Scent of Sandalwood — William F. Wu

DESCRIPTIONRussell Chen dreams of a beautiful but mysterious woman with natural red hair every time he sleeps. Now, while on vacation with his girlfriend Vina on Kauai, he begins seeing the mystery woman, first in hints and then suddenly but briefly, in his waking hours. Vina remains cheerful and upbeat, but Russell is driven to find the woman from his dreams. EXCERPTShe peered at him through the tall green stalks in the next row of uncut cane, her wild red hair blowing forward in the rising wind. He flung the point of his blade into the dirt, where it stuck, and walked toward her. She wore a snug, form-fitted dress of white linen with a line of strained buttons up the front. Lace tickled her neck over a high collar. He glanced over his shoulder at the other field hands, but they had no reason to look back as they trudged wearily toward their shack quarters. She smiled, looking up at him with clear blue eyes, as he began to unfasten the tiny white buttons at her throat. His fingers smeared her linen dress with sweat and dirt and green stain. The storm wind blew her hair against his face and the tall cane waved over them. Cool raindrops fell against his eyes as he pulled open the front of her dress to reveal some heavy white piece of underclothing with rigid stays -Russ awoke suddenly in his hotel room, drenched in sweat, breathing hard. Vina was in a deep sleep with her back to him. Stays? What year had he been dreaming about, anyway?SYNOPSISRussell Chen has taken his girlfriend, Vina, on a vacation to the beautiful island of Kauai in Hawaii. However, he has never told Vina about the dreams that haunt him almost every night. He had been driven by the name of Kauai, compelled to find it, though he had never been here and had not known it was part of Hawaii until he had mentioned it to the travel agent. He hated lying to Vina and had not done so, except where his dreams were concerned. They took place here on Kauai, somewhere; he just knew it. He dreams of a beautiful but