For Saturday, August 5, I brought Aries back with a specific idea in mind. After breakfast, and after asking Aries to put on one of her bikinis, I called my parents and set up another video call.
As soon as Aries came into the frame, before I even had a chance to introduce her to my parents, Mom exclaimed, “What the hell is that!”
“I can explain, Mom,” I said.
But Dad interrupted with, “Told you so.”
“Told me what?” I asked.
“I told your mother here that you would develop my power and she didn’t believe me.”
“You have the power, too?”
“Yes, but I only ever summoned your mother with it. Both of your mothers, actually.”
“Say what now?”
“I assume the blue-skinned person behind you is someone from one of your very active dreams, the ones that were so realistic that we had to explain to you what normal people’s dreams are like, as perhaps are the women you have had with you on other calls.”
“OK, yes. All of that is true. But what’s this about you summoning my mother, and two of them?”
“Do you have time for a story?”
“Sure.”
“In high school, I dated a girl named Sue. I also dated her twin sister Rue, but only because they tricked me. Rue had been dating some other boy, and, well, maybe Sue should tell this part.”
Mom added, “Us sisters each had gotten the idea somehow that our sister’s date was better than our own, so one day we tricked them by setting up dates with both of them on the same night and switching places. It didn’t work, though. Both men figured out during the night that we’d done it. Rue’s date Mike was so upset about discovering that he was with Sue that he broke up with Rue. But Anthony was more forgiving, and kept dating Sue.”
Dad continued the story, “But Sue came to me and explained that she wanted to let Rue date me for real since their trick had caused Rue to lose her boyfriend, and with advance knowledge that I would be dating her, I agreed. I kept dating the both of them through the rest of high school, on separate dates, until early in my senior year, when their family was involved in a bad car accident. Their mother survived with loss of her legs below the knees, but the girls were both killed, along with their father.”
If I hadn’t already hypothesized bringing someone back from the dead with my power, it would sound crazy that he said this with her sitting beside him. But now a lot of this was becoming clearer.
Dad continued, “My parents and Rue and Sue’s mother all knew the two girls were sharing me, so they understood why I was suffering double grief over this, though it might have been just as hard for me to go on dating the survivor if only one of them had died. I didn’t date for the rest of high school nor for years afterward. I was too afraid to get into another relationship and to have her stolen from me through some other horrible accident. Even when I did date, the memories and grief kept me from establishing a long-term relationship.”
After what I took to be a brief sob, he went on, “The girls and I had only barely started having sex. Together, we agreed I’d take turns doing it with them, but there were barely any turns. After their deaths, I masturbated thinking about them, but it was only much later, when I went so far as to construct a replica of Sue’s body and fell asleep on it one night that I learned what I could do... that I could bring Sue back.”
Mom and Dad hugged for a bit, I think with more of a sob, before Dad continued his story.
“She only came back for a day, but after being gone for a day she came back again. I was overjoyed, and for weeks I was having her alive with me every other day. One night, Rue appeared in my dreams along with Sue. The next day, when I expected to be alone, Rue appeared alive with me. I kept dreaming about the both of them, and Rue and Sue appeared in the world on alternate days. I realized I could have them both, on alternate days, and I’ve been doing that ever since, with the only interruption being when I had the heart attack. To the rest of the world, this is Sue, as I had them both use that name, for continuity, but it’s really Sue and Rue alternately.”
“How did you manage after the heart attack?”
“Sue and Rue were still in my dreams, but they didn’t come into the real world. I didn’t really get them back until I was out of the hospital. I told you some lie to cover, but the truth was that by the time I got out, nobody remembered Sue being with me, except probably you. A social worker set me up with an apartment, since I still had months of medical appointments there, and they arranged a trip for me to go get my stuff and car. I was mobile enough to walk around and throw stuff into boxes that someone carried for me, or point out heavier stuff I wanted. That included Sue’s stuff and the doll, which was lying there on my bed, barely recognizable to me after decades of not seeing it, but somehow looking as good as new. The next night I brought Sue back in the apartment, and went back to the switching after that.”
I asked Mom, “How did you keep things straight with the two of you switching places all the time?”
“We spend hours together in his dream every night, and we always share all the important details of the day.”
“And one of you gave birth to me?”
Mom spoke up, “It was Sue. And I’m actually Rue, so I cannot tell you about the actual birth, but I can tell you only Sue was pregnant. I wore padding during the later months whenever I left the house so it would look like Sue was pregnant all the time.”
Dad added, “Sue’s water broke one morning as we woke up, and I rushed her to the hospital and she had a relatively easy birth, and nobody ever knew there was any difference compared with any other mother.”
I excused myself and grabbed my birth certificate. I looked for Aries’ as well, but I didn’t see one.
