View From Paradise

View From Paradise
Word Count: 203

The view from my window is nothing I could have imagined seeing twenty years ago. Twenty years ago, I stared out a trailer-house door and wondered if I'd be able to feed my kids.

Yet here I am. Water the color of sapphire ripples against the hull and in the distance tropical trees slip onto bright white sand. A fresh breeze, not too hot but neither cool, grazes my face as I stand, hand on the rail, outside our balcony suite. I understand, now, why early explorers thought they found heaven.

Steve walks up behind me, smelling of coconut and pineapple, blue sky, and marshmallow clouds. As his arms wrap around my waist and his head lowers to nudge my neck, he draws me to him, and we are one. His heart beats with mine, breath warm on my ear. I can hear his thoughts and I know he feels mine. How could he not? They're written across my eyelids, tangled in my hair, caught up in my smile.

Far, far away cities hum as crowds churn, horns blare, sirens scream. People moving, straining against time. Thrusting, shoving into the night.

Early explorers thought they found heaven.

They were right.