– How do you know it is in the middle?

– Can you hear that parrot?

– I can hear the parrot.

– You know, John, when I was receiving ever more criticism and they wanted to ban more of my work, I decided to go and visit an old friend in the desert. We went up to the top of a volcano. We took something similar to LSD. Not your garden variety girl-next-door kind – this is a special hybrid similar to peyote. It’s called DMT – the spirit molecule – I won’t go into it right now because your beauty is distracting me, but we were ready. The night was dark and all you can see out there in the desert at night is stars. And you can see the actual curvature of the Earth rolling down the hill – when I laid back I was falling into the sky. It is only ideas that keep us here. Brainwashing from the machine makes us think our bodies are places that house us until we die when in fact they are just a rental space and we could go on vacation from them any time we want – leave for other dimensions without a passport or a permission slip. Do you want to come to other dimensions with me, young man?

– I want to go to the cinema. It’s all I could handle right now.

– Where is your sense of adventure?

Bill laughs, kisses his lover on the neck, runs his fingers down his legs.

– To go where, Bill?

– Nearer to our real home, not this here illusion of life.

– I like illusions, especially if they are comforting.

– I like the way you taste.

– I like the way you kiss.

– I like your cock.

– How very delicate of you!

They grin and dance slowly together around the small apartment. They have pulled the futon out so they can lay on it. A lava lamp in the corner gives a warm glow to the room. The parrot downstairs has quieted down. John places one hand very gently on Bill’s cheek.

– You want me to be your partner in the cosmos, Bill?

– Yes, I would. If you’d like to do so.

– I could dig that.

– Everybody could dig an astral companion, my friend. If you find the one you truly love above all others then it makes every second so much better, utterly mind-blowing in fact. So just last week, I am out in the universe, having a little time out from the Earth-grounded gravitational axis, and the stars and universe were just flying in through my left ear – see this big one?

John snort laughs.

– Uh-huh.

– All of that universe was flowing in here and right out through the other side – I was totally bodiless – headless even. I experienced sensation but I can’t tell you what form I was in out there.

– It sounds terrifying.