The Days Grow Longer
The days grow longer ... It is still sunlight when I get into bed and turn on the television. I watch an hour or so of a movie before falling asleep. I wake up two times a night … 1:00 … 3:00 … Sometimes it takes as much as an hour to go back to sleep, but usually it only takes a few minutes. The dreams get longer and more intense as the night progresses. Last night I dreamt someone borrowed a bunch of my books without asking—an entire bookcase full of books. I was angry when I saw the bare shelves, then relieved when I woke up and realized it was a dream …
On week mornings I wake up at 5:30, get the paper, turn on the coffee … While getting ready for work, I listen to the weather and traffic reports on television. Around 6:30, I kiss Diane goodbye and leave for work. These days the sun is up at that hour ... The days grow longer … I drive down the freeway in the sunlight, sipping coffee and listening to the radio. It takes twenty minutes to reach central Austin. I park and walk to campus. I unlock my office at 7:00 … I work … At lunch I write something for the blog, or not … for the past few days, it’s been not …
I leave my office at 4:00. I drive home on the same freeway. Sometimes I stop to pick up a few groceries. It is around 4:40 when I get home. Most days Diane and I go to the swimming pool. Sometimes we are the only ones there, other times there are a few other people—young couples with little kids, young people sunning themselves, an occasional person closer to our age …
A couple of weeks ago, as we entered the pool area, we saw a little boy no more than three years old wandering around in his pajama bottoms, completely alone. He started to get into the pool. Diane stopped him. Had he gotten into the pool, the water would have been over his head and he surely would have drowned ... I went to the office and told the manager about him. She jumped up from her desk and followed me out to the pool. On the way she told me that one of the maintenance men had seen him earlier wandering around the parking lot; he had lost sight of the boy and had been trying to find him ever since. She took the boy by the hand and led him into the office. She called the police. Later she told us he was put into protective custody ...
We never found out who the boy was, or where he came from, or why he was wandering around alone. Nor did we find out how he managed to get through the locked gate into the pool area ... Later, it occurred to us that, if we hadn’t gone swimming that day (we almost decided against it), no one would have been there to prevent him getting into the pool … I dreamed about the boy that night … So did Diane …
The days grow longer … We swim in the afternoon. After swimming, I drink a glass of mineral water with a lime and answer my email. I scan the news. I write something for the blog … or not … for the past few days, it’s been not … I read a book last weekend, so didn’t have time for the blog. It was a history of Galveston. We want to go to the coast, but money is tight … Still, maybe we can find a way. We need a change of scenery …
The days grow longer. It is still sunlight when I get into bed and turn on the television. I watch an hour or so of a movie before falling asleep. I wake up two times a night … 1:00 … 3:00 …
The days grow longer … We swim in the afternoon …
On week mornings I wake up at 5:30, get the paper, turn on the coffee … While getting ready for work, I listen to the weather and traffic reports on television. Around 6:30, I kiss Diane goodbye and leave for work. These days the sun is up at that hour ... The days grow longer … I drive down the freeway in the sunlight, sipping coffee and listening to the radio. It takes twenty minutes to reach central Austin. I park and walk to campus. I unlock my office at 7:00 … I work … At lunch I write something for the blog, or not … for the past few days, it’s been not …
I leave my office at 4:00. I drive home on the same freeway. Sometimes I stop to pick up a few groceries. It is around 4:40 when I get home. Most days Diane and I go to the swimming pool. Sometimes we are the only ones there, other times there are a few other people—young couples with little kids, young people sunning themselves, an occasional person closer to our age …
A couple of weeks ago, as we entered the pool area, we saw a little boy no more than three years old wandering around in his pajama bottoms, completely alone. He started to get into the pool. Diane stopped him. Had he gotten into the pool, the water would have been over his head and he surely would have drowned ... I went to the office and told the manager about him. She jumped up from her desk and followed me out to the pool. On the way she told me that one of the maintenance men had seen him earlier wandering around the parking lot; he had lost sight of the boy and had been trying to find him ever since. She took the boy by the hand and led him into the office. She called the police. Later she told us he was put into protective custody ...
We never found out who the boy was, or where he came from, or why he was wandering around alone. Nor did we find out how he managed to get through the locked gate into the pool area ... Later, it occurred to us that, if we hadn’t gone swimming that day (we almost decided against it), no one would have been there to prevent him getting into the pool … I dreamed about the boy that night … So did Diane …
The days grow longer … We swim in the afternoon. After swimming, I drink a glass of mineral water with a lime and answer my email. I scan the news. I write something for the blog … or not … for the past few days, it’s been not … I read a book last weekend, so didn’t have time for the blog. It was a history of Galveston. We want to go to the coast, but money is tight … Still, maybe we can find a way. We need a change of scenery …
The days grow longer. It is still sunlight when I get into bed and turn on the television. I watch an hour or so of a movie before falling asleep. I wake up two times a night … 1:00 … 3:00 …
The days grow longer … We swim in the afternoon …
posted by Mack White at 3:33 PM
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