Another thunder made her hide under the blanket. There was no way she was getting any sleep tonight. She looked at the clock on her bedroom table. It showed 0:23.
Just call him.
But she couldn't. It had been a long evening at Cheers with many costumers to serve drinks to. When they had said their goodbyes and kissed each other a goodnight-kiss, he had headed straight home. He'd left and she'd stayed. It was her turn to close with Woody. But Sam hadn't been gone for long before she heard thunder outside. At that time it wasn't a problem because she was surrounded by lots of people and besides her, she had Woody. And of course, Norm.
Through the late evening the thunder only got worse, and most of the costumers decided to leave. Even Norm left 2 hours earlier than usually. The bar was completely empty around 10:20. Woody had cleaned the glasses while she had taken care of the tables. It hadn't taken as long as expected and soon she was home, all covered up in blankets to hide from the thunder. What was it with her and thunder, she thought.
She couldn't explain exactly. She just felt uncomfortable every time she was left alone and thunder was going on outside. She had felt that way as long as she could remember. When she was a child, she would have her cat Elizabeth to comfort her. Now, she had nothing. Nothing but her toys.
And boy did that Mr. Jammers get some squeezes this night. It was getting quite hot under the blanket and she was running out of air. Slowly she moved the blanket from the head area so that she could breathe properly.
The sound of raindrops hitting the bedroom window was clearer and louder now that she had removed the blanket from her head. She looked around in the dark bedroom and spotted the telephone on her desk.
She wanted to call him so badly. Just the sound of his voice would make her calm. It usually did.
The first couple of times she called him in these kinds of situations, he'd sounded so calm and understanding. Just talking about silly things like cartoons and what lunch he ate earlier would make her aware that she wasn't alone anymore. He was there with her the whole time. And it didn't matter if they were miles apart as long as she was able to communicate with him. Then it'd be alright. And often she'd manage to fall asleep after talking with him. But it had been years since it had last happened and back then, he got more tired of her phone calls in the middle of the night.
He didn't tell her directly but the tone of his voice was like "You're a grown woman. Deal with it. It's only thunder". She knew that was a long time ago, but the memory of the last time she called him, made her stay in her bed. She was a grown woman. Even more grown than she was at that point of time. Shouldn't she have grown from this fear a long time ago?
It was silly, and that was another reason why she remained completely frozen in her bed.
Outside the weather was acting crazy and the sound of a lightning hitting the earth followed by thunder came more often than before.
But she didn't hide under the blanket this time. Instead she squeezed Mr. Jammers as hard as she could.
I have to go through this night. All by myself.
She lay down on the bed in a foetal position and embraced Mr. Jammers with her tears.