Suddenly he stopped, almost thunderstruck, recognizing one girl in particular. He was certain that she was the one Window “saw” and described to him, the one Story said was connected with him in some way she couldn’t understand. At least she was black and beautiful. Proteus stood there a minute, trying to decide what to do. Should he speak to her? If this was a dream—which it had to be, of course—it didn’t make any difference what he did.

But suppose it wasn’t a dream? The girl was several years older than he was, too. He didn’t want to make a fool of himself. As he stood there trying to make up his mind, Proteus saw Window—or he thought he did. Window? Proteus scowled: what kind of a dream was this, anyhow? He pinched himself, and it hurt. What did that mean? That he was awake, which was impossible? Or that he dreamed that he pinched himself and it hurt? He decided he’d rather take his chances making a fool of himself with a man than with a girl, so he approached the man who looked like Window.

“Window?” he asked.

“Yes?” Sumpter answered.

“Oh, I’m glad it’s you. You didn’t find out how that symbol got on the tile with the blue fish yet, did you? That still bothers me.” Proteus wanted to ask if they were both dreaming or not, but he was too embarrassed.

“Why, Ma-ah did it, but how did you know? Who are you?” Sumpter asked.

“What? Don’t you know who I am? I mean, you are Window, aren’t you?” Proteus began to blush. “You look just like him … but no, you’re much bigger. Of course you’re not! I don’t understand. Are you a Teller?”

“No, I’m a Speaker, is that what you mean?” Sumpter asked. “But how did you know about the tile? No one was there but Ma-ah and myself when she did it.”

Proteus closed his eyes and opened them again. Sumpter still stood there, along with all the rest of the people. Proteus tried again. “I saw it yesterday. And it doesn’t make sense because it wasn’t there a few moments earlier. It just appeared. And why did you answer to Window if that isn’t your name?”

“Names are just designations. I answer to just about anything anyone wants to call me,” Sumpter said.

“So you finally got here,” Oversoul Seven said, coming over. Proteus also saw him as an old man. He struggled to wake up. Everything began to blur, but Seven touched him on the arm and the scene cleared. “Who are you?” Proteus demanded. Dream or no, now he was determined to find out what was going on, and hold his own.