Marie Ia.lerum
He got out of the car and
slowly climbed the steps to his front door.
The street was quiet, all the
other houses were dark.
He opened the door and stooped
to pick up the mail as he entered.
He turned the lights on.
"Bills, I'll look at them tomorrow"
he thought to
himself and put them down on
the kitchen counter.
For a moment he stopped,
pondering if he should get
something out of the fridge to
eat or drink.
"Nah, I'm too tired."
He turned the lights off again.
Slowly he went upstairs in the dark.
Inside the bedroom he only
turned the small bedside lamp on.
Darkness felt soothing to him tonight.
He hung his jacket over the
back of a chair.
Picking the cell phone up from
the inside pocket, he switched
it off and hooked it up to
charge the batteries.
He kicked his shoes off by the
chair and dropped the rest of
his clothes in a pile on the floor.
He sat down on the bed and
picked up the alarm clock,
making sure the alarm was
turned off. As he put it down
again the numbers on it glowed
in the dark: 3 a.m.
He turned the lamp off.
He lay down, pulled the covers
up to his ear and turned over
on his side.
"Boy, this feels good."
He closed his eyes and dropped
off to sleep.