After a subservient marriage, Victoria is a woman in control. Winning the lottery affords her every luxury. She is divorced now, collecting lovers with the same insatiable appetite that she shops for couture. Nothing reassures her because childhood never met her basic needs. She self-soothes by sleepwalking a safe path into adulthood. But Victoria's safety shatters when her lover turns thief.
A prison cook dreams about Thai food. Unlike Victoria, Nathan has few choices and fewer resources. But his sentence does not define him. He relies on his skills to define him, serving humor with the oatmeal. He plans to reinvent himself after he does his time, cooking the food of his dreams. Six degrees of paperwork later, Nathan's death spills into Irene's life when her office receives his death certificate. Irene handles the intrusion with the actuarial efficiency she applies to her choices. She lives mindfully. However, work obligations trump logic and Irene must ignore the risk analysis.
In 6 BY 6, six very different people die while they lucidly dream. They control their consciousness through dream states, and feel empowered, at least at night. But eventually, they all lose control of sleep and waking states when lucid dreaming collides with reality. This is a work of literary fiction about choices made in life and how they affect death.