Slumber

I never realized how much of a break I needed from Emory. Waking up at 9 am, I showered and dressed to spend the next four hours sleeping in a car. We had a wine vineyard , Jake’s Sports Bar, a grocery store, and an outlet mall on the agenda. I slept through the morning along miles of smooth interstate and backwoods highway, recovering from my slumber long enough to eat a Titan Melt at Jake’s. The Swiss cheese and mushrooms saturated my stomach, but this only made me more tired. After the meal, I zombied to the car and hit the leather seats as if going into a coma.

My eyes opened to sunlight and a cold wind. The side door had been opened by my dad, and we were at the mall. I crawled from the car, hiding my eyes in the shadow of my hands. One store and two pairs of jeans later, I was done shopping. (Why do we call them pairs anyway?) We left the mall, and returned home. This brings me to where I am now.

A Saturday evening, I’m preparing myself to return the real world. Part-time jobs of library assistant and math tutor await my return. Homework rests in neat piles on my desk waiting to be ruffled through. But for now, I can rest easy in this warm bed. Three pillows and shifted blankets, I’ll lose myself in them before I go back. This is the night where I sleep peacefully. Like superheroes without villains, I’m going to forget about my work for the night and drift quietly to sleep.