(no subject)
Jay was experiencing the pure agony of not being able to sleep. There aren’t many discomforts equal to the constant torment of tossing and turning and being exhausted and wanting only to make it stop. There are many reasons why one wouldn’t be able to sleep. Sometimes a person has so much on his or her mind that he or she can not possibly let go and fall into the blissful state of unconsciousness the occurs when their head meets the pillow. Another prevention of sleep is the common cold. This situation is ironic, for we all know that the best thing for a cold is in fact, sleep. But there’s the stuffy nose, the sneezing and the coughing. Coughing is quite possibly the most terrible symptom of nasal congestion; the deep inhale, the contracting throat and then the actual cough-a painful gagging motion that sounds oddly like a choking seagull. The short coughs are the worst, they’re a lot more painful that the chesty ones that make you sound like a growling dog. Yes, insomnia in any shape or form causes an individual poignant anguish, and Jay had it. But Jay wasn’t turning something that had happened to him earlier in the day over and over in his mind. Nor was he hacking and spitting and blowing his nose. Jay couldn’t sleep because of the clock.
The clock was a beautiful old wooden timepiece that had belonged to Jay’s ex-girlfriend’s Grandmother. It was old, expensive and reeked of the prestige given to a family heirloom. Jay’s girlfriend Susan had placed the clock in a position worthy of its abundant sentimental value-on the clean white mantelpiece in the living room. The clock presided over holidays, parties where Jay got a little too drunk and Susan a little too flirty. And it was under that clock where Jay and Susan would sit in the living room quietly and read, his head resting on her lap while she absentmindedly stroked his hair. But Jay knew all that was over. Susan was fast asleep on her bed upstairs, and here he was on the couch.
He wasn’t worried about their breakup. For awhile, both of them knew that it was ending. They had started to fight about things that weren’t worth anyone’s breath, and the sex had gone from bad to worse. The spark had gone, the “in love” had gone-all that was left was just being used to each other, which wasn’t enough to stay together. Jay was to move out, and he was sleeping on the couch until he found a new place; or at least trying to sleep.
Some people are soothed by the ticking of clocks. The monotonous tick tock is somehow supposed to be reminiscent of our mother’s heartbeat while we were still in the womb. But Jay was thirty years absent from his mother’s womb, and didn’t really want too much to do with it anyway-aside from the yearly pilgrimage he took to her large white house in Connecticut two hours away, if he missed the rush hour traffic. Which he never seemed to. He recalled the time when he and Susan drove to visit his mother in a constant downpour the entire way. The back windshield wipers on Susan’s car made a moaning swish-swish which drove Jay crazy; much like the clock on the mantle.
Tick-tock, swish-swish-any sound that repeated itself over and over again would pound itself into Jay’s brain, beating a headache into his skull. He couldn’t stop listening to it, or counting the beats, or singing songs in his head that had the same rhythm. Or. Making. Every. Word. Of. His. Thoughts. Go. With. Each. Respective. Beat.
Jay looked at his watch because the face of Susan’s old clock was too dark too see. One-thirty. That meant that he’d been tossing and turning and listening to that cursed clock for two hours now. The couch was comfortable enough. He and Susan picked it out and both agreed that a big cushy couch was much better than a hard, angular, decorative one. That was Susan, always picking comfort over fashion. Jay hadn’t seen sexy underwear for years, and had grown to appreciate the endless assortment of white cotton panties with their faded flowers.
Jay got up to go to the bathroom. This was probably the third time in the past two hours. There’s something about not being able to fall asleep that really makes you want to pee. Stumbling back down the stairs to the living room Jay heard a muffled moan coming from Susan’s bedroom.
“Jay? Is that you?”
“Yeah Suse, I’m just going back downstairs. Go back to sleep.”
“Okay.” Jay heard Susan turn over and immediately start snoring quietly. He smiled. He didn’t mind Susan’s snores. They weren’t constant and droning like the clock. Her snores were a set of sporadic snorts and small bouts of heavy breathing, and an occasional mutter. Jay always loved watching Susan sleep, wondering what she dreamt about when her eyelids moved back and forth.
He crawled back under the blankets spread across the couch. The splotchy purple flowers on the bedspread reminded him of the times when he and Susan would giggle over what their guest would think of their style as they set up the couch for someone’s visit. Neither of them thought that Jay would be under that hideous blanket a year later, sleeping on the couch, about to leave forever.
For awhile Jay thought that he’d end up marrying Susan. They’d lived together for three years, been together for five and had grown accustomed to each others quirks. But there would always end up being an obstacle to any consideration of marriage. Like that time when Susan had a job offer in London and they thought they would have to break up. Or Jay’s buddy George’s bachelor party when Jay got completely wasted and kissed-but didn’t sleep with-the stripper. Susan was enraged nonetheless. But when all of those things happened, they still loved each other. When they did fight, it didn’t last very long for they were always so eager to be on good terms again. It was only recently that both Jay and Susan started keeping grudges that would last for months.
The ticking of the clock was getting to be so annoying that Jay was getting ready to smash through the delicate glass window and end it all. But the thought of Susan’s face when she saw her precious timekeeper in pieces stopped him. Instead, he draped an extra blanket over it that muffled the sound a little. Enough for him to try to get to sleep again. With a pillow over his ears Jay finally fell asleep at two o’clock in the morning. That gave him six hours of sleep until he had to wake up and go apartment hunting the next day. He had seen a place downtown near his work that looked reasonable, lots of good deli’s around it too.
Jay was awake, drinking coffee when Susan groggily came down the stairs, still in her pajamas.
