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Holding onto his mug of coffee the next morning, Jim walked around the farmhouse trying to figure out what was bothering him.

His sleep had been disturbed by dreams. Not necessarily nightmares but troubling.

Most he couldn’t remember in the light of day but there was one particular one that he did recall at least some of it. A sex dream. He was naked and sweating, lying on his back, his legs drawn up and a muscular back hovered over him.

At least that was all he could see of the other person.

To say Jim had been startled by the implications of the dream was an understatement. And ever since then the images kept flashing through his mind like a disjointed movie.

There was absolutely no one he could speak to that could explain such a dream to him. No one he could confide in.

And wasn’t that odd? Why didn’t Jim seem to have any friends? People had friends, right? But as he surveyed the inside of his home he couldn’t think of any.

He’d had Becky. And he had recognized Clyde, but he didn’t really think Clyde was a friend.

The other thing was why couldn’t he remember ever making love to Becky. They were close. She wanted to get married. He’d agreed he loved her.. Was she a virgin? Somehow Jim didn’t think so. But whatever the case he should know, right?

The farmhouse looked so impersonal. No family pictures. No pictures of any kind. No art on the walls.

“I should call my mom,” Jim said out loud. He walked over to the phone hooked to the wall in the kitchen. He lifted the receiver and stared at the buttons. “What the fuck is her number?”

He slammed down the phone, frustrated. What was wrong with him?

Jim finished his coffee and headed to the college for his job.

When he’d finished teaching two classes he found a note pinned to his office door.

The dean wants to see you.

Jim frowned and snatched the note off his door and entered his office. He’d just given a written test and had a hundred tests to grade. He didn’t have time to see Dean Halloway, but it wasn’t as though he could refuse.

He set the papers down on his desk, left his briefcase too, and prepared to see the dean.

Just as he turned away the man with the wool beanie passed by his office, once more staring in at him.

“Hey! Hey wait! Wait a second.”    

He rushed from his office but the hall was empty.