13
The distant ringing of a bell intruded on Nathan’s sleep, nudging him towards consciousness. It seemed to take a long time for him to wake, and it was only when his fog-filled brain registered that the bell he could hear was the ringing of his phone that he came fully awake.
He groaned in dismay at having his sleep, sorely needed after his later than expected night, disturbed and forced his eyes open as he groped for his phone. He found it and got it to his ear long before he managed to unglue his eyes, not that opening them made any difference for no light came through the curtains covering the window.
“Stone,” he croaked into the phone. He hoped that the roughness of his voice stemmed from a lack of sleep and didn’t herald the onset of a cold, brought on by getting drenched, being