“My birth certificate still says Sue is my mother. When my women swap in and out, other things change with them, primarily but not exclusively with things they own.”
Mom chimed in, “Your birth certificate probably always says Sue because we were both using the name at the time, and in fact still do. Except for you two and Anthony, and my mother, nobody else knows Rue is ever alive. My other official documents say Rue on the days I’m here, but our marriage certificate always says Sue.”
Dad said, “I first noticed this happening with the newspaper article I saved about the accident. It had said that both children died, but when I had Sue here, it changed to say she survived. And when I had Rue here, the article said she survived.”
Now Rue continued, “After he noticed that, we went to my family’s grave site and saw the same thing there. My father’s grave, and my sister’s. Or my grave when my sister’s here. I very hesitantly made contact with my mother, who scolded me for not calling in so long. We kept in touch regularly after that, both of us, whoever was here, and she acted like it was normal for whichever of us was here to be the one alive whenever we did. Both me and Sue asked her to send my official documents to where Anthony was living, but we only ever received one set. They change back and forth depending on who’s here.”
I took this as a good point to start telling my own story.
“I’ve noticed this behavior with stuff changing between my summonings, but I’ve been summoning several very different people, so the changes are larger. For instance, Mona, who you haven’t met yet, always dresses all in red, and so all the clothes I bought for Nancy, which later became Victoria’s clothes, became Mona’s clothes when I summoned her, all in the same bright red color.”
“Just how many women have you been summoning?” Dad asked.
“Some of them were experiments to test the limits of my power, but excluding those, and Mona, I think you’ve met them all on our calls.”
“What is she?” Mom asked. “The other women looked normal.”
“Aries is a Sea Woman, an aquatic species that spends a significant amount of time in the water. When I asked you about dreams, it was not just because I started having longer and more realistic dreams like I told you. That happened, but I also had dreams where I was with these people. Sometimes I was among a whole society of them, either as me or as one of them, and sometimes I was in the normal world and Aries was with me.”
“All of these women are from your dreams?” Dad asked.
“Yes. I tried summoning my last real-world girlfriend from college, but that didn’t work. I guess it would have worked if she was dead.”
“Tell us about the other women.”
“Nancy was my imaginary friend starting when I was 4. After I got into school and had lots more real friends, I accepted that she was imaginary and stopped pretending to play with her in real life, but she never left my dreams.”
“Oh, I remember that,” Rue said. “I remember you having imaginary play-dates with her when you couldn’t get any of your real friends to play.”
“Next is Victoria, the one who looks like me. She is actually me.”
“Huh?” Dad said.
But Rue replied, “Your trans self.”
“Yes. Not too long after I created Nancy, I started appearing in dreams as a female version of myself, and that version was named Victoria.”
Rue and Dad both broke out laughing, so I stopped, not understanding what they thought was so funny. When she was able, Rue explained, “Sue always wanted a boy and wanted to name him Jody, but I wanted a girl and to name her Victoria. Sue was the one carrying the child, so I guess it’s good she got her way, but Anthony was still going to name the kid Victoria if she came out as a girl. I don’t think I ever told you that, so I think it’s pretty funny you chose that name.”
“The dreams chose it. I didn’t consciously name any of the characters except Nancy, who I had invented as an imaginary friend during times I was awake before she started appearing in dreams, and I don’t know where the name Nancy came from, either. The others appeared in dreams before I ever otherwise imagined them, and all the characters were already named when they did.”
“Interesting,” Dad said.
“And that wasn’t the only bit of knowledge that seemed to come from nowhere in dreams. These dreams where I was female were very detailed. Sometimes Victoria had to shower and dress herself. I got to know my female body really well, before I ever even started dating, and that made me think I was trans, enough to eventually test out the idea in the real world.”
Rue replied, “I let you borrow some of my clothes to test out the idea, and one day I made you up to look passably female and you went out for a day with me on errands. But you decided you weren’t actually trans, despite the dreams.”
Dad said, “Huh. I don’t remember that.”
“It was during the summer. You were working. Sue and I mentioned it in our dream sessions. Sue was actually the one who took dressed-up Jody with her that one day, but we share our experiences so much that I ‘remember’ most of the things Sue did and vice versa, and we both helped Jody dress up. Jody insisted I call her Victoria while she was dressed that way, including many days it was just at the house with the two of us there. Jody did it three weeks straight Monday to Friday, but after the day out with Sue, decided it just didn’t work, and only did it a few times after that. By the end of that summer Jody gave up on the idea completely.”
“Huh, OK. My memory used to be really good, but since my health issues started, I’ve forgotten a lot. I apologize for forgetting this.”
“There was another time Jody thought he was gay and I got him a dildo and a vibrator for his butt, but that didn’t work out...”
Dad interrupted, “OK, I don’t need to hear any more about that. But I do remember that Jody had another woman. Jody, tell us about her.”
