The Publisher's Dream

Buy me a rose, call me from work

Open the door for me, what would it hurt

Tell me you love me by the look in your eyes

These are the little things, I need the most in my life...

Samantha's eyes dropped as she let sleep take her, ignoring to switch off the radio. She let the words of Kenny Roger's Buy Me A Rose drift through her unconscious mind. After a long day's work, this kind of music is what she wanted, it calmed her, massaged her and took all her stress. At just 9pm and her body was screaming rest at her. Her mind drifted into another world. She found herself in a green field, very massive and beautiful. She looked around in amazement as she wondered where the blazes she was. She let herself walk around, her fingertips touching and loving the feel of the green grass and beautiful tulip flowers. Wow. She said in her mind but then panicked, What if am dead? Oh my God, Oh God, Oh God.

Samantha couldn't scream the words, but her mind was sure screaming fear.

Thump thump thump

Samantha looked around in panic. Wait a minute, was that her heart pumping?

Thump thump thump

The sound came again, getting closer now. Oh God, Oh Jesus, please help me. Her mind screamed. Why wasn't her mouth opening for god sake?

Thump thump thump

Samantha stood frozen in one place, because the thump sound was very near now, behind her. Slowly she turned, in slow motion, prepared for The Hulk or any like being to jump out and gobble her down. Her jaw dropped when she had fully turned, she blinked her eyes repeatedly to make sure what she was seeing was real.

"Hallo there, see what you like?" The owner of the voice looked down at her. Samantha couldn't say anything, her mouth still open. "You should close that pretty mouth of yours Miss, don't know what kind of things fly around."

As if on cue, a tiny fly flew past her mouth as if to emphasize the stranger's warning. Samantha clamped her hands over her mouth and suddenly her voice came back. Yeah right, where were you when I needed you first.

"Are you an Angel?" Samantha closed her mouth again. Jeez, of all things to say, that is the dumbest question that came to her? Bite me. The stranger gave a small chuckle and leant slowly towards her.

"Whatever you would have me be, Tulip."

"Tulip?" Samantha asked confused.

The stranger chuckled again and shrugged, "What better name to call a very beautiful woman walking around Tulips. Who knows, maybe you sprung from one of 'em." He pointed to a certain tulip flower and Samantha rolled her eyes. Yeah right, stranger. Then the questions came tumbling out of her mouth.

"Where's this place? Who are you? What_?"

"One question at a time Princess." He cut her off. "The question rather is, who are you? And what are you doing on my land?"

"Your land?" Samantha asked looking around in awe. This was like her dream place, she squinted her eyes and saw a tall beautiful Victorian house in a distance.

"No, uh uh," I don't take questions for answers. The stranger got down from a white horse he had been sitting on all along. Samantha's jaw dropped again. Knight in a shining armor. She chastened her mind, now where did that even come from? She took the time and looked in the face of the stranger. He had short blonde cropped hair, with waves and a few fringes that fell in his face. His nose was ancient, with eyes that had the colour of a deep blue sea. Okay she had never seen a sea with naked eyes, but surely she had seen one on tele. His white skin had a deep tan, of course caused by long hours outdoors. Samantha realized how tall he was when she had to tilt her head back to study his features. Dude had muscles of a body builder, probably goes to the gym like what, hundred times a day? Yeah right.

Samantha was so caught up in studying the man and probably a little day dream, which she refused to admit of course, that she did not notice that the guy had come so close to her and his fingers were touching her soft brown hair. Being an African girl, well she didn't have a lot of hair on her head. She was roused from her wonderings when she felt that soft touch on her cheek.

"Beauty." The guy whispered with a distant look on his face. He was studying the strange black girl as well. Samantha pulled back hesitantly and cleared her throat. "You didn't answer my question Miss." He reminded her.

She looked up to answer the handsome man and opened her mouth to tell him. Nothing came out, her voice was lost again and at the same time, her mind was screaming her name and explaining to the man. The man frowned his brows and looked down at her confusedly. Samantha shook her head to clear it, with eyes closed.

"I'm Samantha." She suddenly shouted it and opened her eyes happily only for her silly victorious grin to leave her face. She was in her dark bedroom in her one room rental. She searched for her phone and looked at the time. 3:25 Am. She groaned and threw the phone back as she fell on her bed once again with disappointment. This was not the first time she was having this kind of dream. She did not even get the stranger's name. This time she was so close, he even touched her face. She lifted her fingers to touch where the stranger's hands had been. A small smile returned and she closed her eyes. The first time she had dreamt about this particular stranger, he wasn't on a horse, and had his back turned to her. Was this some kind of fantasy? She asked herself and then made herself search for actors she had crushes on, maybe her stranger was one of the actors. He had the body for the stunts men, and the looks for a women's man of course. What woman wouldn't go for a face like that? She shook her head sadly and pulled the covers over her head and willed herself to dream of the handsome stranger.

