The Golden Watch

“What’s next for us?” asked the beautiful lady, with the golden watch, and the close knit scarf in a great room full of plush furniture that exuded wealth.  When she turned her head,  her long twists shuttered ever so slightly against the small of her back, and she appeared so much more the girl because of  it. The gentleman she spoke to was visibly older, sported a thick curly beard, and skinny jeans. His eyes twinkled behind the plastic of his fake glasses, and his mouth, ever curled in a sneer was slightly parted. Adjusting himself slightly in the seat, he placed his fingers on her shoulder, casually massaging them.

“Next?” he drawled, removing his left hand from her shoulder to adjust his raven black hair that, though heavily gelled, seemed to refuse to remain stay in place.

“Yes love, where are we going afterwards,” the girl said in her sing-song manner, twisting her head ever so slightly so that her deep brown eyes could peer into her lover’s face.

Max sighed, and stared at the fireplace before them. She asked so many questions sometimes. “Darling, we just got here, and already you’re cresting for the next zenith?!”

Sarah blinked. Then, full of mirth, she threw her head back, and laughed a long girlish laugh.  Her gold watch glinted in the firelight, and her beautiful brown face shown even more radiantly. “Cresting for the next zenith. I like that, I really do,” she gasped, when her fit of laughter had subsided a bit.

Max smiled down at his princess as she repositioned her body against his. For awhile they sat silently, and stared at the leaping flames.

“As I was closing my eyes to sleep last night, I had the most peculiar feeling,” he started softly.

“Oh, well I ALWAYS get a strange feeling when we’re at your parent’s house. I’m so glad they decided to let us have the cabin this weekend to ourselves! Conversation with them can be so stupid,” she said with a practiced indifference that she adopted when she spoke of her soon-to-be in-laws

“Yes, rather,” Max said,  “ But, this was different. You see, it was a dream, or perhaps the beginnings of a dream. We were sitting as we are now, in front of the fire. You looked beautiful, as always, and all was lovely.”

Just as suddenly as he had begun his tale, he stopped. He gazed intently at the fire, his slight sneer gaining an uncharacteristically troubled expression.  

“Well darling,” Sarah said, casually glancing at her watch,  “that doesn’t sound strange at all. You were just excited to be here with me tonight.”

“It could be,  it could be,” Max supposed. “Except, as we sat, it began to get hotter and hotter.  I began to perspire, but you remained quite comfortable sitting.  I rushed to open the windows to get some relief, but you demanded they stay closed as you were cold, and, obliging your wish,  the temperature in the room only rose higher. I began to feel weaker as the heat poured in, and I felt that I could hardly move at all. Yet, you remained quite content. And when I tried to tell you  I would die if I did not get some air, nothing but a croak issued from my lips, so parched was I.”

By now Sarah had sat up, and was staring at Max with a fixed expression.  His eyes twinkled as he returned her gaze, his sneer once more evident.

“What’s next, Maxwell?”  she said.

“I melted into a molten ball of nothingness, and evaporated into the abyss. I quite disappeared,” he said with an expressionless tone. “But you were still there. Beautiful as ever.”

Slowly, she got to her feet and peered down at him. Then, with deliberation,  she unclasped her golden watch, and tightened her scarf. In a fluid motion and with stunning force, she flung  the time piece into the fire, shattering it to pieces.

Max was so startled that he could not even cry out.

"Forever" she hissed, "forever."