Dark night, am I asleep? My eyes seem to be open, but I know they are closed. A beautiful, intricate lattice forms overhead. Could I climb through it? My attention wanders slightly and when I look back with my closed eyes all I see are strings, or ropes, dangling just out of reach. I try to make these seem beautiful too, but they are not. There is a woman in the room where I am dreaming and she speaks from over by the wall. She is holding the edge of a door, or is it the lid of a box on its side, and with a smile, opening the door slightly, indicates that I can go this way.

I sit bolt upright, opening my eyes to my waking room and say aloud, “NO! I am not ready!”

But how easy it seemed, how easily I could have slipped out of my room forever into some other place.