* * * *

Abel Sinclair leant his head on his hands as he was roused from the dream. He had slept in the study room while writing about a certain black girl he kept dreaming about. If only she was real, he contemplated in his head. So far this was the third time the dream was coming to him, he wondered why it had to be the same girl over and over again. Was she out there somewhere in this world? He looked at his laptop and perused through the pages he had typed. Wow, they were quite voluminous. He wondered why he was writing about this girl, he had felt something eccentric the first time he had dreamt about her. Then he had over looked it, but the second time he had the dream, he started writing about the girl he did not know and probably will never know about.

Abel Sinclair was not a romance writer, his books were mainly on Law and Celebrities' Bibliographies. He probably was writing this book about this girl to give her a happy ending and go back to writing his own books. He shook his head and went down to the kitchen. He was thirsty suddenly and needed water. He paused on the last stair when he saw a light in the kitchen, he furrowed his brows and went forward to check.

"Nana?" he softly called at the grey haired woman who was leaning in the fridge, probably looking for a drink too.

"Abel," The lady said startled and clutched a hand to her chest. "You boy will be the death of me. Why are you sneaking up on me like that?" she asked the last sentence softly.

"Nana, am sorry, didn't know there was someone in the kitchen." He went to help her to a chair. "I was just thirsty, so I came to drink some water." He sat next to her.

"Oh, sweety, that is another reason why you should get married." She touched his cheek and he leant into it.

"C'mon, Nana, not again." He groaned. The woman had come giving her reasons why he should be married by now. "Now where does being thirsty ever been a reason for someone to marry?"

"Because, your wife would cook you a nice meal, and you won't have need for water." The 75 year old woman explained to him like a five year old. "Your Nana is too old now, and she cannot cook you a good meal." Her eyes crinkled when she smiled.

"Oh Nana, who said you're getting old." "Well, I'll eat no other woman's food but yours." He said stubbornly.

"Look, who's talking." Nana chided him. "You are the same guy who had to order Chinese for dinner." This made Abel groan. The woman was just not going to give up. "If you don't do something this year boy, I'm finding you a girl myself." She shook her finger at him.

"Nana." He groaned and put his head between her neck. "I want you Nana, not any other woman."

"Abel, you aren't five years anymore." She smoothed his hair back. "You are almost 30 years." Abel groaned again. Nana kept reminding him his age every time he had to act like a five year old.

"Okay, Nana, its actually 28 and there's this girl_." He started and was startled when Nana screamed and held him to her tighter, muffling his words.

"Oh, my boy. I am so happy, I knew you would find someone." Nana said teary, "Now, tell me about her." She frowned when Abel didn't say anything. She looked down and gasped when she saw she had been suffocating the poor guy. She released him and Abel came up for air with a flushed face. He gasped as he waited for air to fill his lungs.

"Nana, you. Almost. Killed. Me. there." He said between gasps. After a pause, he hugged her to him and whispered that he was tired and he was going to tell her soon. Nana nodded and let him go. Abel had just reached the stairs when he realized he had even forgotten the water. He just continued to the bedroom, because he wasn't thirsty anymore. There was another thing rather gnawing at his mind. Why had he just blurted out that there is someone? He hated disappointing his Nana. She was all he had, after his parents had died 10 years ago. Even though he was already independent at 18 years, the loss of his parents had been a hard blow for him. As an only child, he had taken over his Father's publishing company A&S Publishing Company, and all the property that they had. His parents had not left any loan behind, they were all clean and life in other words was not hard for Abel. It's just there loss he had to deal with, and the fact that he had remained alone in this world. Apart from a crazy Uncle he had, his mother's brother, Ian. He never settled in one place and always seemed to be looking for something, also a renowned Casanova at that. His uncle never seized to amaze him. Nana had been there though, from the beginning, she was family. He sighed as he lay back in his bed and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

* * * *

Wakey wakey sleepy smelly head.

I say wakey wakey you_

Samantha groaned as she snoozed the alarm. She was going kill Anna for setting the stupid shrill alarm tone. It was already 6:00am. Thank God it was only a 5 minutes' drive to her work place, not that she owned a car. Ha ha, okay that was laughable, unless she clobbered a rich man on the head with a mallet and ran away with his money. Which was unlikely, because, where Samantha, stayed, there were no rich men. Maybe where she worked, her boss was a prominent man hence attracting people of different categories. A lot of men came to see her boss and recently the one month she had worked there, she could see a number of them wanting to catch her attention. Now wait a minute, was she plotting how to get a rich man? Hell N to the O.

Samantha was not that kind of girl. Having lived a life of abundance for 22 years, until one year ago when her Dad had died, followed by her mum two months later. It was a big tragedy for Samantha, because the sheltered life she had lived was taken away from her in one week. She found out that her parents had bank loans and had sold more other properties. The money she thought they had was nowhere to be found, and so were the relatives she thought would take her in. they all claimed to be living hand to mouth and couldn't help her because her Father had not lifted a finger to help them. Which Samantha knew was not true. Her dad was a good man and he had helped a lot of people, relatives involved.

