Part 34 (1/2)

Rose was already up on the balcony. Grace gave her the baby, who was howling louder than the fire siren.

Lazarus called, ”Is she all right?”

”She's fine,” Grace shouted down. ”She was fast asleep. She's only angry because I woke her.” Then, ”Where's Chorley?”

Lazarus and Sandy's brother pointed at Chorley, who came out where his wife could see him and waved to her. ”I'm going to go down into town and take a look around,” he said.

”Take your camera,” Grace and Rose said together.

Laura's son was trembling. She rubbed his arms. ”Wasn't that strange?” she said in a bright voice, hoping to rea.s.sure him.

”It's all over now, son,” said Sandy.

The boy looked from one parent to the other, his eyes round and bright. He said, ”Was the ground angry? Was it trying to get up?”

GLOSSARY.

claim Whenever a DREAMHUNTER finds a new dream, he or she must register it with the DREAM REGULATORY BODY and stake a claim on it. A claim will give a dreamhunter one-year exclusive rights to perform the dream. However, any dream that the Dream Regulatory Body chooses to cla.s.sify as a DREAM FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD cannot be claimed.

Colorist A Colorist is a secret persuader who will insert into another DREAMHUNTER's performance some impressions at the dream's beginning or end, when the audience is less fully absorbed in the performance. The audience absorbs the Colorist's impressions and thinks these are their own thoughts or feelings. A Colorist's dream is usually a print of a dream taken from a GIFTER, who has altered it to deliver a desired message. Coloring is illegal.

dream for the public good A dream deemed too valuable for commercial use alone, usually a healing dream, will be cla.s.sified as a dream for the public good by the DREAM REGULATORY BODY. The Department of Corrections also cla.s.ses THINK AGAIN DREAMs as dreams for the public good. Any DREAMHUNTER may catch a dream for the public good and can perform it in a DREAM PARLOR or a DREAM PALACE. But each time the dream is caught, the dreamhunter's contract with the Dream Regulatory Body rules that the dreamer must spend several nights dreaming it in a hospital. Exceptions to this are dreams such as Convalescent One and Starry Beach, discovered before the formation of the Dream Regulatory Body; anyone can catch them and negotiate their sale at market prices.

dream palace A larger building, often purpose-built, in which dreams are performed is a dream palace. According to DREAM REGULATORY BODY regulations, to qualify as a dream palace the building must have over fifty beds. Dream palaces are often round or ovoid and consist of several tiers, balconies with bedrooms opening off them. In the center of the palace auditorium is the dais, where the dreamer sleeps. Only DREAMHUNTERs with large PENUMBRAs perform in dream palaces. Dream palaces are a vital part of the life of Southland; attendance of dreams is a social occasion, and most fas.h.i.+onable people own formal nightwear. The Rainbow Opera is Southland's largest and most magnificent dream palace. It was built for Grace Tiebold.

dream parlor Any place with fewer than fifty beds dedicated to the performance of dreams is a dream parlor. Many of the hotels and hostels on Founderston's Isle of the Temple became dream parlors during the early years of the industry. Dream parlors can have as few as five beds. Tickets to attend general exhibition dream parlors are much less expensive than those to DREAM PALACE performances, though there are specialist dream parlors with prices dependent on the market for their dreams. Maze Plasir, a GIFTER, is the proprietor of an expensive and exclusive dream parlor on the Isle of the Temple.

Dream Regulatory Body Established in 1896 under the Intangible Resources Act, the Dream Regulatory Body (also known as the Regulatory Body or just the Body) is a department of the Secretariat of the Interior, and the responsibility of the Secretary of the Interior, Cas Doran, who was the main author of the Intangible Resources Act. The Regulatory Body employs RANGERS to patrol THE PLACE. The Regulatory Body also holds Tries to identify new DREAMHUNTERS and undertakes the testing and training of successful candidates of each TRY. All dreamhunters, DREAM PALACES, and DREAM PARLORS must be licensed by the Body. The Body also has contracts with other government ent.i.ties to supply dreams for health care and for programs of education and rehabilitation in Southland's prisons.

dream sites Dreams are sometimes found in general areas in THE PLACE and can be caught by a group of people. This is the case with Wild River and is one of the reasons that it is used to test the successful candidates of each TRY. But some dream sites are very confined; their dreams are hard to discover, and can often be caught by only a particular kind of DREAMHUNTER. Maze Plasir's Secret Room is a confined-site dream. So is Tziga Hame's The Gate. That dream's site was so confined that Hame could claim never to be able to find it again.

dream trails Roads, paths, and scratchy routes in THE PLACE, dream trails usually lead to popular, tried and tested dreams.

dreamhunter Anyone able to enter THE PLACE, catch one of the dreams to be found there, carry it back into the world,and share it with others is a dreamhunter. Dreamhunting has been an industry in Southland for twenty years and is a major form of entertainment and therapy.

Gifter (or Grafter) A Gifter is a DREAMHUNTER who can take his own memories of a real person's face and manners and graft them onto the characters in the dreams he catches. Gifters are usually employed by people who want what they can't have, or who have lost someone they love.

healer Any DREAMHUNTER who can catch and convey vividly the great healing dreams is a healer.

Hame Any DREAMHUNTER with a big PENUMBRA is known as a Hame. The name comes from Tziga Hame, possibly the greatest dreamhunter.

loaded A DREAMHUNTER with a freshly caught dream is sometimes said to be loaded. Each dream is like a charge, discharged over a number of sleeps.