She’d been having a nightmare. The room was dark. Not the dark of night, but filled with gray and an odd assortment of shadows. She couldn’t recall having turned out the lights. The sun had risen on a new day, but its sharp golden light lay hidden behind black scudding clouds. Her mood was as dark as the clouds. She went to sleep on a high stress situation and awoke suffering the same high stress. There was just no place to go with it. She somehow had to come to terms with a life event she had never envisioned. Coping skills would be nice. She took a shower, shampooed her hair, blow-drying it until fine strands framed her face like thick, silken thread. She applied soothing astringent to her face and eyelids, a touch of blush to her cheeks. She stepped into tan gabardine slacks, topping them with a brown knit sweater that fit loosely so that there was only a bare suggestion of the fullness of her softly rounded breasts. She tucked her feet into warm socks and flat-soled, ankle-high boots.
