Faris remembered that Jodie had called him “little friend” on the mountainside that afternoon. Something had not sounded quite right about that at the time, but he had not been able to work out why. He now saw clearly, that she had not called him “little boyfriend,” because she already had a boyfriend her own size.

“No wonder you enjoyed the thought of my being a chess piece for you to capture,” he said, recalling their early discussion about chess.

“And captured you are, little friend. You will stay in my tummy forever, and only see me in my garden in our shared dreams. This outcome is amply congenial and satisfactory for me, and there’s nothing you can do to induce me to let you out of there.”

“I guess there isn’t,” said Faris.

“I’m glad you’ve accepted that, for your sake. There’s no peace in worrying about things you can’t change.”

“Is it OK if I’m still in love with you?”

“It would be a moot point if you couldn’t stop feeling that way. I’m comfortable with it, and just as flattered as before. You are uniquely cute, perhaps even among people your own size. Maybe that’s why I only dreamt of you and not other earthlings.”

“I guess so. I am unusually handsome.”

“If not unusually modest.”

“Sorry,” he said.

“It’s alright,” she laughed, “You can always say anything to me.”

“In a way this is no worse than before I got here in person. I’m used to relying on the dreams to interact with you.”

“I understand, but it’s not the same as before. Back then, you entertained the hope of finding me and meeting me in person and being my boyfriend in this giant land, didn’t you?”

“That was pretty much how I’d planned it out, yes. I was never going to return to earth. I wanted to be with you for the rest of my days.”

“Well it won’t be as you planned it, but you will certainly be with me.”

They talked until he awoke in her stomach, unaware of the time of night or day it was, and he lay awake and came to terms with his new life.

After a few weeks of interactive dreaming with Jodie, Faris had become sufficiently enamoured of the situation.

“One thing I’m sure of is that I’d rather be with you like this than have never met you at all,” said Faris, “Although I can’t decide whether I’d rather have continued to dream about you on earth, rather than in your stomach. I guess the best of both worlds, within what you were really offering, would have been to have had most of that fabulous day on the mountainside with you, and then escaped to earth and continued our interactive dreams,” he told her one night.

“I’m personally glad that it worked out this way,” said Jodie, “But you’ve seen how infrequent our shared dreams have become. I tend to only think of you when I’m alone in the daytimes now, while I’m awake. I don’t expect that I will dream about you again after tonight. So this will be our last interactive time of talking together. I’ll always be happy to have you in there. You must simply make the most of your situation. Goodbye little friend.”

Just like that, he was consigned to a life in her stomach, with no more interactive dreams, only the feel of her tummy around him during his waking hours, and the knowledge that she had willingly swallowed him into it and continued on with her perfectly happy existence.

*          *          *          *