Carter awoke abruptly on Monday morning, a stab of panic shooting through his gut. He thought for a moment that perhaps he had overslept and was in danger of being late for work, but the clock on the bedside table read only five fifteen.The alarm would not go off until six. Had he so chosen, he might have closed his eyes and tried to fall back to sleep for the remaining forty-five minutes, but instead he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He had been having a troubling dream, one that he had in varying forms from time to time, and he knew from experience that there was no point in lying back down; sleep had flown away from him for the rest of that morning.

In this particular version of the dream, Carter had been back at school. It was the end of the semester, and he realized with dismay that he had not done any of the reading for his classes. Exams were coming, and he had that terrible sinking feeling inside that he had let himself get so far behind that there was no possibility of his catching up in time.Were he to fail his exams, he would not be able to play his senior year of football, nor would he graduate, letting down his teammates and his coaches and, worst of all, his parents. Such an outcome was unconscionable to Carter, and the dream had filled him with deep regret and self-recrimination at his imagined laziness. It was a great relief to awaken and discover that all of it had taken place in his sleep-shrouded mind. All the same he still felt as though he had been put through the wringer.

Turning to the window, Carter looked out and saw that the sun had yet to burn off the soupy morning haze that had prevailed the past few days.There was not a stitch of breeze to be had, and all was still outdoors, save for the drops of dew dripping from the leaves on the trees. It was quite warm in his bedroom, uncomfortably so. Wearing only his boxer shorts, Carter had passed a fitful night’s sleep atop the sheets. He had left every window on the second floor wide open, and the ceiling fan above his bed had whirred all night, but still he felt a fine sheen of sweat across the top of his chest and the back of his neck. It was going to be another steamy day.