plate will be--a ham sandwich!"

There were appreciative chuckles. But Cavender felt a twinge of
annoyance. At the moment, when along with fighting off fatigue he'd
been trying to forget that he hadn't eaten since noon, Dr. Al's choice
looked like an unfortunate one. Cavender happened to be very fond of
ham.

"Now here," Ormond continued, putting the plate down, "is where this
experiment begins to differ from anything we have done before. For all
of us will try to imagine--to visualize as being on this plate--_the
same ham sandwich_. And so there will be no conflict in our
projections, let's decide first on just what ingredients we want to
put on it." He smiled. "We'll make this the finest ham sandwich our
collective imagination can produce!"

There were more chuckles. Cavender cursed under his breath, his mouth
beginning to water. Suggestions came promptly.

"Mustard?" Dr. Ormond said, "Of course--Not too sharp though,
Eleanor?" He smiled at Mrs. Folsom. "I agree! A light touch of
delicate salad mustard. Crisp lettuce ... finely chopped gherkins.
Very well!"

"Put it all on rye," Cavender said helplessly. "Toasted rye."

"Toasted rye?" Ormond smiled at him, looked around. "Any objections?
No? Toasted rye it shall be, Wally. And I believe that completes our
selection."

He paused, his face turning serious. "Now as to that word of caution I
gave you. For three minutes each of you will visualize the object we
have chosen on the plate I will be holding up before me. You will do
this with your eyes open, and to each of you, in your own subjective
reality, the object will become, as you know, more or less clearly
discernible.

"But let me tell you this. Do not be too surprised if at the end of
that time, when the exercise is over, the object _remains visible to_
you ... does not disappear!"

There was silence for a moment. Then renewed chuckles, but slightly
nervous ones, and not too many.

Dr. Ormond said sternly, "I am serious about that! The possibility,
though it may be small tonight, is there. You have learned that, by
the laws of Insight, any image of subjective reality, if it can be
endowed with _all_ the attributes of objective reality by its human
creator, _must_ spontaneously become an image in objective reality!

"In this case, our collective ham sandwich, if it were perfectly
visualized, could not only be seen by you but felt, its weight and the
texture of each of its ingredients perceived, their a