Linda smiled when I shrugged. She fastened the top button of her flannel pajamas. I still had to change into mine, so I told Dad to stay in the bathroom until it was safe to come out. I felt weird with Linda there, even with the psych book propped on her lap. Transactional Analysis. Parent. Adult. Child. The trio in all of us. I wanted Linda to lift her book and tuck her head into it.
I didn’t tell her I was a thrasher in sleep, that I tossed and turned and moled myself in. Even during the hot summer, I couldn’t sleep without some kind of cover over me. A clam, a snail, a turtle. All blankets were mine during nightly journeys.
Dad came out wearing his blue pajamas. When Linda finished with her ablutions, he flicked on the TV. Joan Rivers had replaced a vacationing Johnny Carson and was
