Morning all. I hope you had a fabulous weekend and are ready to start the week. I am in that time of year where Monday will always see me garden sore but I did get a lot done so I can’t complain. I am however ready to sit at a desk for a few days to recuperate. So timers set and lets see what fifteen minutes brings us.
I wasn’t entirely sure where this was going until the end but I think I have a handle on it. I also think I might but another fifteen minutes on the timer just o get the thoughts down before setting it to the side for my regularly scheduled morning.
Monday, March 23rd: My throat was parched.
My throat was parched. I woke up thinking someone dumped a bucket of sand in my mouth overnight. I tried moving my mouth around as I got out of bed, hoping to drum up some saliva. I went to the bathroom out of habit but only a trickle came out of my bladder. Apparently, all of me was parched.
I stumbled into the kitchen, still in my pajamas. I picked up a glass and went to the tap. I filled the glass and drank it down, the tap still running. I emptied the glass in big gulps leaving me out of breath but still wanting more water.
I refilled the cup and repeated the process, catching my breath while the glass refilled. Why was I so thirsty? After the third glass I realized my belly was full but the rest of my body was still desperately calling for water. I refilled the glass, turned off the tap and moved back to the bedroom. I took smaller sips as I walked. I would let the water I drank have time to disperse instead of pounding back another glass. I reached the bedroom and set the glass down on the top of the dresser as I rummaged in the drawers to get my clothing for the day.
I had nowhere I needed to be, nowhere I had to go. It was just me and the house. For now at least.
I tried not to think about that. I needed at least some time to get the past out of my system before I thought about my future. It was why I was here. This was my waystation. I dressed simply. Jeans, t-shirt thick socks that doubled as slippers. Dressed I picked up the glass and decided to sip it while sitting on the back porch.
‘Isn’t that what people do in all those commercials and television shows,’ I told myself. ‘Sit on the porch and watch the world, taking in all the peace and quiet.’
I always wondered if the television shows and those involved in putting them together thought that people could absorb peace and quiet the way sponges absorbed water.
I walked to the kitchen and topped off my water glass. The water in my belly still felt heavy but I could feel is start to make a move, dispersing to the parts of my body that needed it the most. I took my now full glass out to the porch and took a seat looking out into my back yard.
It was normally a flat piece of ground, grass growing sporadically, weeds that were green enough to look like grass from a distance as they were trimmed to the right height filling in the gaps. There were trees around the edge of the property shielding it from the view of the road and any neighbors I had were far enough distant that they might as well not have existed.
‘Probably a good thing considering,’ I thought looking out at the back yard. The ground was no longer smooth. Apparently sometime in the night all of the patchy grass and weeds were dug up. I saw the shovel leaning against one of the drees. Saw the mound of removed greenery next to it. I looked down at my hands. Dirt was imbedded under my nails in dark crescents. I had been so concerned about my thirst I didn’t think about them
Apparently I had been sleepwalking again. It had been years since I went sleepwalking.
Ten til Midnight 