I dreamed.

I dreamed I went to visit the jeweler in my home town. He's got a store front just off the main drag, where he sits, day in and day out, working.

It used to be a gallery. Then it was a juice bar. Then it was his studio/shop.

I dreamed that I was visiting someone there. Half the store was a living area, and we were watching TV.

I had a crush on the jeweler, but he was not paying attention to me.

Night fell. His son came home. He was twelve or so. Said hello, wandered into the back.

I said goodbye to my friend, and started packing up my stuff to go.

The jeweler stopped me in the hallway. He stood a little too close. I could smell his sweat, and the laundry soap he used.

"Aren't you going to stay the night?" he whispered. I could feel the heat of his breath spread out on my skin. He was a little bit shorter than me, and he pushed his face up to mine.

"Well, uh," I stammered, blushing. "I didn't know you wanted me to."

"Of course I do," he whispered. "Stay the night."

"Alright then," I said, and went to unpack my things again.

He grabbed my wrist. It hurt.

"Don't clutter up the place with your crap, hey?"

~

We watched movies. He kissed me hard enough that my teeth bit into my lips, then laughed when I complained.

I was uneasy, but quiet.

He laughed, but too loudly. His son came to join us, and looked on me with distant pity. I didn't understand it, not at the time.

"Please me," the jeweler said, with a smile like a lion.

I tried. I did.

He grabbed my wrist and frowned. I could feel his fingertips pressing between the bones of my arm.

"Do it better," he growled. "Can't you do anything right?"

I felt shame. Confusion. But the anger wasn't there.

It degenerated from there.

~

The morning came. I was sad, quiet, beaten.

"Some friends are coming by," the jeweler told me. "Behave yourself."

What was I to do? I nodded so he'd leave me alone.

A couple guys pulled up, in a long vintage car. Mustang, maybe. It was pale yellow, and had them wing bits on the back.

"Are you ready?" his friend said excitedly. "Get your things!"

"I'll get them," the jeweler said to me. "You stay here. You always fuck everything up. You ALWAYS fuck everything up. Don't fucking move, you fuck up."

I stood where he told me, behind the car, by the trunk.

His other friend, who hadn't spoken yet, looked shocked. He had dark, tousled hair, and a soft easy smile.

He wasn't smiling now.

He was tense as he waited for the jeweler to round the corner and go back in sight, out of earshot.

"That's fucked up," he said, to no one in particular.

He came around to my front. I was looking down. His shoes were dark leather.

He was taller than me, but tried to stoop to look into my face.

"You don't deserve to be treated like that," he said. He put his hands on my shoulder, but it felt more like a relief than an entrapment. "He shouldn't treat you like that. You're better than that. You're better than him."

And then I woke up.

~

My dreams are really linear these days.

Fucked up, but linear.

.

Rosie.

Before&After