�Okay. You ready to brainstorm a little?� Dr. Hubley asked, and Diane nodded. �Good. This was a very rich dream. And in combination with your trilogy episodes, we have some patterns emerging that will help us get to the bottom of what�s going on in your head.�

�I forgot to tell you one thing. The hotdog guy told me I was carrying his son.�

�That could explain the pregnancy in the dream,� Dr. Hubley offered. �Or, the pregnancy could simply represent the weight, the burden of your current problems. Do you think you�re feeling anything like guilt for having killed Harry Denby?�

�No,� Diane responded quickly. Dr. Hubley raised her eyebrows and looked at Diane over her glasses. Diane sat back in the couch, pulling her arm away from Dr. Hubley�s reassuring hands. �What do you make of the trilogies?� Dr. Hubley said, trying to walk around a brick wall.

�Well, I shot him three times. Three bullets. That�s my best guess.�

�Okay. How do you feel about that number of shots?�

�What do you mean?�

�Do you feel good, bad or indifferent about the number of shots? Were they enough? Not enough? Too much? Just right?�

�Good. Indifferent. Indifferent, I guess. The right amount. I�m not sure,� Diane was slathering more mortar with each passing second.

�In your dream, you said a ghost impregnated you, is that correct?�

�Not just �a� ghost. �The� ghost. Harry Denby.�

�Have you ever heard of an incubus?�

�No.�

Dr. Hubley got up and slipped a volume of her Encyclopedia Britannica off the shelf and returned it gingerly to Diane. As Diane flipped through the pages and read, the doctor explained, �Today, to say you have an incubus means you�ve had a nightmare that left you feeling a heavy weight or oppression. Now, I�m going to jump out on a limb here and suggest that this oppressive, heavy feeling could be caused by how you feel about killing Denby.�

�It can�t be,� Diane mumbled, her frightened eyes glued to the page.

�Why not?