Over dinner Frankie talked about a nightmare he keeps having and has had his whole life. He is running through a blank foreign landscape, trying to escape from something terrible he cannot see, which is chasing him with evil intentions. With every step he slips or gets stuck, as if on ice or in mud, and the chaser gains ground. It is a terrifying dream, and he always wakes up right before he is caught, with his shirt all sweaty and wet and his wife sleeping next to him. He's had the dream many times over many years, and doesn't know its meaning. But he thinks that when he dies, he'll finally have to turn and face the faceless chaser, and only when he stands his ground will he be free to go.
