The fire alarm had gone off, there was chaos everywhere and distant siren sounds of fire engines could be heard. Everyone was scrambling to get out but it seemed I was scrambling on the spot. I looked up and at that very moment the roof was caving in. As I screamed and covered my face with my hands, I woke up.
Whew!!Bad dream so why could I still hear the fire alarm. I scrambled out of bed as I realized it was my door bell ringing. I checked the time and it was 04:04 am. Is Lady Macbeth here for my sleep? I got out of bed and stormed towards the door angrily but lucid enough to peep through the peep hole before yanking off the door chain and opening my door.
There stood my friend, Lance (not his real name). Now Lance and I are buddies but 4 am? “This had better be good “I thought to myself.
As soon as he stepped into my apartment, he started apologizing for showing up unannounced (strike two. And to think I was going to rant about the time). Apparently he had lost his phone so that explained why he didn’t call ahead but still didn’t explain why he was at mine at this hour. Lance said he had been having a bad week, everything seemed to be going south for him and he needed someone to talk to. Emmmmm okay.
I excused myself and went into the little girls’ room. Apparently all that running on the spot had an effect on my body functions.
When I got out he was still standing where I left him only now, he had gotten really comfortable on my wall (I have never understood why any human being would lean on a white wall). I hugged him to comfort him as well as to get him off my wall and he held unto me as if his life depended on it.
I got him to sit down and we talked or rather he talked and I listened till he had gotten it all off his chest. When he was done, I think we both took it for granted that he would stay what was left of the night. As I got back into bed, He went into the bathroom and I heard a sound that sent shivers up my spine and goose bumps all over my body. He was brushing his teeth.
What with? OMG!! My toothbrush!! How could he? We have only just started sharing pain and now, my toothbrush? I was screaming and stammering soundlessly, the sound of him spitting into the sink almost brought up my dinner. When i heard him gaggle, my over active mind’s eye was seeing my toothbrush twirling around in his throat then I heard the bathroom door open.
He came out looking like they weight of the world was on his left shoulder so It didn’t seem fair to talk about my tooth brush right then instead, I prayed I had an extra brush at home somewhere or at least he would leave early enough for me to run to the store and buy a toothbrush and still make it to work on time.
I had only caught a little shut eye before my alarm went off and I had to get up and get ready. He got up too because he had to go get ready for work. He promised to call with his new number as soon as he had it sorted out.
As I shut the door behind him, I scrambled to my storage cupboard and sadly there was no toothbrush. I jumped in to slacks, grabbed my purse and ran down to the kiosk at the corner of my street. Luckily they opened early, I quickly bought a toothbrush and ran back home. As I rinsed out my new toothbrush before applying tooth paste (having dropped the old one in the bin) I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was a toothbrush but it wasn’t mine.
In about a second I figured out what had happened and started laughing at myself. Lance had brought his own toothbrush. I kept laughing as I got ready for work and it was only as I was locking my door behind me that I stopped to wonder “why on earth did Lance have his toothbrush on him and why would he leave it behind?”
