A woman lived in a beautiful white house at the top of a hill. When a man who had recently moved into the neighborhood first saw her she was standing, straightening her back, after tending her garden. He was struck by her dark hair and vivid red top against the white house.
‘A valentine,’ he thought.
She removed her gloves and fanned the V of her blouse. This vision held him firmly to the sidewalk.
She noticed him and smiled. His heart leapt and he waved. He was able to move his feet again only after the words ‘House of Love’ came to him. He said them aloud. And then he set out for the top of the hill.
She watched him approach.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just wanted to say hello and thank you for keeping such a beautiful place here. Really makes the neighborhood.”
“Thank you. It’s a lot of work.”
“I’m Dylan.” He turned and pointed back down the street. “I moved in over there a couple of weeks ago.”
“Seems to be one guy after another moving in there.”
“Is that right? Well, I expect to be here for a while.”
She nodded, smiled warily.
“Well, just wanted to say ‘hello’.” He turned to go but was hoping she would say more.
“I’m Venus.” She looked down to her incomplete gardening.
“Venus – what a beautiful name!” He looked at her brightly. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”
“Oh, no bother. I’m glad to meet you. It’s just…”
“Likewise! And I’m not a nut. You’ll see.”
She laughed.
Dylan walked back down the hill. He passed his building and continued on. But he paused and turned before the hilltop was out of sight. The valentine stood before the House of Love, watching him.
***
He spied her later in the week, struggling to open an awning over the middle bay window. She left the ladder and appraised the situation. Dylan walked up.
“Want some help?”
She was back on the ladder but still unsure of her next move. She glanced over her shoulder. “I could do this if I had a third hand.”
“What does the third hand have to do?”
She explained. They worked together.
“Perfect! I can get the rest from here.” She smoothed out the awning, pulling it into place and closing the final snaps. “Thank you very much!”
“My pleasure. Anything else while I’m up here?”
“No. This one was always tricky.”
“I was on my way down the hill for a cup of coffee, maybe breakfast,” said Dylan. “Care to join me?”
Venus didn’t look away from her house. “I really want to finish this.”
He took the setback in stride. “Well, OK. But the offer stands.” He walked out to the sidewalk. “I’ll see you.”
“I’m busy now but maybe I could buy you a drink later – for helping.”
“Sure! We could buy each other a drink,” he said, stupidly.
She smiled most warmly. “Shelley’s at five?” She pointed out over the town below them. “It’s off Percy – over there.”
He didn’t bother to look, couldn’t take his eyes off her. “I’ll find it! Five o’clock!”
***
They perched at a high table in the great corner window of the bistro. The air was electric around them, a static charge building. The waitress hesitated before she set anything between them.
The drinks went so well that they followed them with a long and relaxed dinner.
Afterward, they stopped at a shop on a quiet avenue.
“Ah,” the shopkeeper said when he recognized Venus. “Another one for the collection?”
She stared at him.
“I mean,” said the owner. He turned to the back of the store, pointed. “I meant, you know, another jar!”
She walked past him and forgave him with an incredulous look.
Dylan laughed to ease the moment. Watching her walk away, he would be happy to be part of her collection.
“She collects jars. That’s all,” said the shopkeeper.
“OK.” Dylan shrugged. Whatever.
Venus perused a table of jars: pewter, marble, glass, ceramic. She held one that would probably just fit around an orange. It was black glass swirled with the other-worldly greens and blues of the aurora borealis.
She held it up to Dylan who didn’t know what to say beyond, “Cool!”
“I can put a dream in here.”
***
They walked slowly, closely, up the slope of the town. When they approached the corner where he would turn right he wondered if he should invite her over. But as they crossed the square she said, “Would you like to stop in?”
“Sure!”
And on they climbed to the House of Love.
***
She was perfectly beautiful. He could not believe his luck! And as they lay together in her darkened room they gazed up through the skylight at bright stars.
‘This is heaven on earth’, he thought as he drifted off.
Behind heavy lids he dreamt of the woman beside him. In the dream she smiled rapturously as they entered into another passionate embrace. But her arms grew heavy over him and her body grew larger and larger until he was lost in her vast, warm flesh. She was the size of the bed and then the room and then the entire house.
She held him in one hand, the aurora borealis jar in the other. Still smiling, she lowered him toward it. The dark opening was a fearsome thing. He thrashed against her grip and won. Released from her grasp he plummeted...
