Dogs and Goddesses Read online

  I am damn good at dreaming, Shar thought. “So, Samu, what are you doing here? Got a message for me? Because the symbolism of this is escaping me.” Aside from the huge wish fulfillment.

  “I AM SAMU-LA-EL—”

  “We did that part.”

  “—RETURNED FOR THE SACRIFICE.”

  “Yeah, I saw your stone poster in the auditorium last night.” Shar pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. “So you came back to die for the crops? Here’s some good news: we don’t do that anymore.” She leaned closer to him. “The whole sacrifice thing? Outlawed. So—”

  “OUTLAWED?” he said, and Shar pulled back, her heart pounding. Dream, it’s a dream. She watched him, his hands planted flat on the table before him. Even his forearms were gorgeous. He could probably lift—

  The god shook his head, said, “No,” and picked up his muffin again. “These are very good.”

  “Look,” Shar said, breathing again. “I don’t believe you’re a god.”

  “He’s a god,” Wolfie said.

  She looked down at him. “I don’t believe you’re talking to me.”

  “He’s talking to you,” Samu said.

  “Like I’m going to let the two of you vouch for each other,” Shar said, and then realized she was asking for credentials in a dream. She glared at Samu. He wasn’t that damn beautiful. “What are you doing in my dream? What do you want? And where did you get that awful shirt?”

  “Kammani called me and I rose.” Samu took a bite of muffin and then looked at her kindly. “This is not a dream.”

  “Kammani,” Shar said. Great. She had two wingnuts in her REM cycle. “Okay, for the sake of argument, let’s say Kammani called you. Shouldn’t you be … elsewhere? Like Mesopotamia?”

  “Hungry,” Wolfie said, and Samu fed the last of his muffin to him.

  “I do not know what Mesopotamia is. I am here because I rose in the room of the sun, as always. The room in the temple that holds my heart.”

  Shar froze. “Tell me that’s a metaphor.”

  Somebody knocked on her front door as Samu said, “I am whole again now.”

  Shar held on to the table. “I’ve been sleeping with your heart in my bedroom???” What the hell kind of dream is this???

  The knocking got louder.

  “My heart is always with my people, Sharrat.”

  He smiled at her, and she lost track of time and space for a moment as her world swung around and then clicked into place.

  The knocking picked up speed.

  “Let me get that,” Shar said, pushing herself out of her chair. This is a dream, a dream, just a dream.

  But god, what a god.

  She heard her front door open and Ray call, “Shar?”

  “Oh, hell.” Shar headed for the living room. Samu started to say something, and she said over her shoulder as she headed for the dining room, “You stay here while I get rid of him. That man does not belong in my dreams.”

  She went through the dining room and into the living room and found Ray unplugging her small flat-screen TV.

  “Hey,” Shar said. “What are you doing?”

  “There you are.” Ray picked up the TV as he gave her one of his goofy grins. “Sorry to barge in, I thought you weren’t home.”

  “I’m home,” Shar said. “What are you doing with my TV?”

  “I left a message on your machine that I’d be picking it up,” Ray said. “After all, I bought it and you broke up with me. The only things you ever watch on it are those dumb movies—” He looked beyond her and straightened. “Who’s that?”

  Shar didn’t bother to turn around. “That’s Samu—just put the TV back, Ray.”

  “Sam who?” Ray looked at her like a wounded puppy. “You’re dating someone else already?”

  “Dumb ass,” Wolfie growled, coming to sit at her feet.

  “Why is that dog growling at me?” Ray said.

  Wolfie sneered up at him. “Bite him.”

  “No biting,” Shar said.

  “He bites?” Ray said. “You never told me he bites.”

  “Do as Sharrat says or I will smite you, son of a dog,” Samu said to Ray.

  “Excuse me?” Wolfie said.

  Shar looked at the god. “Look, it’s ‘Shar,’ okay? Sharrat was my grandmother, I’m Shar.”

  Ray stepped closer. “Smite me? I’d like to see you try.”

  “So would I,” Shar said. “I’m bitter about that Taser.”

  Ray looked at her, stunned. “You said you were afraid to be alone in the house, I got you a Taser. What’s wrong with you? You’re a sensible woman. Why are you acting like this?”

  “I’m not acting,” Shar said. “This is the real me. In a dream, of course, but it feels real.”

  “What dream?” Ray said.

  “Go,” Samu said to Ray.

  Ray scowled at Samu. “Who do you think you are?”

  “He thinks he’s a god,” Shar said. “Hence the smiting. Put my TV down first.”

  “Shar, you know it’s not yours,” Ray said, keeping an eye on Samu. “I just kept it here because my apartment is small and your place …” He looked around the ex-temple. “Isn’t. Come on, Shar.” He smiled at her, keeping an eye on Sam.

  The thing was, if she hadn’t been dreaming, she’d probably have let him have it. He had paid for it. She could buy another one. The sensible thing to do would be to avoid an emotional conflict and let it go.

  My ass I’m going to let it go. That’s my TV.

  “Shall I Smite him, Shar?” Samu said.

  “Give me a minute here,” Shar said to him, and then turned back to Ray. “Ray, put the TV down or Samu smites.”

  “I’m not afraid of Sam,” Ray said.

  “Dumb ass,” Wolfie growled.

  “Take the TV, Sam,” Shar said, and Sam stepped forward, a mountain in motion, and took the TV from Ray with one hand.

  Love it, Shar thought. Lovin’ the god.

  “Hey.” Ray grabbed for it.

  Sam pointed a finger at him and a small burn mark appeared between Ray’s eyes.

  Ray screamed, and Wolfie barked, “Do it again,” and Shar took the TV and put it on the table so it wouldn’t get broken. This was her best dream ever.

  The doorbell rang and Ray backed up to answer it, angrily rubbing his forehead.

  Mr. Casey said, “Morning, Shar,” and began to bring in her paint. Eighteen gallons of it.

  “What the hell did you do to me?” Ray said to Sam.

  Shar waited for Mr. Casey to turn into Winston Churchill or the Michelin Man, but the sun shone through the open door and Mr. Casey was just Mr. Casey, smiling and waving his thanks for a massive paint purchase and then leaving, and Ray was looking very real and really mad, and she thought, This doesn’t feel like a dream.

  She looked down at Wolfie. “Not a dream?”

  “Nope.”

  “Oh, hell,” Shar said, and faced reality.

  It was bent.

  “I want to know what’s going on here,” Ray said as Shar sat down hard on her couch.

  “So do I,” Shar said, looking at Sam with new eyes. Hell, he’s a god. “Leave, Ray.”

  “The TV—”

  “GO,” Samu said, and it sounded like thunder, and Ray turned and went.

  “We need to talk,” Shar said to Sam.

  “Let us speak over muffins,” Sam said, and walked back into the dining room.

  “Oh, let’s,” Shar said, and followed him. He kept going into the kitchen, and she followed him to sit down at her table.

  She put her head in her hands and said to Wolfie, “There’s a god in my kitchen.”

  “I like him,” Wolfie said.

  “Last night you didn’t,” Shar said bitterly.

  Sam came back with the bag of muffins, and Wolfie sniffed his pant leg. “No, he’s good,” he said, and sat down next to Sam.

  Sam picked up his muffin again.

  “So … ,” Shar said, regrouping. “Uh