Short Story

In Dreams

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Re-visited, re-read, re-worked and re-written
for The Unicorn Challenge where Jenne & CE
encourage us to get creative in 250 words or less.
The photo below is our inspiration; this is my story.

© Ayr/Gray

Every day on my way to and from work I see the same B&W poster and dream of being there. I close my eyes and imagine the sun ricocheting off the ocean every morning and stars performing a water ballet at night.

Street vendors call out to tourists passing by to stop for a moment to taste this or buy that. An old woman sells glimmering conch and abalone shells by the dock and people linger by her makeshift table for small sandy pouches tied with string the color of Mandarin oranges.

The baristas at the outdoor cafes brew fresh coffee from roasted robusta beans and the baker across the way brings out sweet crisp biscotti and golden almond and hazelnut pies dripping with warm honey.

There’s a small hazy smoke shop where old men stop for hand-rolled unfiltered cigarettes. Young beautiful women and men eye each other across the tables in an antique bookstore, perhaps searching for love as well as an old yellowed copy of sonnets and poems.

The fishing boats return heavy with their catch and the crews expertly fillet the fish. Mothers with babies strapped to their chests patiently wait for their purchases to be wrapped in newspaper and handed to them for that night’s dinner.

The invigorating salty aroma of the sea rises up to my rooms and I fling open the windows to welcome another glorious new day.

Someday I will find my way to that white building on the top of the hill.

NAR©2025
250 Words

This is “Harbor Lights” by Bruce Hornsby

The Unicorn Challenge-24/01/25

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy ~ The Sicilian Storyteller, Nancy (The Sicilian Storyteller), The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk, and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

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