Uma dreams of freedom: flying, galloping on horseback, running on the beach. When she’s awake, wheelchair-bound, Uma can do none of these, and so she grasps the dreams gratefully. Even when they’re nightmares, like the one with the menacing stranger who snatches her child. She can attack, and win. Exhilarating.

Marilyn McFarlane is a travel writer and the author of Sacred Stories: Wisdom From World Religions. She writes poetry and fiction, enjoys the 50-word form, and occasionally explores memoir. She lives in Oregon, where there is a lot of scope for the imagination.