In the dream my mother and me are sitting in the lobby of a restaurant. We are waiting to be seated for dinner.

   The hostess comes up to me and asks me if I am ­­­ ________. I say yes.

   She tells me I have a phone call, would I please follow her.

   I follow her to the hostess station, where she hands me a black phone. It is an old-fashioned phone, replete with a cord. I speak into the receiver—Hello?

   The voice on the other end of the line is Anya’s. She says that I need to find her, please.

   I ask her where she is. She says she doesn’t know. I ask her what is around her. She pauses, then says—I’m in a forest. With lots of tall trees. And it’s starting to get dark. And someone told me that it wasn’t safe to be in the forest once it got dark. That if I was in the forest and it was dark I might get lost for a long time, or forever.

   Anya’s talk of being lost forever scared me.

   Anya, where were you right before you entered the forest, what was around you? I need some kind of clue, some point of reference to help me find you.

   She says she can’t remember. Then she repeats, Find me, and hangs up. Or is disconnected.

   I set the phone down on its cradle. The hostess looks at me and smiles. I smile back. And return to the lobby.

   My mother asks me who it was that called me.

   I lie and say that it was a wrong number, someone looking for another _______.