“Well, if that’s how hallucinations work, then I’m all for them,” Lydia said. “Oh, Larry, I don’t mean to hurt your feelings. But driving along with a man who’s convinced he’s dead is something new. You’ve had some weird ideas in the past, but—”

“We’re alive, but dead.”

“Well, that’s a much nicer concept, I’ll say that….” She paused and stroked the cat. “Greenacre, you certainly purr loud enough for any two cats, dead or alive—”

Lawrence said, “Do you know what it’s like, driving through a hallucinatory landscape, trying to convince your mistress that she’s dead?”

“Larry, you have to admit that that sounds pretty wild. It would make a great short story, though…. You are joking, aren’t you?”

“Lydia, what do you think would happen if you, well, went back to that old folks’ home? Tell the truth,” Lawrence said.

“That was a dreadful nightmare. What an awful thing to suggest.”

But Lawrence remembered how things worked, or seemed to work. If thinking about being young made you young, then thinking about…. He concentrated on Lydia as the old woman in the home, and what it must have meant to her. He tried to think about what it must have been like—

They were walking down the corridor.

“Lawrence!” Lydia grabbed his hand. “What’s happening?”

He looked around them. Well, at least he’d gotten rid of the trailer. Maybe memories from the old peoples’ home would snap Lydia out of it, and make her face the truth, he thought. He said, “This is the home you were in, as an old woman. Don’t be frightened. It’s all over now.”

“I’m not frightened. I’m mad. What happened to the trailer?” She broke off. “Why, I know those nurses. That’s Mrs. Only talking to Sweet Young Thing.”

“See, it’ll all come back to you,” he said.

“Well, suppose I don’t want it to?” Lydia said defiantly. “I’m young now and I’m going to stay young.”

“You can. You are.”

“Don’t take that tone with me, Larry, and in public. What are you up to?” She paused. “Oh, I just remembered something else. An old man. His name is Cromwell. I think I’ll just look in on him. Don’t go so fast. Should I speak to the nurses, I wonder? They’ll never recognize me, of course. I’m so young.”

Lawrence just shook his head. It was useless, he thought, to say anything. The two women stood there talking, taking no notice as Lydia and Lawrence passed by. “Why, they didn’t even nod,” Lydia said. “You’d think they didn’t see us at all.”

“They didn’t,” Lawrence said. “Darling, we’re ghosts.”