“Doris is another non-human, though her species looks human. Both Doris and Aries have some sexual quirks to their bodies.”
“OK, I don’t need to hear about that, either,” Dad interrupted.
“I understand. TMI.”
Dad looked confused.
“It stands for too much information. People from my generation use that term to stop someone speaking about subjects that are uncomfortable for them, like you just did. But I guess the other important thing I wanted to ask you about is why you two are not affected.”
“Affected by what?” Rue asked.
“Up here, the guys all know I live with a woman, but they don’t remember the different women. They only remember whoever I currently have, even to the point of sometimes mentioning her name, as if she’d been around all the time. A few of the men have used multiple names on different, correct days and I can’t recall anybody I ever gave the names to getting it wrong, even when they haven’t actually seen or been told who I have that day. If I haven’t given the name, either they just say ‘your woman’ or they say they’ve forgotten her name. And Aries does not provoke reactions like you had at the start of this call, Mom.”
“Really?” she asked.
“People might stare a little, but they only treat her the way someone would treat someone of another race. People seeing her for the first time might react the way someone does the first time they see one of those Indian women with the dot on her forehead, as if they’ve heard of people like that but it’s their first time to see one.”
“Oh, and my reaction was... not like that.”
“I’m not sure if you aren’t affected because of the distance, or for some other reason. But I know you never show up in my dreams, or in my dream world.”
“Dreams, dream world, what’s the difference?” Dad asked.
“Oh, that brings me to Mona. Mona is another character who showed up in my dreams since I was little, and she started out as sorta my fairy godmother. A full-sized human, not a fairy, though, but she’s a woman who does magic and protects me or comes to my rescue in dreams.”
“She does actual magic?”
“Yes. You think what we both do by bringing dead people or fictional people into the real world isn’t magic?”
“Sure, what we do is magic of a sort, son. Go ahead and explain how she relates to your dreams and dream world.”
“Mona does a different kind of magic, so she can do things we do not do, but she also has limitations. By dream world, I mean the place that I most commonly visit in my dreams. It looks like the house I grew up in, mostly, though I can explore beyond the house. I realized it was important for understanding my ability, and after doing a big favor for Mona, what I asked in return was that she set up a doorway for me so I can visit the dream world while awake.”
I spent a good while explaining some of the things I’d figured out about my dream world: How real people I don’t know are blurred. How I can manipulate time within the dream world. How things I owned but discarded in the past are present there. And most importantly, how there is no trace of either of them or their belongings within the house.
“Yikes, you are light-years beyond me! I guess I have a dream-world but I never really investigated it. It’s just a place where I hang out with Rue and Sue while I sleep. Give me some time to think about all this. Call back tomorrow.”
I wasn’t surprised my father wanted to end the call. It was by far the longest call we’d ever had. The call gave me a lot to think about. Aries and I went into my dream world and found Nancy, and we talked for a bit. We walked back to my house, and that’s when we made another discovery. Nancy could walk through the doorway into my house in Alaska, but not the doorway into Victoria’s dream world. For her, it was the same solid black wall we saw when we were in the dream.
“I know you could enter both dream worlds when I summoned you. Maybe it’s because there’s another you over there,” I suggested.
“That makes sense,” Nancy agreed.
Aries and I went into Victoria’s dream world to confirm, and indeed there was another Nancy. We got that Nancy into Victoria’s bedroom. She couldn’t come through the doorway into Jody’s dream world either. After seeing that, we all agreed I had the right explanation.
I commented, “It’s too bad there was so little room in my home in Alaska that I didn’t have room to put two doorways there. It’ll make it harder to let Victoria’s Nancy enter the real world.”
We continued the discussion with me and Aries relaying ideas between the two Nancys.
My Nancy said, “It must be that when you summon me into the doll, it removes me from both dream worlds, because then I can enter both worlds. And I’ve never found myself in either world. But other people you’ve summoned can come visit me in the dream world. Both Victoria and Aries have done so.”
I replied, “Mona also confirmed that when I summoned her, she was removed from her world for the day. Mona has a maid I’ve never seen within the castle who mentioned her absence to her when she was back the next day. That was why she didn’t want to be summoned while training her sea dragon.”
It was Victoria’s Nancy who at one point suggested, “Maybe we can’t see your parents in the dream because your father has the power and your mother is an artifact of the power. The two instances of the power cannot interact in the dream world.”
I relayed the idea to my Nancy, who suggested my interaction with alt-Victoria as a counterexample.
“But did I ever really interact with alt-Victoria? Her diary suggests otherwise. I think I only copied her.”
“So why couldn’t you copy your parents?”
“How could I? Copying them and bringing them into the doll requires first being able to see them in dreams, and I can’t even do that. And we already know I can’t summon living people, anyway. There’s also the this-world versus other-world thing there, too.”
