Monday morning in the Health and Healing office at CMIS began as usual, with a meeting between Katherine and her production assistant, Janine. A large mug of coffee in hand, Katherine turned the swivel chair in front of her desk around so that she could sit facing Janine’s desk near the door, and leaned back. Janine opened the bright red file folder that held items for discussion.
     “Here’s a local pool manufacturer wanting to talk about creating home spas,” Janine began, her purple-painted fingernails twirling one of her short bleached spikes of hair. “He says that with a pool and a hot tub, you can turn any home into a – oh my God, I nearly forgot to ask you about your weekend! How do you like the house?”
     “Love it. Starting to get used to it. Still have tons of unpacking to do, but the basics are looked after.”
     “And you’re not scared and lonely out there all alone? I know I would be, without Steve.”
     Katherine sipped her coffee and shook her head. “Not in the least. It’s fabulous. Besides, I already met a neighbour. Seems nice.”
     “That’s great. The first few nights in an old house are critical. If you haven’t sensed anything supernatural your first weekend, it’s likely ghost-free. That’s always the biggest worry.” Janine blew into her mug of herbal tea.
     “I was more concerned about mice and squirrels and racoons in the attic,” murmured Katherine. “But back to your file. I think no to the pool guy. Sounds like straight sales promotion. You know the routine, tell him we’d love to do it but we don’t have any time, maybe next year.”
     “The usual,” Janine said, pencilling an X on the pool materials. “Okay, next are some books that came in. Don’t Be Stupid, by Luke Manning, about the 10 most common mistakes people make in life.”
     Katherine held out her hand. “Let me take a look at that. It might be interesting or amusing.”
     Janine passed it to her and held up another one. “Fat and Proud, edited by Sandy Olden. A book of essays and stories by women about issues of weight and size.”
     “Oh yeah, definitely that one. Always a good subject.”
     Lawrence came through the doorway carrying a large flat tape box and set it down on his desk, then half-sat, half-leaned against the desk and looked from Katherine to Janine as they talked.
     “Are you still interested in Clara Lodge of Sunrise?” Janine asked. “The woman with the huge garden that’s open to the public?”
     “Yeah. See if you can make an appointment for me to pre-interview her at her farm. I want to see it for myself. The sooner, the better. But I’d prefer to do it on my way home from work.”
     Janine’s phone rang. “Yeah, Betsy…Right. Thanks.” Janine hung up. “Edward Allen is here already for the first interview.”
     Katherine reached for her schedule sheet. “Who is he again? Ah, yes, the doctor researching lucid dreams. This should be good. You’re going to find this interesting, Lawrence. Anything else that’s urgent, Janine?”
     “No, the rest can wait.”
     Lawrence was glancing at his half-recorded tapes. “Which show is Allen on?”
     “This Friday,” said Janine pointing to the schedule board on the wall. “You’ve already done the other two interviews, on writing while you sleep, and dream interpretations.”
     “Good thing that you manage to keep us organized,” said Katherine, gathering up the books and papers Janine had put on her desk for the day’s interviews. “What would we do without you? Ready, Lawrence?”
     The two went down the carpeted hall to the studio, where Lawrence went into the control room and Katherine set down her pile of materials on the padded round table. After pulling out the papers on Allen, she went to the reception area, passing the office of Blaine, the station manager. His door was open and she gave him a friendly wave.
     “I want to see you later today,” he called after her.
     “Sure thing.”
     Katherine approached the only person sitting in the reception area, a young blond man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. “Dr. Allen,” she said warmly, holding out her hand. He stood up and shook her hand. “Good to meet you. Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?”
     “I just had one, thanks,” he said.
      “Then let’s go into the studio,” she said, leading the way. Lawrence was there waiting, and the men shook hands after being introduced. “You take this seat and make yourself comfortable,” Katherine continued. “Have you done radio before?”
     “Once or twice,” Dr. Allen said, sitting down. Lawrence pulled forward the guest’s microphone and then returned to the control room to adjust sound levels while Katherine engaged the doctor in more casual chat. When Lawrence nodded, she knew he was ready to start recording.