***
Dylan awoke in his bed. He tried to blink away the cobwebs. He had fallen asleep in her bed – how had he gotten into his? He did not remember leaving her house and walking down the hill. Had they spoken?
He was not hungover. A drug? Had she drugged him? That didn’t make sense. They’d had a fine evening. By mutual agreement, mutual urges, they had wound up in bed and enjoyed it. Drugs made no sense.
He looked around the room. Perhaps he just blocked out the banality of leaving her and coming here. After the thrill of being with her, that was almost plausible. But without a lot of alcohol or something, he would not lose a block of time. So why did she drug him?
And there was something more, or actually less. He felt empty, as if he had lost something important.
He prepared himself for the day and mulled it over coffee. Had he become a sleepwalker? Ha! That would probably be a deal-breaker when it came to seeing her again: “Hey! You just walked out!”
He had her cell number but… where to start?
***
She didn’t answer. He didn’t leave a message. He went out to the stoop and looked up at the House of Love. She was tending the garden. He walked up the hill.
She stopped what she was doing when she saw him, pulling the gloves from her long fingers.
“I’m so sorry!” she said when they were face to face. “I’m such a sound sleeper! I didn’t hear you leave.”
“Oh! I… didn’t want to wake you.”
“It’s fine. I had a great time last night!” She turned. “C’mon in – I made coffee.”
He followed the swing of her valentine hips and once he was inside with her, coffee in the air, a feeling of belonging settled over him. He was full of himself in the House of Love, overflowing, it seemed.
They stood happily in the sunny kitchen, each leaning against a counter, swirls of steam rising over their faces as they sipped and took each other in. The new jar sat on a windowsill, open, its lid set next to it. He admired it again.
“That really is nice. What will you put in it?”
“Maybe nothing,” she said. “I just like them.”
“Where’s the collection?”
She said nothing.
“You collect jars. Where do you keep the rest?”
“Oh,” she looked past him. “I enjoy the newest one for a while and then I wrap it up and put it away. Then I get another. I guess that’s weird but that’s what I do. Maybe someday I’ll take them all out and – I don’t know – dust them every day!”
They laughed.
“Yeah, that’s the problem,” he said, “the more stuff you have the more you have to take care of.”
Venus nodded and sipped. Dylan looked about her home.
“Your place is beautiful.” He moved closer to her. “You’re beautiful…”
She put a hand up to slow him down. “Seriously. I’m really sorry about last night.” He waved this off but she kept going. “I am. But you. Did you sleep at all or just wait a little and leave?”
“Oh, no! I didn’t just rush off. I slept a bit and then, I guess, just wandered home. Like an inconsiderate jackass…” He wondered if he should tell her about the dream.
“That’s fine. I was dead to the world anyway.” She looked at him carefully. “But there was nothing else? I mean, I didn’t say something crazy in my sleep or anything, did I? Something to scare you off?”
They held each other’s gaze. He had an inkling that she was trying to read his mind. Should he mention the dream? It was cool and strange. She would probably get a kick out of it…
“Nothing else?” she asked.
He thought he would launch into it but then decided not to. She would think he was not quite right. He would tell her some other time. Right now, all he wanted was her.
He shook his head. “No.”
She looked disappointed.
“Something wrong?”
“No,” she said decisively. “I thought there might be something else.”
He looked confused.
She put a hand on his chest – “Forget it.” – and kissed him.
***
He held her close in the warmth of the bed and gazed up through the heavy afterglow to the skylight. Sun-filled wispy white clouds scudded the blue. A jet pierced the diagonal of the pane from corner to corner…
***
He was inside the jar. The light was aurora borealis blue and green. He looked up through the opening at her, huge, above him.
“You are not the one.” Her voice rumbled down. “The real one will be honest.”
The jar cover swung into view, pinched between her fingers. It grew larger and larger. With a thud and the grating of glass on glass the jar was closed. He felt motion then and the muffled sounds of outside movement. Darkness ran up the sides. Something rained down on the jar lid until light and sound were extinguished.
***
There was a man who lived on the opposite side of town at the very top of another hill. He was as handsome as a Hollywood king and his house was large and cast a powerful silhouette against the sky.
A woman who recently moved into a flat half-way down the hill from the man’s home was leaving one day while he was walking past.
“Good morning!” he called cheerfully up to her.
She hesitated but then smiled when she looked at him. “Good morning!”
He stopped at the bottom of the stoop. “Are you new here? I live up there.” He pointed to his impressive home. “I don’t recall seeing you before.”