Nancy conceded, “OK, I guess there’s nothing that prevents other-me’s idea from being right.”
Aries went out into the pond and caught fresh fish for lunch, one for each of us. After lunch, Aries wanted to visit Mona in her world, or specifically, she wanted to visit the sea dragon. Nancy wanted to go, too, but there was a debate over which Nancy would go. Ultimately, I decided to take my Nancy, but while we were gone Victoria’s Nancy would see if she could cross over. Not stay, though, because we didn’t want to trap Nancy in Mona’s world.
Aries stripped off her bikini and threw it back into my house. It was clear she was more comfortable without it, and she knew Mona didn’t care about nudity. And then the three of us went up to Mona’s door and knocked. It wasn’t long before Mona opened the door and invited us through into her world.
“How wonderful to see you again, Jody. And Nancy, and Aries. You have the whole crew here today!” she said.
I replied, “Aries is actually summoned. We just brought Nancy in from my dream world.”
“Well I gave you the power to arrange meetings like this. I’m not going to be surprised when you use it.”
“I hope your little sea dragon is doing well.”
“Oh, he is. Let me introduce you all to him.”
She led the way through several rooms. As we reached a door, she handed each of us a bundle of gear. As Mona demonstrated for the rest of us, there were shin guards, armored overshoes that shrank down to fit tightly around our other shoes when Mona tapped them with her wand, and heavy leather gloves with thin metal banding. For Aries, who didn’t have any other shoes on, there were three layers of socks to provide cushioning for her feet against the inner layer of the overshoes.
Mona explained, “Bruno doesn’t have any steam at this age, but he’s starting to develop teeth and I’m still training him not to bite people, so be careful. The gloves and pads are sturdy enough to take anything he can deliver now.”
Then she opened the door and led us to an enclosed area outside with a pond and a beach around it. The little sea dragon, about the size of a small dog, was sitting at the water’s edge and he looked excited to see Mona. As we approached, he got afraid of the rest of us and swam out into the water, almost to the other side.
“Aw, little Bruno is scared of you. Bruno, come here and meet your parents.”
He looked up at Mona upon the command, but didn’t immediately make a move. Mona turned back for a moment and grabbed some lawn chairs that were folded and stored in a rack near where we went outside. She handed one to each of us, then led us over to the beach, where a similar chair was already set up. We unfolded and sat in the chairs she provided, and she sat in the other chair.
Only after she sat down did Bruno swim back across the pond to us, eventually waddling up on the far side of Mona. She petted the animal on the head. I eyed the animal warily, but he seemed determined to stay on the far side of Mona from all the rest of us for now.
“Jody, I want to thank you again for helping me get Bruno. I would have had to pay quite a lot to get one of these here the usual way. And that way is essentially from what you’d think of as a poacher, so your gift is wonderful in several ways.”
“Mona, you’ve helped me immensely with the doorways. I really feel like I’m starting to get a handle on just what I can do with my power.”
We sat and talked a bit more, Mona explaining how we should touch Bruno if he decided to approach us, and other behavior of baby sea dragons in general and of Bruno specifically. Eventually, Bruno did approach us... well, he approached Aries. He backed away if either Nancy or I approached, so we let him be with Aries. After about 5 minutes in which Aries got to pet him and actually cuddle with him more than even Mona thought was safe, but during which time Bruno never attempted to bite Aries, the little sea dragon went back out into the water. So that was our cue to leave.
Before we left Mona’s world entirely, she asked me, “The people you’ve summoned from your and Victoria’s dream worlds can get through the doorways back into the worlds they come from, right?”
“Yes. But today, non-summoned Nancy from my dream world couldn’t go into Victoria’s, or vice versa. I had both of them in their respective dream worlds before bringing my Nancy with me here, and Victoria’s Nancy is supposed to be confirming whether she can cross over while my Nancy is here.”
“That seems like a plausible idea. But there shouldn’t be any reason I can’t come back through the door into my world while summoned, so you’re free to summon me now. I can still come be with Bruno part of the day.”
When we got back into the dream worlds, Victoria’s Nancy confirmed she could enter my dream world while we were in Mona’s world. And now that we were back, she saw a black wall in the doorway once again. I gave Mona that answer at her door before she once again locked the door magically.
The two Nancys, Aries, and I, mentally tired from spending so long figuring out what was really happening with my ability, fell into an orgy, with Aries and I occasionally switching between the two Nancys by crossing the doorway they couldn’t between their two dream worlds. We took a break to eat dinner from dream world food, because Aries didn’t want to get dressed again even with the bikini to go catch more fish. We continued our sexual activity all night afterward. Eventually I sent the two Nancys home, and Aries and I went to bed, exhausted in every way.