Herren was there as the leader to introduce me into advanced training, and I got my new room and all. But it was advanced training in name only, because the first thing there, intermediate trainers I’d worked with before were back, putting me into practicing level 3, 4, and 6 dreamwalks properly, using the isolation of the privacy chamber to let me hover on the edge of sleep.

CHAPTER 28
He was back with Vic in under an hour, the smell of the chips strong in the kitchen. Vic dished them out as Keith poured mugs of tea, and I simply waited for what they felt they could tell me. Vic looked drained, so after a few minutes of his almost mechanical intake pf chips, I changed my mind and risked a question.

“You okay, Vic?”

He looked across to Keith for a moment before turning back to me.

“Not really, Mike. What’s Keith told you?”

"William!" My father hissed quietly. "Look at the camera!"

"Sorry, dad," I whispered as I turned my attention back to the photographer, who was ready to capture today's visit for posterity. Though in my defence, as an eight-year-old boy, it was natural for me to be distracted by the visitors who came to my grandfather's home — after all, it's not every day that you have your photograph taken with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

Sally and I continued working out how we could downsize our lives smoothly and simply. It soon became evident that once you have put down roots in one place for any length of time, those roots spread out and it all gets rather complicated.