At last Bobby decided to break the ice and see what happened.

“Your lovely tongue looks so beautiful,” he said.

“Thank you,” Erin giggled sweetly.

“I love you too, Erin, and I’d love it so much if you were to lick me.”

She smiled affectionately and lifted him gently towards her mouth.

Then her red tongue came out and slid across his shoulders, neck and face like the marvel of the ages. After she’d done it a few times, she withdrew her tongue and opened her mouth just a little. He remained in her gentle clasp and rubbed his hands across her lower lip, and marvelled at the partial view of her tongue in her mouth. She took him back to the bed and lay down and kissed him. The next morning, she went out as well, saying that she was going to see Judy, as they had been friends since their days at school.

When Olive’s mouth opened again, Bing was relieved that she hadn’t gulped him down, and also noticed that she had spent the time walking to her house. She placed him on the carpet and went to adjust the position of a chair. He saw a curtain and ran behind it, turning around just in time to see her stride over and bend down. Her long slender fingers pushed the curtain aside, and her other hand seized him. She sat on the lounge room chair and placed him on the table. He watched her mouth closely as her finger played with her lower lip a little. She hadn’t spelt it out in so many words, but he was still fairly certain that she intended to eat him at some point.

They talked for a while and then she put him down on the carpet again, left the room and closed the door. He heard her making some sort of preparations in the kitchen, and knew that he had to act fast. He looked behind the curtain again and saw nowhere that would conceal him from her. Then he got another idea. The curtain was occasionally moving a little. This meant that the wind must have been blowing it. He used his hands and knees to edge his way up the curtain, pressing both knees together to give him some steadiness while he reached higher with his hands each time, and then pulling himself up with his hands. He got to the window ledge and saw that a cling vine had made its way up most of the outside of the wall. He used it to climb down to the garden below, and then ran across the lawn.

Samantha lay down on her bed at home, with her face just in front of Artie, just as Erin had done with Bobby, except that she had far more definite plans for Artie.

“Do you know that you’ll be the first little boy in my tummy?” she asked, and stared intently at him, waiting for the full impact to strike him, along with the realisation that there was no to change her mind. This much she conveyed with the look of satisfaction in her eyes.

She rested her chin on her hand for a while, and smiled down at him. Eventually, she closed the bedroom door tight and lay down to sleep, resting her head beside him on the pillow.

*          *          *          *

Faris Buckner was still processing the incredible nature of his conversation with Jodie Moore, who had just revealed to him that it was happening while they were both asleep.

“So we both exist in our own real lives, but can only make contact with each other in our dreams, and we both have to be asleep at the same time in order for it to happen,” said Faris.

“As far as I know,” said Jodie.

“You’re so adorable, and yet so unreachable,” said Faris.

“We may not always be unreachable. Who knows what the future might hold?”

“I can see your garden beside you. I can just imagine myself sitting there with you, and what it would be like to snuggle cheek to cheek with you… But then, if you’re asleep, you’re not really in your garden, but in your bed. It’s only in my dreams, that you’re in your garden.”

“That’s right.”

“So where am I in your dreams?”

“You always seem to be in the same place, just like right now. You’re walking through a park. It has a lot of circular trimmed bushes, made to look like large balls. It also has a large square with 64 tiles on it, each large enough for you to stand on. They alternate in black and white.”

“Jodie, that’s incredible! I’ve taken lots of walks in that park. I know the one you mean. I’ve even put my camera on a tripod and managed to photograph myself in that park.”

*          *          *          *