Friday, October 5, 2007

Late for work

I was 10 minutes late for work this morning. I woke up at 5:15 am, got up and got out of bed and started to walk towards my closet. Something in the corner made me turn my head and I realized that Jeeves was in the corner of my room, in the process of waking up too. He was stretching out his front and back legs while he lay on his side. His eyes were squeezed shut and his mouth was open wide while his tongue curled upwards towards his top front teeth. I thought it was odd that he was even present, because I had left him at my parents house. I sat down next to him and put my arms around his neck. He was warm and soft and sleepy, so he let me. Normally he doesn't like being cuddled, but when he's really sleepy, he puts up with it. I try and take advantage of that when I can.
As happy as I was to see him, I thought it was really strange that he was there. Then I walked over to the closest, he followed me quietly, with his ears and head carried low and his tail wagging, silently. His nails clicked on the hard wood but it was clear he was trying to be soundless. I started to decide what I wanted to wear. I noticed something on the floor - it was one of his toys, which he picked up and then dropped as he noticed something else, also in the closet. I bent down although I was sure it was another toy. It was, in fact, but not one of his. It was one of mine, a soft toy of a Beatrix Potter character, Benjamin Bunny. He had been given to me when I was very small by my aunt Fran. He wore a little brown jacket and a green tam o shanter and had a red handkerchief in his pocket for stealing onions from Mr. Macgregor's garden.
The day before, Jeeves had savagely torn Benjamin's jacket into pieces and dragged him into the back garden at my parents house. But here he was, lying in my closet with his jacket in one piece. Upon closer examination, I noticed that it wasn't actually in one piece, but rather someone had carefully stitched the pieces back together.

I concluded that my mother must have visited me in the night, bringing both Jeeves and Benjamin, after mending Benjamin's coat. How she hadn't woken me or why she had done it was beyond me. It occurred to me that I might even be dreaming but that made no sense. I was up and awake and getting ready for work.

I continued to get dressed and finally went to turn the radio off. I was right on time. And then I saw myself lying in bed still.

Then I rolled over and looked at the clock only to realize that it was 5:57 and I was supposed to be at work in 3 minutes.

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