Is it? Is it civilization? Finally? I have been wandering in this desert for what seems like forever. And there it is. A phone booth! And lights beyond. A city? Oh joy. I might finally be done with this nightmare. Finally, I can have water. And maybe a little food. How long has it been? Five days? Six? A month? I just don’t know. I have seen mirages and had hallucinations. I do not even know whether the phone booth is real. But it has not disappeared yet. Just a couple more steps.

The walls seem solid enough. The phone seems real. But alas. No dial tone. And I don’t have a quarter anyway.

I lean back against the wall. Drat! No wall. I wake up from a falling dream. I’m still where I was last time I thought I moved. Still lying on the sand. Still in this miserable desert. Alone.