When the Right One Comes Along

Chapter 3: Sleepy Time Bears-1

Chapter 3: Sleepy Time Bears

That night Jonathan slept fitfully. One of those nights when you couldn’t be sure you’d even been asleep. He woke twice in the night, once around midnight to towel off his face, neck, and upper body, and change clothes. His T-shirt and shorts were soaked through. The sheets and pillow were damp and clammy to the touch. Before daybreak, he felt chilled and grabbed his bathrobe from the foot of the bed and slipped it on. Then, still not warm enough, he added a heavy blanket to the bed. He finally woke around seven and decided to get up. It was a workday and he rationalized he’d be better off busy and occupied with customers and stocking shelves, better than sitting around the house waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. He was putting on his jacket when Philip called.

Philip refrained from being overly solicitous. He decided before he called to keep the conversation as light as possible. Jonathan was late for work so not much got said that morning, other than saying he was checking in before his first class to see how he was and hoped to see him later in the week. When the call ended, Jonathan was out the door and headed for the bus.