Kate had a dream.

In the dream, Kate was only five or six years old, and a ferocious black dog, much larger than her, was chasing her. Kate fell down at last, completely exhausted.

The dog opened its big mouth wide and reached its spooky white fangs to her throat. Kate was so scared that she put her hands over her eyes, but the anticipated pain did not come. Instead, it was replaced by the contact of something coarse and wet.

Kate looked up in surprise and found what was ...