The first rays of dawn infused the room with a dim, grey light. It was a signal to my nocturnal neighbour, and all went quiet in the next room; the bonks, the moans and the tossing about, gone. His nocturnal noises were replaced by the raucous chorus of cockatoos, shouting their heads off in the nearby trees, as though a new day had never before occurred, and they were rendered ecstatic and had to tell each other all about it.
I didn’t share their enthusiasm. I felt more haggard than ever. Another night of intermittent sleep, interspersed with long spells listening to the goings on next door. I couldn’t shake off my apprehension. I didn’t dare put on the light in case he saw it and sought companionship, or worse, saw it as an invitation to molest me in some fashion. For he must have known