“Morning Jay, how’d you sleep? I think I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.”
“I slept fine,” Jay smiled, “There’s still some coffee if you want some. I’m going down to 27th and Broadway this morning to look at that apartment.”
“Mmm, good coffee. That’s a nice neighborhood. Greg and Anice live around there I think.”
“Yeah, they’re a couple of blocks down.” Jay stood up and put his mug in the kitchen sink. “I’m off Suse, I’ll give you a call at work and tell you about the apartment.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Goodbye Susan.”
“Bye Jay, good luck okay?”
“Thanks.”
The clock was a beautiful old wooden timepiece that had belonged to Jay’s ex-girlfriend’s Grandmother. It was old, expensive and reeked of the prestige given to a family heirloom. Jay’s girlfriend Susan had placed the clock in a position worthy of its abundant sentimental value-on the clean white mantelpiece in the living room. The clock presided over holidays, parties where Jay got a little too drunk and Susan a little too flirty. And it was under that clock where Jay and Susan would sit in the living room quietly and read, his head resting on her lap while she absentmindedly stroked his hair. But Jay knew all that was over. Susan was fast asleep on her bed upstairs, and here he was on the couch.
He wasn’t worried about their breakup. For awhile, both of them knew that it was ending. They had started to fight about things that weren’t worth anyone’s breath, and the sex had gone from bad to worse. The spark had gone, the “in love” had gone-all that was left was just being used to each other, which wasn’t enough to stay together. Jay was to move out, and he was sleeping on the couch until he found a new place; or at least trying to sleep.
Some people are soothed by the ticking of clocks. The monotonous tick tock is somehow supposed to be reminiscent of our mother’s heartbeat while we were still in the womb. But Jay was thirty years absent from his mother’s womb, and didn’t really want too much to do with it anyway-aside from the yearly pilgrimage he took to her large white house in Connecticut two hours away, if he missed the rush hour traffic. Which he never seemed to. He recalled the time when he and Susan drove to visit his mother in a constant downpour the entire way. The back windshield wipers on Susan’s car made a moaning swish-swish which drove Jay crazy; much like the clock on the mantle.
Tick-tock, swish-swish-any sound that repeated itself over and over again would pound itself into Jay’s brain, beating a headache into his skull. He couldn’t stop listening to it, or counting the beats, or singing songs in his head that had the same rhythm. Or. Making. Every. Word. Of. His. Thoughts. Go. With. Each. Respective. Beat.
Jay looked at his watch because the face of Susan’s old clock was too dark too see. One-thirty. That meant that he’d been tossing and turning and listening to that cursed clock for two hours now. The couch was comfortable enough. He and Susan picked it out and both agreed that a big cushy couch was much better than a hard, angular, decorative one. That was Susan, always picking comfort over fashion. Jay hadn’t seen sexy underwear for years, and had grown to appreciate the endless assortment of white cotton panties with their faded flowers.
Jay got up to go to the bathroom. This was probably the third time in the past two hours. There’s something about not being able to fall asleep that really makes you want to pee. Stumbling back down the stairs to the living room Jay heard a muffled moan coming from Susan’s bedroom.
“Jay? Is that you?”
“Yeah Suse, I’m just going back downstairs. Go back to sleep.”
“Okay.” Jay heard Susan turn over and immediately start snoring quietly. He smiled. He didn’t mind Susan’s snores. They weren’t constant and droning like the clock. Her snores were a set of sporadic snorts and small bouts of heavy breathing, and an occasional mutter. Jay always loved watching Susan sleep, wondering what she dreamt about when her eyelids moved back and forth.
He crawled back under the blankets spread across the couch. The splotchy purple flowers on the bedspread reminded him of the times when he and Susan would giggle over what their guest would think of their style as they set up the couch for someone’s visit. Neither of them thought that Jay would be under that hideous blanket a year later, sleeping on the couch, about to leave forever.
For awhile Jay thought that he’d end up marrying Susan. They’d lived together for three years, been together for five and had grown accustomed to each others quirks. But there would always end up being an obstacle to any consideration of marriage. Like that time when Susan had a job offer in London and they thought they would have to break up. Or Jay’s buddy George’s bachelor party when Jay got completely wasted and kissed-but didn’t sleep with-the stripper. Susan was enraged nonetheless. But when all of those things happened, they still loved each other. When they did fight, it didn’t last very long for they were always so eager to be on good terms again. It was only recently that both Jay and Susan started keeping grudges that would last for months.
The ticking of the clock was getting to be so annoying that Jay was getting ready to smash through the delicate glass window and end it all. But the thought of Susan’s face when she saw her precious timekeeper in pieces stopped him. Instead, he draped an extra blanket over it that muffled the sound a little. Enough for him to try to get to sleep again. With a pillow over his ears Jay finally fell asleep at two o’clock in the morning. That gave him six hours of sleep until he had to wake up and go apartment hunting the next day. He had seen a place downtown near his work that looked reasonable, lots of good deli’s around it too.
Jay was awake, drinking coffee when Susan groggily came down the stairs, still in her pajamas.
“Morning Jay, how’d you sleep? I think I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.”
“I slept fine,” Jay smiled, “There’s still some coffee if you want some. I’m going down to 27th and Broadway this morning to look at that apartment.”
“Mmm, good coffee. That’s a nice neighborhood. Greg and Anice live around there I think.”
“Yeah, they’re a couple of blocks down.” Jay stood up and put his mug in the kitchen sink. “I’m off Suse, I’ll give you a call at work and tell you about the apartment.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Goodbye Susan.”
“Bye Jay, good luck okay?”
“Thanks.”