"Joseph, is that you? What in heaven's name are you doing here?"

Joseph froze, unsure if he should believe his own ears.

"Come now, Joseph. Close your mouth and come over here."

Joseph was again overwhelmed by the sensation of moving/not moving as the mass of travelers fell away behind him. He found himself standing in front of a small cafe table. There was one chair, that chair currently occupied by the last person he would have ever expected to see again.

"K-Karol? Is that really you?"

Karol spoke around a mouthful of poppy seed cake. "Yes, it's me." Joseph noticed for the first time what Karol was doing. He was eating. The little cafe table was covered with plates, dishes, bottles. "I'm sorry, my friend. Were you expecting someone else?" Pale crumbs sprayed from Karol's mouth.

"But… you're not how I remember you. You're so young!" Karol looked to be fifty years younger than he should have been. His hair was still dark and his eyes were brighter than Joseph had ever seen.

"Well, of course I'm not how you remember me. You remember me being alive, which I believe I currently am not."

"That settles it then. This is definitely a dream."

"A dream, eh?" Karol grinned, a little condescendingly. "Whose dream is it then? Did you dream me, or did I dream you?"

Joseph thought on that for a few seconds. Before he could fathom an answer Karol interrupted. "Well, in the end it's neither here nor there. Perhaps you could dream your way into a chair? You could join me for lunch."

Karol looked down at the suddenly inadequate table. "We shall need a table for two, I expect."

Karol rose and moved toward a second table just to his right. Joseph hadn't noticed the larger table until now. When he looked back, he could no longer find the smaller table.

"Joseph! What are you doing? Come! Sit with me."

As he took the seat opposite Karol, he thought to himself, how did he move the plates so fast? They were on the other table just a moment ago.

"Here, try one of these makowiec. They're magnificent. They're even better than when I was a boy." Karol pushed the plate of poppy seed cakes toward him.

Joseph took a cake, but currently had no interest in eating it. "Karol, is it really you?"

Karol stopped and stared at him. "Yes, it's me. Our conversation will be much more enjoyable if we can move forward now."

Chastened, Joseph took a bite of the cake. He chewed slowly, not really tasting, but using the time to think.

"Is this a dream?"

Karol finished his cake and took a long draught from a brown bottle before finally answering. "No, I don't think it is. I believe I am dead, and I believe the dead do not dream. So if it is a dream, then it must be your dream, yes?"

Joseph nodded silently.

"I have been here for some time, while you have only just arrived. What would that say about dreams if this place exists even before you have dreamt it? No, I don't believe this is a dream."

"Have I gone mad?"

Karol laughed, joy flashing in his eyes like Joseph had not seen since time unremembered. "I might argue, and perhaps successfully, that you were mad to begin with. But I do not think you are mad. I think today you are much the same as you were yesterday and the day before. But I suspect tomorrow you will be very different indeed."

"What is this place?"

"Bardo. Have some of the nalesniki. There's a subtle vanilla there like I've never tasted before."

"Bardo? What is bardo?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself."

Joseph took one of the rolled pastries in silence, wondering how best to phrase the next question. "Karol… if you don't know what bardo is, how do you now it's bardo?"

"Like you, when I arrived here I was lost in the crowd. I heard two men talking about it. They spoke Latin, although in a dialect I had difficulty following. They used the word bardo several times. They seemed to think they were in-between two things."

"In-between which two things?"

"I think, Joseph, when you thought of a movie studio, you were more correct than you know. I think we are truly behind the scenes. We are neither here nor there."

"But… behind the scenes of what?"

"Why, everything of course!" Karol grinned, and took another swallow of his podpiwek.