“It’s all very early stages so I can’t really go into detail,” I said. “By the way, Nicolai, if we’re already talking, I wanted to ask something of you. I have a somewhat vague memory of Lucid trying at some point to check the possibility of dealing with the subject of dreams. I’m probably wrong, but is there any chance you could look into it with someone from research?”

Nicolai started laughing even before I was done talking. “Oh, I know what you’re doing!” he said. “Ballsy. For real. Actually sounds like totally cool idea. Little similar, but cool.” Similar to what, I wondered.

“I know there was something, but I can’t really remember,” he said. “I don’t want to give you some off-the-cuff answer, I need looking into it.”

“So there actually was such a project?” I asked, making sure he understood what I was talking about.

“Yes, yes and yes. I think there was even a meeting about it, just few days ago.”

I heard Nicolai taking a deep breath. “Say, Ofer, I also have little favor to ask you. Would you be willing to meet sometime soon, just to shoot the breeze like they say, maybe give some career advice?” he asked with slight trepidation in his voice. “I know it’s probably a lot to ask, but …”

“Yes,” I answered instantly, without thinking. “Sure, no problem. I’d love to.”

He wouldn’t stop thanking me.

I hung up and gazed at the empty road for a few more minutes before heading back home, feeling a flutter of optimism.

10.

“I THINK YOU be happy to hear what I discover,” Nicolai wrote me in a text the next day, and added an emoji of a smiling face with sunglasses.

“What did you discover??” I texted back, adding the second question mark for emphasis.

It was only hours later, after a nerve-racking wait, that he texted back that he’d tell me everything when we meet. From that moment on I couldn’t stop thinking about what they had developed over there. All I remembered was that while working there, the topic of dreams had come up. I just wanted to know if it was possible, if there was a way of getting inside Shira’s head. That maybe, somehow, we could still fix what was wrong with her. I tried imagining what her dreams looked like, but no matter how hard I tried, I simply couldn’t.

That evening, after I tucked Shira into bed, I sat down at the table and went through the notebooks. Nelly had started packing for her conference. She always started getting ready for her trips days in advance, which only stressed her out more. After half an hour she couldn’t take it anymore, grabbed a cigarette and went outside, coming back in two minutes later. She approached the kitchen cabinet and fished out a box of mint tea.