"But what is the stuff?" Paula said. "Does it cure or what? I have a right to know!"
Dr. Bernstein frowned. "It's rather hard to describe. It has no curative powers. It's more in the nature of a hypnotic drug, but it has a rather peculiar effect. It provokes a dream."
"A dream?"
"Yes. An incredibly long and detailed dream, in which the patient lives an entire lifetime, and lives it just the way he would like it to be. You might say it's an opiate, but the most humane one ever developed."
Paula looked down at the still figure on the bed. His hand was moving slowly across the bed-sheet, the fingers groping toward her.
"Andy," she breathed. "Andy darling...."
His hand fell across hers, the touch feeble and aged.
"Paula," he whispered, "say good-by to the children for me."