Sleep

Some nights you just don’t get any sleep. You stay awake. Sometimes you toss and turn. There are moments when you are still. A few times you look through the blinds and comment to yourself that it is getting light out there. For the first time in months you witness a sunrise. Suddenly 100 degree weather doesn’t seem so terrible on this July dawn. There’s water on the grass that looks like dew. Anyone who wasn’t awake to hear the sprinklers turn on and off at five this morning would think that water was dew. The newspaper is already on the driveway. Your bare shoulders are giving you the chills. Maybe getting back under the covers and closing your eyes would make sense. But so would drawing a bath and soaking for some minutes. Besides, when you close your eyes and lie in bed for an hour and sleep hasn’t come yet you start to think it might be better to just stay awake all night. Face it, some nights you just don’t get any sleep.

Now you’re looking out the window like a reverse voyeur. There’s an old man you’ve never seen before walking down the street. He’s looking around suspiciously, although you can’t imagine why. Your busybody neighbor who goes to sleep at 7 pm has been up for at least an hour. His son and business partner arrive in that white Ford Explorer. The exercisers are up and alert. These are people who have gotten reasonable amounts of sleep. They’ll go to work in two hours, after the shower, after the cereal, after Good Morning America. The street is silent. You wonder if it is cold outside. The weather is cold, if that word means anything at the beginning of July. You think about making some coffee. Because, let’s face it, some nights you just don’t get any sleep. Besides, you never were good at sleep anyway.