Samantha later accepted her fate when she realized that she had nothing and no one. Her new life of lack was going to begin and she did not complain, but as her mum had taught her, she thanked God for the life ahead, packed her bags, left her childhood home, friends and town and went to look for a job where people did not know her. Good enough her parents had always advised her to never give up studying. She had her Bachelor's Degree in Social Media Marketing, but there were no jobs of her profession. She instead got a simple job in the city.

Her boss was a good man, he had paid her three months ahead to take care of the settling down in Rubaga town. This was a new life Samantha had started, new things and developments. Her home town was never crowded and was always a quiet place. But Rubaga had a lot of people, cars and the houses were not as good. She had to get used to living in a one room small house alone. Without family and friends, but Samantha being friendly had made a few friends here and there, though she had kept her past to herself.

She had let life to continue and so here she was finding herself without the protection of the big walls back home, or even her parents.

"See who the cat dragged in early," Samantha's friend Anne said in a sing song tone and Samantha rolled her eyes.

"See who the cockroaches chased out of her house," Samantha replied in a monotone.

"Ewww, Sam." Anne said looking disgusted, "Cockroaches? Who says that?" Anne went to hug her friend tight. "Hmmm, I missed you."

"Anne, you just saw me yesterday," Samantha complained but returned Anne's hug at the same time.

"I know friendy, how come you got here so early today?" Anne asked

"You know the traffic in this part of Uganda ain't thick." Samantha shrugged

"Cool, okay see you at lunch girl friend." Anne said and went next door where she worked.

"Kay girl." Samantha sighed and proceeded to her seat. She was an MTN agent in Rubaga. How she got the job was a miracle because she was hired without even an interview, just a Facebook friend recommended her to a friend who happened to be the boss. Samantha never complained because she was better off than youths her age. Some had no jobs, some were waiting for

Mr Right to give them everything. But not her, she loved to work for herself and feel that satisfaction and pride.

"Heyo Sam, what's up?" Samantha looked up with an amused frown,

"Huh, Tommy, who in this generation still says what's up?" Sam said with a laugh

"Hey, it was just a greeting." Tomlin Mugisa pretended to be offended. "Well, it's only me who greets you like that, means am special." He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed.

Tomlin was Samantha's co-worker, he helped her a lot with numbers at the end of most work days. Samantha hated numbers so much, every time she looked at any number her head became dizzy, but now with the help of Tomlin, the numbers were not that intimidating.

"Of course, only you can get away with that." Samantha answered, "So, how was your night? You left so early yesterday, where did you go?"

"Ummm, well," Tomlin smirked "There's this girl I met yesterday, men she was gorgeous I just had to take her home and we_"

"Don't finish that," Samantha cut him off. "I don't wanna know the details Tomlin, eww." Tomlin laughed and came closer to her.

"C'mon Sam, am dying to tell someone," He pouted

"No, way. Tell me about the girl, not what you did with her." Samantha insisted. And with a dramatic sigh and sorrowful look, Tomlin told her about Natasha, who he kept calling Nats as he told her how she looked and why he had liked her immediately.

Samantha listened intently at the way Tomlin described Nats and liked the girl immediately, no wonder with a kind heart like that and looks no one will not love her. Her mind drifted and she started day dreaming about her dream guy. The stranger in that dream never left her mind. Was he real? Where was he, if he existed that is? She had always wanted to marry a white man and had a lot of pictures of the kind of white man she wanted in her memory book.

But the stranger looked like none of those men. Maybe he was just her imagination, she smiled when she remembered the soft butterfly touch of his fingers on her cheek.

"Hey, Sam what's making you smile?" Tomlin drew her out of her day dream and she frowned.

"Huh?" she was confused until she remembered what Tomlin was talking about. "Oh yeah, your girl, Nats."

"You see, I told ya." Tomlin said proudly, "She is contagious, and you will love her when you two meet." He said with a big proud grin on his face and Samantha nodded guiltily.

Tomlin would faint if he knows what was making her smile. "So, any dreams about your Mr. White Hunksome?" Tommy wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed.

It was funny how she confided so much in Tommy, she was always at ease with him. He was the brother she never had and she talked to him about the things she had never told anyone, not even Anne. He knew about her parents and past. And he was always there to protect her and make sure no one hurt her. Lately she had been telling him about her dreams and he teased her about them. He had even named the stranger already, White Hunksome.

"Ummm, well. I saw him again, and this time he looked at me, came near me and touched me." Sam replied in a dreamy tone.

"Hell no," Tommy screamed murder. "No one gets to touch you without my permission." He threatened

"Who-who touched you Samantha?" Anne rushed in, "And why is Tommy threatening murder, huh?" Anne said excitedly. The girl liked a drama scene, and she could cause one very willingly in public. She looked expectantly between the two and raised her hands with a questioning look.

"It's nothing Anna, Just a dream I had." Sam shrugged and Anne looked disappointed.

"Oh men, and here I was so excited to know who Tommy was gonna kill." She pouted