The first thing that registered in Pam's brain the next morning was the smell of bacon, then the fact that Roy was snoring next to her, and then the sound of quiet singing. She looked over at Roy and was confused for a minute by something. Didn't she ask him to sleep on the couch? But why would she do that?

And also, if Roy was here, with her, then who was singing? And where was that bacon smell coming from?

And then it hit her.

Katy.

She sat up straight, rubbed her eyes, and threw the covers off her body. Tossing on a robe over the t-shirt and boxers she'd worn to bed, she hurried to the kitchen.

"Katy!" she called down the hallway.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?" Pam said, opening the door to the kitchen.

"Making breakfast. I do hope you like crepes. I wasn't sure what else to make. You have so few things in the cupboard."

"Right, well, I was actually going to go the store tomo... Wait, why am I telling you this? I meant..." suddenly Pam's eyes went very wide as she took in the entire scene. "Katy..." she said slowly, "Why is there a fox in the house? Ugh! And are those bats! Aagh! Mice?" Her breathing sped up and she cautiously motioned for Katy to come toward her. "Just, okay, just come over this way for a minute. Don't move too quickly or they might freak out... So, okay, they probably just came in because they smelled the food... and now we'll just shut this door and then hope they all stay in the kitchen while I call animal control."

"Animal control? What do they do?" Katy asked, as Pam shut the door to the kitchen.

"They are going to make all those animals in the kitchen just go away... I hope." She looked for something to brace the door with. What if that bear cub she'd glimpsed beneath the table tried to ram the door open?

"Oh, but why would they do that? Those are my new friends."

Pam's eyes bugged out again. And then she realized what was going on. This was a dream. Obviously. And now that she knew it was a dream, all that had to happen was for her body to wake up. Yep, any minute now she'd wake up in bed--without Roy this time--and then everything would be back to normal. And maybe if she was lucky Katy wouldn't even exist and this whole thing would turn out to be just some crazy trick of her subconscious. With a little smile she shut her eyes and willed herself to wake up.

"Pam?"

"Don't bother me, I'm waking up."

"Oh. Right... I'm sorry. I think, if you don't mind, I'd better go check on the food, it might start to burn if I leave it too long."

"Yeah, sure, you go do that."

"All right."

For a few minutes Pam just stood there with her eyes shut. This would work. All she had to do was focus hard enough and get her body, her real body, not the dream version, to make some kind of movement. That would do it, right? And then she could wake up for real and all of this ridiculous nonsense about forest animals in the kitchen and Katy singing to herself, and big cut outs missing from the curtains... Wait, what?

Pam opened her eyes again. Sure enough there were huge holes in the living room curtains. And not just normal holes. They were people-shaped holes. Well, dress-shaped, really.

She'd never much liked those curtains, to be honest. They were a little too bright and shiny for such a small room. And the pattern of little flowers embroidered on them, was, well... not exactly her style.

But Roy's mother had picked them out when Roy and Pam had first moved in together and at the time Pam had just been so grateful that they were finally getting their own place that she hadn't wanted to mention the fact that the curtains looked like something from a Disneyland hotel.

And then Pam saw the rest of the room. It was spotless. She wasn't sure it had ever looked this clean, even before they'd moved in. That pile of car magazines Roy had been looking at a few days ago and that she'd been bugging him about getting off the couch was nowhere to be seen and there were fresh flowers in a vase on the coffee table. This was a very strange dream. She shut her eyes again, then opened them, then shut them. But every time she opened them she saw the same thing. A very clean room with sunlight streaking in through the empty spots in the curtains.

Maybe if she went back to bed... That might work. If you fell asleep in a dream you'd wake up in the real world, right? Yes, that made sense.

Twenty minutes later there was a knock on her bedroom door. Pam ignored it, still trying to get herself to fall asleep again.

"Excuse me." It was Katy's voice. There was another timid knock. "Pam? Roy?"

"Mmmungh?" That was Roy next to her. Pam kept her eyes shut. Then she felt the bed move as Roy stood up. "Uzzgoin' on?"

"Roy?" The sound was still muffled by the bedroom door.

"Katy? Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes, I'm fine, thank you, but--" Katy's voice stopped and Pam could hear the sound of their bedroom door opening. "I'm so sorry to disturb you." Katy continued, more quietly now, but clearer without the door in the way. "I just wanted to let you know that I have breakfast all prepared as soon as you're ready to eat."

"You made breakfast?" Roy asked.

"Yes. It was the least I could do after you were so kind to me yesterday. Oh, and would you please tell Pam that my friends have gone. And that they're very sorry that they upset her this morning. I told them--"

"Friends. You had friends here?"

"Well, yes. I mean, the forest really isn't too far from here and I needed a little help getting everything cleaned up."

"You cleaned too?" Their voices got fainter as they walked down the hallway and Pam could hear Katy telling a still-only-half-awake Roy about her dear friends, the rabbits who had worked so hard to dust everything. It was lunacy. This whole thing. Sheer and utter lunacy. And any minute now it would all go away.

That's what she kept telling herself. She told herself that as Roy came to wake her up for breakfast. She told herself that as they ate the crepes, bacon, muffins, eggs, and fresh-squeezed orange juice that Katy had made. She told herself that as she showered and got ready for work. And she told herself that as she and Roy said goodbye to Katy and walked out to the truck.

When she got to work she immediately took off her coat, sat down, and put her head down on her desk. This was getting beyond ridiculous. There was no way she was going to have a nightmare about work and then wake up in the morning and have to go to work again. Nine hours a day at this place was more than enough.

***

By mid-morning Pam had given up. Whether this really was a nightmare or not, she didn't know any more. Michael had tried at least five times to get her to laugh at one of his jokes, even after she told him that she must be sick or something and that she was probably contagious and he should just leave her alone. And then Toby had asked her politely if she was feeling all right as he dropped off a stack of papers he needed alphabetized. Dwight had offered her a surgical mask from the supply he kept... who knew where. And Angela had peeked over the divider between their desks once every half-hour or so, just to make sure Pam was actually doing something productive.

It was hopeless. She figured that if she couldn't wake up from the dream she might as well play along with it.

Wearily, she picked up another piece of paper from the file, checked the client's name, and put it in the correct stack in front of her. Then she took the next paper, checked the name on it, and placed it in the appropriate pile. Then she took the next one, and--

"Excuse me? Hey, my name is Jim, and I'm really sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for a girl named Katy and I've been asking around at..."

Pam looked up as the man in front of her kept talking. He was saying something about a hole in a road, but she was too shocked to pay attention. He was dressed in some kind of Three Musketeers costume. She stood up to get another look, and yes, there it was: he actually had a sword strapped on with a belt. And... were those tights?

"So, you haven't seen her, right?"

"Uh..."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Sorry, I'll just let myself out." The man sighed and turned around to head for the door.

"Stop right there, sir. My name is Dwight Schrute and I demand to know what you are doing on Dunder Mifflin company property carrying that weapon."

Pam looked over at the rest of the office where every face was turned toward the stranger standing next to the coat rack.

Then Michael stepped out of his office.

"Oh my god! Is this one of those singing telegrams? Is it for me?"

"Michael, this man could be very dangerous. I'd advise you to step back."

"No, Dwight, shut up. He's gonna sing something. Wow. I can't believe someone did this for me. It isn't even my birthday yet."

"Uh, actually, I was just looking for someone, but obviously she's not here, so I've gotta go."

"No!" Pam said. "Wait, I, I know who you're looking for."

"You do?" Michael, Dwight, and the man in the costume all said it at the same time.

"Yeah, but... I just can't believe she was telling the truth."