The House, The Dreams and the Radiators A Very Unproductive Beginning Yesterday I was tired, although I had not actually done very much. It was one of those strange kinds of exhaustion where the body is not exactly collapsing, but the mind behaves as if it had been carrying sacks of cement uphill all week. By evening I gave up pretending to be productive and went to bed early. I fell asleep quickly enough, but the night itself behaved like an old washing machine — constantly stopping, rattling and starting again. I woke several times, although never fully enough to stay awake. Toward morning the dreams arrived. Not ordinary dreams. Those dangerous dreams that are so realistic you almost begin negotiating with them as if they were legal reality. The Intruder In The Darkness At first I heard some kind of noise downstairs. Something falling. Then loud bubbling and knocking in the heating pipes, as if the entire old house had suddenly developed digestive problems during the night....