“And you asked for help and got it,” Seven replied. “Something you’d conveniently forgotten. I had a bad enough time myself, waiting until I could get through to you. Now I’m exhausted. Besides that, I have an appointment that I’m not looking forward to at all: a dream class with a student who is particularly difficult.” He wanted to say, “Just like you,” but he didn’t. For one thing, Lydia’s mistakes were at least exciting, and for another, he was too wise to start an argument. Instead he said, “I’ve been so involved in your difficulties that I completely forgot someone else who needs me badly. Well, I almost forgot,” he amended, in case Cyprus was listening.

Seven had whisked Lydia out into one of the endless corridors that connected the various areas of the Gods’ Rest Home. “Can I trust you to just wait here until I get back?” he asked. “Anyhow, you need to be alone awhile to digest your experiences.”

Lydia was so glad to be healthy and strong again that she just nodded. There were some more things Seven wanted to say to her, but as he began to speak, the environment began to change; or rather, he was moving out of it. “Lydia, don’t forget that—” he began, but Lydia didn’t hear him, of course.

Chapter Nine

Oversoul Seven’s Student, Will, Wants to Drop Life Class

“What did you say?” asked Seven’s student, Will, because Seven’s words to Lydia were actually spoken in the dream classroom to which Seven was unceremoniously swept.

“Sorry I’m late. I was talking to someone else,” Seven muttered, catching his breath. “Now, let’s run through the world’s problems one more time.” He tried not to look at the hallucinatory school clock that hung on the equally unreal but definite walls of the dream classroom. Practice teaching wasn’t his cup of tea, but he’d resolved not to be a clock-watcher either. When he thought the words “cup of tea,” pleased with his use of earth vernacular, a cup of tea did instantly appear on a china saucer next to the copy of the textbook, The Physical Universe As Idea Construction.

“That cup of tea shouldn’t be there,” shouted Will at once. “It isn’t a primary construction.” He was a husky young man, smiling (or so it seemed to Seven) with unnecessary satisfaction.

“I was testing you,” Seven said quickly. “You’re quite right: The tea was the result of a stray thought that I deliberately allowed prominence. Just to show you … how inappropriate earth conditions can seem to appear for no reason.”

“Bullshit,” exclaimed the young man. “If you’ll forgive me, you just made a mistake and now you’re trying to cover it up!”