She looked to his house and then walked down to him. “I just moved in last week.”
“I’m Theo,” he said, offering his hand. “It’s always a pleasure to see a friendly new face in the neighborhood.”
“Thank you. Jill. It’s nice to be welcomed!”
“Off to explore?”
“Shopping. I need a few things.” They stood gazing at each other for a quiet, comfortable moment.
“Would you have lunch with me?” he asked boldly.
“Ha!” the question took her by surprise. “You don’t waste any time, do you?” She looked up to his home again, this time warily.
“No, no.” He pointed down the hill. “In town somewhere. I can show you around.”
“I guess I could.”
He smiled. “I’ll tell you what: I’m probably going too fast for you. I just thought when I saw you, ‘She seems nice – why not try?’”
She relaxed a little and then laughed. “I’ve never been asked out on the street before!”
He laughed, too and said, “Then how about if we leave it like this: I’ll come down here at one. If you’re not here in ten minutes I’ll know you had second thoughts and that’s that.”
“It’s a deal!”
She watched him climb the hill toward his big house. She thought of an ancient god returning to his temple. So confident!
***
The lunch was a success. Two nights later they had dinner together. She opened up to him and he to her. She marveled at his serene strength. It was as if he were carved from granite. When they stopped at her stoop he invited her to the god’s temple. She accepted.
A glass of sherry in hand, she allowed herself the luxury of exploring his home. He followed her, pointing out views from different rooms.
“It’s so beautiful!” she said more than once.
But the sparseness of the furnishings had struck her as she first entered the temple. Each room was the same. One or two pieces of furniture with a lamp or two. No paintings, books, tchotchkes.
Finally, after gazing out another window and acknowledging the view’s beauty, she turned to the interior of the room itself. “But you’re a very spare decorator!”
He nodded. “Open space and freedom of movement – that’s what I’m about.”
***
His bed was fit for a king. The room had a wide view of the elegantly lit town below. She fell asleep with her head on his chest while gazing at the moonlight shining on a white house at the top of a hill.
She dreamt as she lay with the god in his temple that she was shrinking. He loomed larger and larger until, finally, when she was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, he held her aloft. “It’s all about distance,” his booming voice instructed her. “We can be together as long as we can remain apart.”
Then he brought her to his lips and pursed as if to blow a bit of dust from his hand. The stream of hot air swept her off her feet until she was tumbling head over heels into the darkness.
***
She awoke in her bed and immediately sat up. How… when, did she get into her own bed? Was Theo here?
“Theo!” she called into her empty flat. She did not remember leaving his house and walking down the hill. Had they spoken?
She lay back, mystified, until her cell rang and she quickly swept it from the nightstand. “Hello?”
“I’m so sorry!” he began, but his voice was merry. “I fell asleep, dead to the world, after our wonderful evening together! I didn’t even say ‘Goodnight’.”
She didn’t know what to say. “I…”
“I wish you had stayed,” he said. “But – my manners! – I don’t blame you for leaving. How can I make it up to you?”
“Uh…”
“I’ll make you brunch! Come on up whenever you’re ready.”
“Uh…”
“Take your time! I’ll be here. Bye!”
“Bye.”
Dazed, she made herself ready for the day while trying to find the missing piece of her memory. What happened? How had she lost the time it took to get between his bed and hers? To think that she could walk down here in the night and have no recollection of it was terrifying!
Out on her stoop, she looked up the hill. Being alone, down here, was not helping her to gather herself. She looked to his windows for a sign of something. There was power there.
***
He opened the door before she could press the bell.
“Good morning!”
“Good morning!”
“I’m so sorry!” he said. “I’m such a sound sleeper!”
She shook her head. “It’s fine! I was out of it, too. In fact, I had the strangest dream…”
“Come into the kitchen,” he interrupted. “A good hot breakfast is what we need.” He led the way.
She followed him and looked about. “I love this room! It’s so sunny and bright!”
“Thank you. Coffee?”
She luxuriated in the smell and warmth of his kitchen. “It’s so nice here!”
He turned away. “Coffee?” he asked again.
“Please!”
He served a wonderful brunch for her and they both attacked it. Afterward, she sighed, holding a mug of coffee in both hands. She wanted to be the goddess in this temple. “I love it here!”
He leveled a look at her that she couldn’t quite interpret but then remembered, “Oh! I was telling you about the dream I had…”
He came to her then and wrapped his arms around her. The steam from her mug now at his chest rose and shimmered his face in the light from the window.
