Chapter 1: Dream or Nightmare?

Two years after Wendy's Memorial Service, David began having a recurring dream.

Wendy appeared, trying to speak.

She seemed so real! So young, so beautiful, vibrant, beguiling, she was Wendy as she had always seemed.

As far as David was concerned, she had looked exactly the same at 59 as she did at 11 ... well ... pushing 16 ... maybe. Even after 40 years of marriage she was just Wendy ... perfect.

The idea of age never crossed his mind. True love never makes allowances, there are none to make. Until her death in the tower, she remained ... HIS Wendy.

Rachael and Kimberley? They weren't David's idea, neither was Seven.

Wendy decided.

That was that!

Wendy chose.

Oh, he was comfortable with them, companionable, but as additions, never as replacements. Nothing would replace Wendy!

Still, he was fucking someone every night.

Wendy was dead, accept it. Get on with your life!

Fly your Kitfox ... maybe buy a kit and assemble it ... Heck, he had money ... see the world.

Yeah, see Paris ... go without she who made Paris come alive.

How could he laugh in the cabarets alone?

Sail 'Time Flies'. How old was Wendy's boat? ... Oh, gods. That old?

Rome? The fountains wouldn't sparkle.

Why throw coins in the water? It was Wendy's fingers in his that made the magic ... that made his wishes come true.

Beef and Gin in London would be barf and aspirin without Wendy.

The car-ferries of the past had passed, razorblades, or rebar. He couldn't even lose his loss on the Lakes.

Wendolyn had the Illusion, not that it mattered. A simple burble in his chest when the flight surgeon was listening and he was condemned to LIGHT SPORT AIRCRAFT! Sport? The damn things weren't even stressed for inverted flight ... where's the sport in that?

And yet, the dream ... months apart, at first ... simple months and there she was ... standing at the foot of the bed.

She might as well be naked for all that sheer white gown concealed.

Teasing!

Tempting?

She kept trying to talk. He could see her lips move ... What WAS she saying? AAArrrggghhh!

Soon, all too soon, it was every month, on the day of her birth ... then it was birth and wedding.

DAMN ... every week! Her lips moved..."Vi" ... something?

Then he started waking up to wet-spots.

He had cum in his sleep. What the fuck are you doing to me, Wendy?

Now it was every night. Huge but fast fading erections ... his cock ached! Still the dreams. Over and over ... she was in his arms, riding his cock. His erection always failed him.

"Via ... WHAT do you want, Wendy?"

'Read my lips! V--I--A--G--R--A. Viagra!! Get a prescription.'

The same flight surgeon that decided he wasn't healthy enough to fly said, "Sex?

"Sure.

"Viagra? Here.

"Free sample pac and a months prescription.

"Pay the bookkeeper on the way out.

"Fly? Fuck no, Davy me lad. You can screw ... you can't fly.

"If you die in bed, it's your fault. If you die in the sky, it's my fault.

"Die in the sky ... hey, I'm a poet! Get it? Die in the sky? No?"

"Doc ... never mind. Oh Fuckit ... your bedside manner hasn't improved since the frat! Hell, the way I hear it ... your BED manner isn't any better."

"You writers ... you suck!"

On his way out, the Doc hollered through the waiting room. "Hey! Adventure boy! I knew you wouldn't be able to keep it up. You're fucking too many women."

Just what he needed to hear with a lobby full of college women and someone else's wives! Just what they needed to hear too.

David hollered back. "We're both polyamory.

"We've each had four wives.

"You had yours serially, one at a time. I still have 3/4ths of mine. Aren't you up for divorce again?

"Oh? Was polyamory too big a word? ... it means the practice of having more than one loving relationship with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved."

That perked up the waiting room.

The girls absolutely loved the Viagra. All three in one night. He left each one in her own bedroom, collapsed in the shower and staggered to his bed.

He passed out.

Wendy came in his dream. 'Oh good. You're still up.'

He was.

What was the fine print?

Erections lasting more than 4 hours ... what? Oh ... consult your physician immediately.

In his dream he said, "Wendy? I did what you asked. Let me sleep.'

'No you don't. I've been after this for two years. Eat me ... fuck me. It's only a dream.'

In the morning there was no wet-spot ... but he swore he could taste Wendy on his lips.

"I swear, Tim. There are times he's the dumbest man on earth. Ok ... I'm pregnant. I need to build up a following if I'm going into the Shaman's Trade. Let's go to Mesopotamia. Eridu, Uruk, or Ur ... Got a preference? Ur? My watch? Or yours?"

Ur: 100 BC (Before Civilization) Somehow, in some way, someone discovered that a wild grain, probably referred to as 'corn', as that's the normal way to go with things like that, was pretty good to eat...

"Hey, Stinky? This is pretty good shit. Where did ya find it?"

"Ah, the wife found it." Stinky said. He liked it, too, but Old Man might not. That's it, guy. Just in case it's a bust ... blame the woman.

"Well, I like it ... whose idea was it to grind it up and make a paste?"

"Yeah, she did that."