Two A.M
He dreamed with incredible regularity , waking five times out of nightmares , five times strangely on the hour as though he had tied some part of his mental being to the irresistibly moving , luminescent minute hand of his electric clock . _ Time is of the essence _ , he had told himself during the psi-visiphone contact with Joyce . _ Association ! _ Two A.M. . He had dreamt of Joyce , dreamt that Joyce had somehow revealed the proposed transaction to BEB , putting Dodson on his trail . Wide awake now , he forced himself to think of the options which must be picked up the following night , options drawn so that not only the landowners must sign them but both the realty outfit and he , as Lawrence 's attorney-in-fact , as well . Could he sign for Lawrence if Joyce had spilled ?