Bloom

Tenderly, the mirror watched her.

She revolved in the glass, admiring the smoothness of skin, the neatness of form, the brilliance of hair and eyes, the perfection of herself. Unconsciously, her feet adopted a model's stance - practised, sure - and she flicked her hair over her shoulder, where it tumbled to the small of her back, like molten lava or the tail of a comet.

As if she could feel the spotlights shining on her, or hear the click and see the flash of the paparazzi's cameras, she smiled and essayed a half-turn. Green spandex became haute-couture evening-wear, became daring casual-wear. Legs and hips remembered the sway and dip of the model's walk, treading on roses. The world dropped away from her as a garment discarded. She was the toast of Paris and the darling of New York; the sun around which their social galaxy revolved. Brilliant, witty, beautiful, she bowed in gratitude and the woman in the mirror bowed to her.

"Jean? Honey? What are you doing?"

At the sound of his voice, reality reasserted itself and the moment became ridiculous. No other fantasies could send down taproots and grow tall and beautiful in the shade of the Dream. They were too meager, too selfish, too transient to survive.

Her gaze fixed on her husband's reflection in the mirror, Jean Grey lied: "My back was stiff. . .uh . . . I was stretching."

Cyclops grinned, "Too long in the Danger Room yesterday?"

"Perhaps," she answered, "Perhaps."

Somewhere, beyond the looking-glass, a flower bloomed for an instant - white and gold in the darkness - before fading and returning to the earth. With an air of self-satisfaction, a tree, eclipsing the sky, spread its branches to the sun.

Disclaimer: These characters belong to Marvel and are not used to make me a cent, rupee or lira of profit. As a result, this story cannot be distributed to make anyone else a profit. Nevertheless, archiving requests and comments (brucepat@iafrica.com ) will be entertained with clowns and seals, as they are very welcome, *but* MST_3Kers and Pop_Uppers will be given stern and unfriendly looks.