Sleep at last

The past month’s hot weather has brought us unwelcome houseguests. No, not the family. The mosquitoes. Every night before bed, Josh closes himself into the bedroom and goes mosquito hunting. It just so happens that all the doors in our apartment have small windows like laboratories or…an insane asylum--windows through which one can observe a subject. As I brush my teeth I stand out in the hall and observe Josh. He holds completely still in the corner of the room, his eyes pass slowly over the walls and ceiling.

Without warning, he begins to stalk across the room with his fingers wrapped around the handle of a fluorescent orange fly swatter. In a sudden fury, he leaps across the bed and SMACK! Then, he pauses for just a moment before slowly peeling the swatter off the wall to reveal a dime-sized explosion of bright red blood and splattered mosquito parts. This ritual goes on for ten to fifteen minutes.

And most nights do not pass without one or two midnight hunts........I hear a faint buzz, and then I feel a pillow placed on top of my face. A moment later, through my eyelids and the pillow, I can sense the light has come on. I peak out from between the pillow sandwich and see Josh sitting pretzel style on the bed, eyes roaming around the room looking for prey.

Last night at 3am, Josh had had enough. The room was hot, our hands and knees were itchy, and Josh had a long day of work ahead of him.

“Can you get up? I am going to set up the tent.” I could hear the exasperation in his voice.

I stood by the bed squinting and sleepy as he pulled the sheets off the bed and set up the tent in less than four minutes.

Once we settled into the tent, Josh wiggled around on the sheets and made little happy noises like a kid with a Ninja Turtles tent set up on his bed---only now the tent is REI.