, instead of being back in a bedroom, the room was transformed into a wonderful spa. You name it, it had it. There was a beautiful sunken pool, but the water was a strange color. I almost want to say it was hot pink, but who the hell knows. The Jacuzzi could fit 20 people, easy, or do they think I’m fat and need all that room? The sauna was gorgeous. It was enclosed in glass-like walls. I say glass-like because you could look through it, but it had a gel-like feel to the touch. Not thinking too much about being watched, I stripped down to my bare ass and soaked in the Jacuzzi. The jets had a mind of their own. If I thought about my shoulders aching, the jets massaged my shoulders; if it was my lower back, the jets were massaging there. At one point, I had to stop thinking about body parts because the jets were spraying me everywhere. I thought of a nice cold drink, and it appeared. I quit smoking about a year ago, but since I was in paradise, I figured what the hell; why not. All of a sudden a lit cigarette appeared. The funny thing was that it never smoked. I could drag on it and nothing. There wasn’t a trail of smoke and no tobacco odor. Now that’s the kind of cigarette to market. It would certainly shut up the people who complain about secondhand smoke. I continued to smoke and drink until I was satisfied. Once I finished, I decided to walk into the hall, again, to see if maybe things had changed. Well, this time, when I opened the door, SURPRISE, there he was!! I swear, I wasn’t thinking about him. Well, okay, maybe I was.

I said, Hello, and then started screaming at him. Where the hell am I? Better yet, who the hell are you? Well, are you just going to stand there and smile at me or are you going to answer me? Oh, and don’t think about talking to me in that beeps and whistle language. I want answers and I want them now!!!!

He looked at me and smiled. Are you sure all you want are answers? Is there something else you’d prefer? he asked calmly.

Okay, so it’s been a long time since I had, that thing sex, but I still wasn’t going to do anything until I knew what was going on. Don’t think about it, I thought to myself, or else I’ll find myself underneath him doing the horizontal hula.

Yes, all I want are answers and I want them now.

Okay I’ll explain, he said.

My name is Diguret. I am, in your words, the owner of this magnificent puff. Here, all is granted. If you wish it or want it, it will happen.

How did I get here? I asked.

When you entered my vehicle you were thinking of being swept away after the horrible week you had. You were already thinking that this was going to be a horrible day. Am I right?

But I still don’t understand how I got here or how you picked me out, I said.

That’s simple. When you were run off the road and into the ditch, you summoned me. The fact that the kid’s drove by and didn’t help you, made you wish even more to be taken away from all that happened. Your summons to me became greater and greater until I appeared.

Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that after last week, the shittiest week a person could ever have, you didn’t come to me. But today because of me being driven off the road into a ditch you came to me?

Well, that’s easy to explain. You see that ditch you were forced into isn’t really there. This ditch appears in one spot one day and in another spot another day. It will always be on that stretch of road, but it will never be in the same place. When something falls into the ditch, a force inside me is triggered and I can feel the need in the persons mind.

So this only works on people?

No. If an animal should walk into the ditch or if an animal is hit on the road and should fall into the ditch, I will be summoned.

Wait a minute; you can talk to animals, too?

No. I cannot talk to animals, like I am talking to you, but I can feel their needs. Let’s just say that an animal is walking along looking for food, and it just so happens that the animals hoof touches the ditch. I can sense it is looking for food, so I will have that animal’s favorite food within easy reach. Be it a tree bearing fruit, grass, small animals or even insects.

So you are screwing around with nature by providing easy food for these animals, instead of making them hunt for food like they are supposed to?

No. I am just making it easier for the ones who touch the ditch, and are in need.

No, you’re not. You are screwing with the animals. What if snakes came into the ditch, would you all of sudden put a smorgasbord of rats there?

Look, I am not going to argue with you. I have a purpose in life and this is what it is. I am not asking your permission nor am I asking your acceptance, this is the way it is and that’s final. Now, how have your accommodations been? Are you satisfied? he asked.

Yes. I’m quite satisfied. Is there an outside to this room?

He hesitated for a moment, and then answered. There is an outside, but you must be careful. Not all ground is sturdy ground. If you don’t know where you are going it could be fatal.

Where exactly am I?

You happen to be on puff 82, he said with a quirky grin.

I want an exact location, like am I still in California?

Of course you are, except your 10 miles up and to the right.

I’m sure my eyes opened wide, and I said excuse me; I’m 10 miles up and to the left?

No, you’re to the right.

Then how the hell can I still be in California?

Well, if you were down there all you would have to do is look straight up 10 miles and lean right. That’s where you are; still in California.

Now I know. I have really lost my mind. I should have listened to my mother, instead of partying in college with everybody else.

Is there anything else you would like to know? he asked.

The man with all the answers, well then, I’ll just keep asking questions.

Yes, if we’re on puff 82, does that mean cloud 82?

That is correct, we are on clod 82.

I laughed, instead of saying cloud he said clod! Wouldn’t that be something, Dear Diary, today I was on clod 82. Listen to me, I think this is funny and I am standing on a marshmallow puff that could collapse at any time.

Oh my god, I can fall through I yelled out.

"You can’t