SANDS OF DELUSION

SANDS OF DELUSION  By Tessa Harvey The woman peered over her thin glasses at Maria. "So one of the girls is now pregnant, Mrs. er...."     "Alvarez," supplied Maria, bracing herself.     "Yes, well, how could that have happened? You have a duty of care, you know." "Apparently, they both took time off school." "Yes, well," the woman huffed. "We will, of course support a termination under the circumstances."     "We don't think that it is necessary," replied Maria, praying for patience and wisdom. "Luis and I are prepared to support Katherine at this time."     "What on earth are you talking about?" demanded the State Representative for Children in Foster Care.     "There is not another option. The girl is a minor. She is merely in your care, which has not been quite satisfactory, as you must admit. She is far too young to care for a child.     Again she peered over her spectacles, this ang...

SANDS OF DELUSION   By Tessa Harvey STORM Kitty pleated her tank top over and over. Her dark fingers were small and slender. Her younger foster sister was playing with her Ipad.     Kitty swept back her long dark hair and glanced to see what Alice was watching. She gasped. It was called "Kill the Babies!" There was a choice of knife or gun. The babies were virtual reality, but real in the game.     Her gasp of horror alerted the ten year old. The child's face furrowed in a frown. "What's up, sis? Wow, you sure look sick."     Kitty felt very unwell. At that moment, their foster mother, Maria Alvarez came into the sunny lounge room. In one glance, she saw Kitty's white face and saw the way she clasped her stomach.     "Come Katherine, we must talk." Eyes wide, Kitty stood obediently and followed Maria. Reaching the bedroom, Maria sat on the flowery bedspread and patted the place beside her. "Well?"     The girl couldn't say a word....

SANDS OF DELUSION By Tessa Harvey INFERNO The sun glinted on the cars lined up along the sea road, moving slowly in the warm morning. The roadworks were taking a long time to complete.     Jaxon   did not look directly at the cars or the sea, instead he was poised at the top of a steep rocky escarpment, intently focused on the controls of his huge, bright yellow digger. It was hard work, demanding full concentration as he grappled with the rocks and thin soil, slowly levelling the steep incline...     Without warning, images of fire flared in his mind of raging flames. He was racing down the main road of the small town. The roar, the smell, the heat almost engulfed him. Ahead was a small clear space, but even as he struggled to reach it, a roaring fireball filled the gap and rolled towards him.     Voices yelled, "Hey, Jax! Mate, what yer doin'!"     The flames faded. The young man was teetering on the crumbling edge. }Instinctively, he react...

SANDS OF DELUSION   By Tessa Harvey INFERNO The   fire crept back into his mind, tiny tendrils of live flame in an old stump, dying down to grey embers, then flaring into molten lava, spilling over, racing through dry dead grass, fingering the gum trees, then leaping high like kittens to reach the threads of branches...     He had heard the fire was coming, and was up on his roof, filling the stopped gutters with water from his old trickling hose, resentful at the wanton waste of water.     In a country of water tanks and scant rainfall, such a precious resource was not squandered lightly.      For a while he had been aware   of cinders drifting, falling, burning. The firies had shouted, "Mate, go, there's no time," as they had screeched past his land in their already scorched truck.     Then there was a terrible roaring, and the fiery inferno had crested the rise before him. Jax had been stunned - somehow he had thought the fi...