7. She had assignments to complete
Suddenly the alarm sounded! I was shocked. Had time passed so rapidly? It seemed. The instant the alarm sounded, Carol woke, got up, dressed, switched it off. As if in another world, a dream world, a fantasy world, still in a daze over the comforting night we had spent together holding hands, it took me several minutes, to come round, to realise I wasn’t alone at home, to realise I was wearing tight uncomfortable pyjamas.
“Up, Bruce, up!” My head kept telling me.
“Help Carol find her phone!” My brain was still trying to register, sending commands to my body. Would I move? Could I move? I felt like a ship floundering in the waves of the thick duvet covering me. Was I deeply drugged?
“Get out of bed, you have work to do!” My head commanded me again and again.
Both of us were in the lounge, waiting. Where would we hear the iPhone’s alarm come from? Would it come from the lounge seat where Carol sat the night before?
At 7am we heard it! The iPhone’s alarm went off at the designated hour. But from where did it come neither of us could isolate its source. Unreal! It kept ringing but we still were confused. We could not pinpoint where the sound was coming from. This seemed ridiculous, two people who use their ears more than most, yet we were stymied.
“Ears! Please help me solve this enigma,” was all I could hear running through my head like a commentary?
Carol had already removed all the cushions from the couch. She thought it was coming from under one of the cushions where we had searched the night before. Nothing!
“Shall we try to triangulate the sound to discover where it was coming from,” I posed?
“Point to the source you think it’s coming from while you stand near the lounge door, and I’ll do the same as I stand at the bedroom door.” I instructed.
We were getting closer. Our idea was starting to bear fruit. At last, something positive. Yes, either from under the couch or behind it!
“Oh, No,” I thought. “This will entail a lot more heavy work, moving furniture.”
“For how long will your phone keep ringing?” I started to worry aloud.
“I don’t know. I’ve never let it ring for as long as this before. I hope the battery won’t die on us,” she confessed.
As we homed in on the alarm, we began to realise the sound was coming from inside the couch. Stranger and stranger, indeed! With the cushions off the couch we could better see its construction. There were thin splits in the upholstery between the separate parts which were then supported and defined by stiff metal bars. The bars lay between the arm rests and the base and the back rest. It must have been painful for her, but Carol’s arms were thinner than mine, she could put her hands down into these slits allowing herself to feel around inside.
She came up with something bright and shinning, in her hand. Was it my lost CD? No, it was her new phone ringing merrily away. She’d found it! Mission accomplished! We hugged each other in celebration. To the kitchen we went, prepared cereal for breakfast, replaced the cushions and sat down to enjoy our Boxing Day breakfast together. As soon as we’d eaten, it was time to take Carol home. She had assignments to complete before the end of their University Christmas holidays.
