On the days when Mam’s working, I’m supposed to be home when Seb gets in from school. So I’m waiting for him. I wouldn’t normally do this, but I’ve poured him a glass of milk and cut him up an apple when he walks through the front door.

‘Oh, hi, Malk …’

‘Last night,’ I say, as he eyes the snack suspiciously.

‘I know,’ he says and after taking a cautious sip (in case I’ve put salt in it again – it was just a joke) he downs the milk in one gulp. ‘It was awethome! I’ve told everyone in my class. They all think I’m lying. But I don’t care: it happened, didn’t it, Malky? We were in the same dream. Was that meant to happen? It wasn’t in the instructions. Was it?’ He lets go a massive burp, wipes his mouth on his sleeve and starts in on the apple.

I shake my head. It certainly wasn’t in the instructions, but it sure did happen. I watch him chomp his apple with his mouth open and, instead of getting irritated by him, I find myself envying the fact that he just doesn’t mind what his classmates think.

‘I think we need to test it again tonight, don’t you?’ I say. ‘Just to be sure.’

‘Awethome!’ he repeats, and I pick a bit of chewed apple out of my hair.

That evening I use Mam’s laptop to look up ‘lucid dreaming’ – the phrase Susan had used that was also in the instructions. There are pages and pages of people describing how they do it and it usually involves lots of practice and preparation, like meditating, regular sleeping habits, room temperatures, ‘dream diaries’ and even special foods. I’m soon bored, so I look up ‘dreaminator’ to find it’s the name of some pop band, but there is no mention of a device to create lucid dreams whenever you want them.

And no mention of sharing dreams, either.

Finally, and nervously, I type in ‘dangers of lucid dreaming’ and everyone seems to agree that the only danger is from nightmares, which, when you’re lucid dreaming, you can wake from whenever you like.

That’s all right then. The instructions said, ‘perfect results may not be achieved first time,’ didn’t they? Obviously, that didn’t apply to me: Malky Bell, Super-Dreamer!

That night, Sebastian and I fall asleep under our Dreaminators.

And they work again.

And the next night.

And the next.