Dream a Little Dream by Piers Anthony Read Free Book Online Page B

away,” he concluded. “Is there anything you need to bring?”
    She laughed, accepting it for the moment. “Nothing but you and Esprit.”
    “Who is Esprit?”
    “Oh, that’s just a little nickname I gave Spirit here. He likes it.”
    Mich’s brow wrinkled. He glanced at the horse, who nodded. “One question.”
    “Yes?” This suspension of disbelief was fun, as long as she didn’t take it too seriously.
    “Why is it that you accept Spirit without question, yet you have so much trouble believing in me?”
    Nola was afraid she had hurt his feelings. She tried to explain without doing so again. “Spirit isn’t human. It’s not in his power to cause me pain. I’ve never met a horse I didn’t like. I’ve met many humans with blacker hearts than Spirit’s coat. Do you understand? It’s nothing against you.”
    He did not seem quite satisfied. “If you wouldn’t mind, please tell me what happened to cause you so much distrust of people.”
    “I can’t. I barely know you! Don’t take it the wrong way. I am very grateful to you for bringing me my dream, but I’d like to leave my sordid life out of this. At least for now.”
    Mich suddenly felt guilty for pressing her. “Of course. I can respect that.”
    “Well, let’s go. I can’t wait to see Kafka!” Nola hesitated. “Just one thing, though. How do we get there?”
    “You know, I’m not quite sure, but legend says that there are portholes from your world to ours called beds,” he said with one cute eyebrow raised.
    As a come-on, this was too clumsy to be believed. He figured ona transporting experience in bed with her? “What do you mean?”
    “I have a spell that works when a person is in a sleeping place, like a bed or a couch.”
    Nola’s suspicion returned. He was trying to get her into bed! “Are you hitting on me?”
    Mich was baffled. “I would never hit you!”
    She laughed, realizing that he didn’t know the idiom. “You mean sleep, as in losing consciousness? Dreaming?”
    “Yes, of course. Only we don’t dream in Kafka. We know that phenomenon only by description. It must be interesting.”
    “And such sleep, with or without dreaming, along with your spell, will take us to Kafka? Just like that?”
    “Yes, it’s supposed to.” He smiled. “All it takes is a little moonlight and a lot of faith.”
    Nola was beginning to like Mich despite herself. She still didn’t believe a word he said, but she was curious about him. And the truth was, she wouldn’t mind getting into bed with him, even if he was a fake. Since her true dream man couldn’t exist, the next best thing was the image of her dream man. But she would make him work a bit harder before letting him score, on general principles. “Would you care to join me at the hotel for a bite to eat?”
    “I’d love that. I’m starved. Will you be cooking?”
    “No. We’11 be eating at the restaurant.”
    “Rest room? You eat there?”
    She laughed again. “Restaurant. It’s a place where they serve food.”
    “Oh, a kitchen.”
    He was good! “Call it a dining room. You do have those, don’t you?”
    “Darn,” he swore. “I was hoping to see you doing woman’s work.”
    Nola shot him a dark stare.

    He threw up his hands, smiling. “Just kidding! I’m sorry, that was in bad taste. I would never ask a Creator to be a mere woman.”
    “A what?” she asked sharply.
    “A woman.”
    That had not been what she meant, but she decided to let it go for now. She had fashioned her dream man to have a certain quaint naivete, and so it was consistent for him not to understand what was objectionable about the qualification “mere.” Nola forced a laugh. “You have a terrible sense of humor! Where’d you get it?” she asked, smiling wryly.
    “I was created with it. It disgusts Snort, not to mention my father. They say the River of Thought must have been polluted when I emerged.”
    Nola studied him a moment, deciding not to challenge that. He would be stared at in