4.00am was Nessa Reid’s favourite time to exercise. But since detecting a pattern in people’s response to her sharing this—cringing before they inched away from her, their expressions saying she must be insane because nobody in their right mind chooses exercise over bed, especially when it was dark—she decided to keep it to herself.
Admittedly, she had to force the habit for the first few months. After that, it grew on her to the point that now if anything prevented her donning the sneakers and hitting the pavement at that time, she morphed into Nessa-Crankypants-Reid. She got over it if she fitted in an alternative workout, although it never quite measured up. Pre-dawn was the only time she was guaranteed not to have to mediate, pacify, restrain, or sympathise with anyone. For a fleeting
