SQN - Sine Qua Non - Issue 1 - Journal - Page 93
SINE QUA NON
of his own. I paced all around his room for a bit, then parked myself at the foot of his bed
instead of in the corner. Even that didn’t help. What happened to my magic power? Had I
lost it? I feared the worst. Still, I couldn’t leave him. So I decided to plop myself right next to
him. No, not on his bed, that might have woken him up. On the floor. He had a nice thick
rug there and, after all, I was used to camping out on floors. Finally, he quieted down. Well,
I spent a lot of nights on that rug, and it wasn’t half bad—you know what I mean—sleeping
so close to—you do know what I mean, don’t you?
Anyway, one morning he must have awakened early because, when I finally opened
my eyes, the very first thing I saw was his beaming face leaning over the edge of the bed
and looking down on me, as if he’d been waiting a good while for me to wake up. “Buddy!
What’s going on?” Of course I ran back to my room. Only to hear the patter of his bare
feet approaching and then feel his warm body parking next to me on my bed. “It’s OK. I
appreciate you looking out for me. In fact, it’s more than OK. You’re my Buddy, right? We
look out for each other.” Of course I could only keep my back to him, I certainly couldn’t
respond in any way I could think of, but you bet I heard every word. And it made my day,
well, Heaven, once again.
Anyway, even worse than horror-movie plots were those thunderstorms. And remember,
they were bad for both of us. I would never let any silly horror story do me in. But how can
anyone sleep when the sky is about to fall, right?
One late-night thunderstorm, it was probably months later, and I was probably howling
from my room far louder than Jimmy, so he finally yelled out, “Buddy, come on in here.” So
I did. And when I started to settle on the rug, he patted the bed for me to plop down right
next to him. On top of the bed! How could I say no? Of course he was under the blanket, and
I was on top, so, you know, but who could ask for more? Answer: not me.
We slept together from that night on. Oh, I still had my bedroom, for daytime naps and
such. At night, we didn’t cuddle, didn’t even touch, but we helped each other out, and for the
most part, he started getting a much better night’s sleep. I did too.
But only for the most part. On those bad nights I wouldn’t want to wake him but
wouldn’t want him to feel stranded in his sleep either. Sometimes I would tap him lightly,
just for a second, on the back of a shoulder, say, and if that didn’t work, I’d scrounch down
and place my chin on top of one of his feet so he could feel me ever so slightly through the
blankets. And I’d stay there. That seemed to work a little when nothing else worked at all. But
then came the night of the biggest, loudest, scariest thunderstorm of all time.
On that occasion he was pretty much out for the count but still making noises as if his
sleeping self was able to hear the thunder and scared to death of it. So what I did was this. As
gently as possible so as not to wake him, I laid my whole body right on top of his and settled
in. You bet that calmed him down. But only a little. So I couldn’t leave, could I? Well, since I
had to keep my balance up there, I tried not to fall asleep myself. That way I could keep watch
over him, you see. All night. But eventually, Jimmy seemed at peace under my worrisome
vigil, and I guess I must have felt so confident in my magic power being restored, and was so
tired, that I let myself doze. Just a bit. Point being: I lost track of the time and neglected to
run off before morning.
Now that I think back, we probably woke up within a second of each other, because the
first thing I saw that day was his face below mine with his eyes closed. For about a heartbeat.
Maybe two—not enough time for me to remember to yikes get lost. Then his eyes popped
open, and all of a sudden, he was looking right at me, right at my eyes. Through my eyes is
what it felt like. I froze. But then he did the strangest but most wonderful thing. He smiled.
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