Just then Sally saw Fahrenheit, the disagreeable fox she had met earlier. He was alone this time, 'Celsius must have at last realised how rude he is' Sally thought. 'Hello' Fahrenheit said nonchalantly 'I remember you, you're the peasant girl we saw on the beach a while ago'. 'I am not a peasant' Sally retorted, already feeling her anger rising. 'Don't be so touchy' Fahrenheit said 'I don't mean to be derogatory, you're actually quite pretty. Your hair looks better than it did the last time I saw you, last time it looked as though you'd been lying under a haystack'. 'Well, I'd been in the sea for hours, that's why' Sally fumed.

'Well there you are' Fahrenheit said 'I'm only trying to be nice. I do wish you would stop your pet dragon from setting fire to everything in sight though' and before Sally could respond he had left.

'I really don't like him, he gets my back up' Sally said to Bernie, and Bernie said 'yes, he does that to everyone' and then he said mimicking Fahrenheit

What that fox should learn is that when you are in a hole you should stop digging - look out, I'm going to sneeze' and he did sneeze, as Sally darted behind a tree again. Together they stamped the flames out and then Bernie asked 'you are the first one who hasn't run away from me today, I wonder why all my friends keep running away?' and Sally laughed 'It's because they are scared that you will roast them'. She liked Bernie despite his problem, probably because he shared her dislike of Fahrenheit.

'I don't sneeze all the time' said Bernie 'and I always try to warn everyone before I do. It's just that once I sneezed and poor Les didn't get out of the way quick enough, he's a snail you see, and snails don't move out of the way very quickly but I tried to warn him, honestly, I liked him. So he got a little bit cooked and now Henri calls him Les Cargo for some reason or other'.

It seemed rather a crazy thing to ask, but Sally asked anyway, after all, she was talking to a mythical creature so it couldn't get much crazier. 'What happens if you sneeze while you're asleep? You could set fire to your bed and get burned to death.'

'No-one sneezes in their sleep, do they?' Bernie said 'Do you sneeze in your sleep? If I did it would wake me up', he thought for a moment and then added 'I don't do much when I'm asleep, I just dream. But I must say, some strange things happen in my dreams. Have you ever noticed that when you are dreaming you don't think that you are dreaming, you just think that whatever is happening is real, however strange it is. Only when you wake up does it all seem strange'.

'Yes, you're right' Sally said 'I wonder why you don't think it strange that such unusual things happen? And I wonder if they really happen or just in your dream. Perhaps dreams are real and real life is just a dream, if you know what I mean. Perhaps the world really is strange and sometimes we just dream that it is normal'.

'I don't think so' Bernie said 'otherwise when strange things were happening we would say ''last night I had such a normal dream, it was unbelievable'' or something like that'.

'I think this is a dream and soon it will end' said Sally and Bernie said 'perhaps it is, but are you in my dream, or am I in yours?'

'Oh, you're definitely in mine, because everything seems very strange to me' Sally responded, but Bernie quickly said 'then how come you think it is strange before you wake up? I don't think you're strange, so you must be in my dream and I'll think you're strange when I wake up'.

This worried Sally a little 'but if I am in your dream, where will I be when you wake up?'. 'You won't be anywhere' Bernie said bluntly 'you don't exist, except in my dream, you're nothing, not part of the scheme'. 'But I do exist' Sally insisted 'because I'm here and I can see you and even if you are not really there, it is me who is dreaming and when I wake up I'll still think you are strange. Dragons aren't real anyway, they only live in fairy tales and children's' books'. Sally hesitated, then quickly added 'and dreams'.