CHAPTER TWO: Nancy

Ben's sight in the lucid dream world was so splendid. His dream body could see color so much better than his physical counterpart. The grass in the park was so green that Ben crouched in wonder seeing this otherworldly shade of green he had never seen before.

There was an iron grating fencing the entire park and Ben had fun running his hand on the gratings feeling the iron push back against his hand. And the gate leading into the park had exquisite patterns. Ben stopped to admire such fine metal craftsmanship.

What was going on? Had this city always had this much detail? There was no way he could have imagined engravings on wooden furniture, especially on doors, and every engraving, every artwork, every bit of touch from the craftsman was unique and different. There was nothing generic about this place at all.

As Ben listened to the people more and more, everyone was different and they seemed to have lived here a long time and they had real normal lives. It was not a city that just dropped out of the sky from Ben's fantasy and whim.

Could his paracosm be a real actual place and not just a figment of his imagination? And the streets had names too… "Corner Aten", "Nehanda Avenue", "Tshaka Street"… he had not imagined those names so who had put them there?

Ben was now admiring the streets. This was turning out to be an unending exploration of the city. Ben had not expected to be this surprised. There were actually things he did not know about here.

He stopped to look at his reflection as he was passing by a weapons shop. There were swords, axes, spears, and crossbows displayed behind the glass but he had stopped to look at the reflection of his dream body. He had been right all along. He looked just as he did in the physical world and he was the same age too. He had the same brown skin tone and his eyes were just as darker. And his clothes were splendid with rich colors and beautiful perfume.

There was a kingdom northwest of here called Rotonis and there dwelled a people of dark skin, just like Ben, and with his fine clothing he could easily pass off as a noble man's son from there... or a prince of Rotonis.

Now for the final stop, he came by a restaurant at the corner of this street. Sweet spicy aroma oozed from the restaurant and drew customers from as far as a block away. The aroma was drawing him in too. When he was creating this city, he had made this restaurant special.

He had visited it countless times in his imagination as a meeting place with his imaginary friend, with his Other. One cannot have a paracosmic world without paracosmic friends inhabiting it. The reason for creating an elaborate world was so Ben could have a place to interact with his friend of the imagination.

Nancy was different… Nancy was special. In the beginning, Nancy was Ben's Other. Ben had created her long before there was a world in his mind to put her. Nancy was not like other paracosmic inhabitants who populated Ben's internal universe. As stated before, before there was a paracosmic universe, Nancy was.

She was with Ben in the darkness of his closed eyes, and her voice bounced back and forth in the void of his head.

At first Ben had entertained her as a playmate. His over-active young imagination would not let him fall asleep as he lay in bed. So Ben would engage in self conversation and talk to himself in his head as if talking to a dear friend. His conversation with himself would go like this: "I am so tired today."

He would wait a bit before responding.

"Of course you are. I can feel your shoulders aching,"

"What do you suggest I do?"

"Try lying flat on your back."

Ben would turn on his side and lie facing the ceiling.

"Better now, right?"

"Even so if I relax more."

A silence would follow as he waited for a subject change. Then he would say, "I had fun at school today."

"At lunch break when you and the guys played a game of tag?"

"Yes. Running is so much fun."

"I know. I was running with you the entire time."

Ben noticed an evolution occur. The responses assumed a character, a disposition, certain attitudes, varying moods, likes, and dislikes, and this carried on until Ben began to recognize it as a person. A person born from his consciousness and yet still one with him and part of him.

The responses were always affectionate and tender and so full of care and genuine interest in him. There was no room for criticism and judgment. The responses were never ugly, and sometimes they were beautiful.

If Ben had to put a face to the person who had suddenly hijacked his self-styled responses, if not his face, then he would put the face of a beautiful girl. And this was how Nancy had emerged: "You… I tell you all my secrets, sharing them with you is fun and there is nothing I want to hide. You are always with me wherever I go and wherever I sit and there too you are. I hear your voice within me during the day and during the night and it is clear as day. You… you are a partner to me, and you are my best friend."

"Ben, I feel the same way. I love listening to your secrets, and I love talking with you. No matter what happens I will always be by your side and on your side. You too are my best friend."

Ben was rejoicing in his heart.

"I am so picking a name for you. I will say your name when the sun comes up and I will say it again when the sun goes down."

"What is my name?"

"You shall be called Nancy."

"Nancy. I love it."

Ben talked with his Nancy in the void, without appearance. But something queer began to happen. The void began to take on color in the myriad of conversations with Nancy.

In a manner of speaking, light emerged from inside the void and that light was Nancy. When Ben closed his eyes he was not greeted with pitch blackness anymore but millions of dots of different colors filled his entire canvas. The colors would begin to dance in and out of his vision as he kept looking at them intently.

"What are you doing?" Nancy had asked.

"I want to see you," he had responded, "I want to talk with you face to face."

"Then that means I need a face," Nancy mused.

"I will make a beautiful one for you."

"Really? Make me really pretty. And I will need arms to pick up things with."

"Am already on it."

"And legs to run."

"Working on it."

"I want flowing hair. I would like to cut it around the length of my shoulders."

"I can already see it. I see it is the color of silver here and gold there. Do you like it?"

"It's perfect. What color do you prefer my eyes to be? Should they be dark and deep like yours?"

"No. Let's make them lighter. And we will give them a hint of emerald green."

"Why did you give me pale skin?"

"I am making everything about you different from me. I think there is amazing beauty in human races and I want to get to experience and express that with you."

"I don't see why not. Now that I have a body to interact with, come into my world and have that face-to-face conversation with me that you've been dying to have."

"Why am I so nervous all of a sudden?"

"I promise I won't bite," Nancy chuckled.