“You can tell me later,” he said. “Right now, I believe, would be the perfect time to go to the very top.”
***
He held her close in the warmth of the bed.
She dreamt that as she lay in his temple she was shrinking. He loomed large and, finally, when she was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, he held her aloft. “It’s all about distance,” his booming voice instructed. “And that is all that I want from you.”
Then he brought her to his lips and pursed as if to blow a bit of dust from his hand. The stream of hot air swept her off her feet until she was tumbling head over heels through the darkness. She tumbled forever.
***
There came a time when Theo looked out over the town to the opposite hill. He thought he saw a mote of red moving in the garden of the top home over there. It was like a tiny heartbeat. He trained his spotting scope on the garden and was enchanted by the vision of the woman there.
As he climbed the hill he looked above to the woman in her red blouse, busy in her yard before the perfect white house. ‘Like a goddess in her temple’, he thought. When he reached the walk of her home, he called to her.
“You are a vision!”
She stopped what she was doing and looked at him.
“I live over there…” He turned and pointed to his house. “On the hill clear across town. I saw a speck of red moving through the garden over here and just had to come and see for myself.” S
he kept her gaze on him but smiled.
“And I am certainly glad that I did!”
She removed her gloves and stepped over the grass to him.
“Theo,” he said, offering his hand.
She took it and held it a moment. “Venus. I must have some power to draw you all the way over here.”
“That you do. And now that I’m here it seemed like a very short walk – an easy stroll to Heaven.”
She laughed. “So we are both in Heaven?”
“We could be.”
They were quiet a moment, taking each other in.
“Venus, if you have dinner with me I believe we can find a way to stay here forever.”
“How can I refuse that offer?”
“You can’t.”
***
They perched at a high table in the great corner window of the bistro. They were opposite poles generating electricity when brought close. The waiter received a slight shock with each glass or plate he set down.
Afterward, strolling the quiet avenue of shops, Venus led Theo into her favorite store. From a table she lifted a glass jar. Its painted sides held a sky-blue scene of Heaven, the occupants reclining on a swirl of pure white cloud.
“It’s perfect!”
Theo nodded. “Very nice.”
“I can put a dream in here.”
***
They walked slowly, close together, to the center of town.
He stopped then and said, “Would you like to stop in?”
She considered this. “All right.”
***
‘The House of Love’, she thought as they approached. It called to her like a man in need of a woman’s touch. The garden was mostly bare, the yard clear and open. Inside was sparsely furnished.
He watched her. He knew she was Danger. It was part of the draw. A settled woman was not going to compromise. And that was fine with him. The right woman for him was someone comfortable in her own life and willing to stay there.
As they lay together in the darkened room, they looked out over the town. ‘Heaven’, they both thought and drifted off.
***
Behind heavy lids Theo dreamt of the woman beside him. In the dream she smiled rapturously as they entered into another passionate embrace. But her arms grew heavy over him and her body grew larger and larger until he was lost in her vast warm flesh. She was the size of the bed and then the room and then the entire house.
She held him in one hand, the jar of Heaven in the other. Still smiling, she lowered him toward it. The opening below was a fearsome thing. He thrashed against her grip and won. Released from her grasp he plummeted...
Venus dreamt that as she lay with him in the House of Love she was shrinking. Theo loomed large and, finally, when she was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, he held her aloft. “It’s all about distance,” his booming voice instructed. “And that is all that I want from you.”
Then he brought her to his lips and pursed as if to blow a bit of dust from his hand. The stream of hot air swept her off her feet until she was tumbling head over heels into darkness.
***
When they awoke in his bed he immediately told her of his dream. But he changed the part about plummeting past the jar.
“You put me in a JAR!” He laughed.
“If you made any sound, I didn’t hear it,” she said. “I was dead to the world.”
***
A week later they finished a date at her house. After another embrace, they both drifted off again. This time, it was a dream they shared…
Looking about, Theo said, “Where are we?”.
“Our temple, Heaven.”
“So it is.” He looked up. Above there was nothing. “You got me where you wanted!” He laughed. “You think.”
Venus was quiet as he grew and grew. But even though he grew so large that she could fit in the palm of his hand he could not outgrow Heaven. When he blew her away she tumbled end over end. But then she grew until she could screw the lid down.
“There is your distance.”
She set the jar on a table at the window. The scene of Heaven glowed from the light it captured, despite a small shadow within.
***
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