     “We’ll just find out what this is all about then,” Katherine said with a smile to Dr. Allen. “I’m going to start with a bit of an introduction to the show, and then we’ll start our interview.” She paused a moment, and when Lawrence pointed at her through the soundproof window, she began. “Good day, this is Katherine Glee, and you’re listening to Health and Healing, and today’s show is all about dreams.  We’ll learn new ways to remember and interpret our dreams, and how some writers can actually write in their sleep.  That’s coming up later in the show.  But now, did you know that you can learn to direct your own dreams without waking?  You can fly to the moon or become Prime Minister or have sex with anyone you choose, all in your dreams, and have such a vivid experience you’d swear it really happened.  It’s called lucid dreaming, and my guest is psychologist Dr. Edward Allen.  Now did I get this right?  What is lucid dreaming?”
     “Lucid dreaming is simply becoming aware that you are having a dream, without waking up,” the young blond doctor began.  Katherine nodded  encouragingly and kept her eyes fixed on him.  He spoke seriously until Katherine decided to try to loosen him up a little.
     “Now tell me more about having sex in your dreams.  You say that you can consciously decide to have sex with the person of your choice?”
     “If you become lucid, you could choose anyone.”
     “Like Tom Cruise, or your boss maybe?”
     “Anyone at all,” Dr. Allen said with a smile.
     “And you’re telling me that it can feel as good as the real thing.”
     “Our tests have shown physiological responses in both men and women during lucid dreams that are indistinguishable from waking sex.”
     “Which means yes,” Katherine prompted. 
     “Yes,” he acknowledged with a smile.
     “So it can be as satisfying as real sex,” Katherine continued.  “They do say that sex is mostly in the brain anyway, don’t they?”
     “Actually, some people report lucid sex dreams to be even more satisfying than awake sex.  We like to say that lucid dream sex is the only totally safe sex.”  Dr. Allen was positively twinkling now, and it could be heard in his voice.
     “Now this sounds fantastic.  So prisoners and celibates - even nuns - or anyone who just isn’t getting any right now, can have dream sex with the person or people of their choice, and it will be as satisfying as actual sex.”
     “With some training, yes.”
     “And practice, I suppose,” Katherine said with a chuckle in which Dr. Allen joined.  “Sorry if I got kind of stuck on that aspect, because I know there are several other applications for lucid dreams.  How can they help you get rid of nightmares?”  As the doctor began talking, Katherine glanced at the clock and noted Lawrence listening with great interest.
     Toward the end of the interview, Katherine said “I have to tell you, Dr. Allen, that I had never heard of lucid dreaming before I read your material a little while ago.  And yet that very night, I actually had a lucid dream.  It was weird, because I decided to fly, and I was flying, while knowing that this had to be a dream.  Have you found this, that people begin lucid dreaming immediately after hearing about it?”
     “Yes.  It seems that the mere suggestion of the possibility is enough for people to experience a lucid dream.”
     ”Maybe it’s like the four-minute mile.  At first no one could run it, but as soon as that one guy did, everybody around the world started doing it.  Maybe no one does it until they learn that it can be done.”
     “Perhaps.  In our culture, lucid dreaming is an undeveloped or forgotten practice.  What’s also interesting are the reports that many people have one lucid dream very easily, but then have great difficulty in having another.  We don’t know why that is.  That’s something else we’re interested in studying.”
     “Maybe our listeners will have lucid dreams tonight for the very first time.  If they do, would you like to hear about it?”  Katherine held out her hand and nodded, and Dr. Allen responded to her signal.  “Absolutely.  We’re gathering material about people’s experiences with lucid dreaming, so anything they want to share, they can send us.”  At Katherine’s nod, he gave his university’s address.
     “Thanks for this, Dr. Allen.  Edward Allen is a psychologist specializing in lucid dreams, so if you have one, please write him.  Or us, and we’ll pass it on.”  Katherine watched Lawrence’s final nod, and then turned to her guest for the brief post-interview chat. 
     Leaving the studio, Dr. Allen reached the heavy door before she did, and inclined his handsome head gallantly in an invitation for her to pass through in front of him.  She did, with the most unprofessional feeling of being female instead of the host of her own show.  In the reception area, she made a point of giving him an extra hearty handshake.  Watching his blond head leave the station, she gave a quick shake of her head. Is he ever attractive, she thought. She turned to Betsy, the receptionist, who indicated the next guest, a woman sitting against the wall, and said “Celia Wolf is here.” Katherine smiled and approached her.

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