The City and Its Uncertain Walls

The protagonist and his girlfriend walk along the river at twilight on a summer night. The protagonist is 17 and the girl 16. The girl tells the protagonist of the small town with a high wall around it. It has a single river, three bridges, unicorns, and sparse buildings. Time is strange there, she says; the town’s one clock has no hands. Her real self lives in that town, and the girl with the protagonist is only a shadow. Her real self works in the town’s library. The girl believes the boy has the qualifications to be a Dream Reader and to read the dreams collected in the library. The girl explains to the protagonist that he can only find his way to the town if he really wishes to. She asks him not to give up and warns him that when he finds her in the library, she won’t remember him.

The protagonist and his girlfriend take turns visiting each other, spending time at a café in the city and walking along the water in the boy’s town. Their relationship is dominated by conversation, and the boy enjoys their discussions.