Tuesday, December 7:

Johnny's Place

The early-dawn sounds of birds calling to each other in the trees woke Johnny. He was surprised to find it was morning. This was the first time he had really slept in almost three weeks. He had crashed on the sofa after returning home from the visit with Dr. Wilson, too exhausted to do anything else. Refreshed by the long sleep, he stretched, pulled on his running shorts, and headed out the door.

Once outside, he started jogging for the park where he liked to run while in the city. He hadn't gone running since before the temporary transfer to 127's. He loved running. The rhythm of his feet and his breathing always felt like he was merging with the pulse of the universe. Running made him feel infinite. As he ran in the early quiet, his spirits lightened along with the morning sky.

Thursday, December 9:

Johnny's Place

Johnny had spent the previous two days doing things he enjoyed. As he now looked around the messy apartment, he knew it was time to do some things he didn't particularly enjoy. Newspapers and mail spilled off the table onto the floor. The kitchen was no longer clean, since he had begun eating again. The mound of dirty clothing in the living room threatened to spontaneously generate. And his closet and dresser drawers were just about empty. The bathroom looked the way bathrooms look when they haven't been cleaned for a month. It took the rest of the morning to sort through the clutter and scrub what needed scrubbing.

Around noon, he called Dr. Wilson's office. They talked for a little while, and the doctor asked Johnny to stop by on Saturday.

Once the apartment was tidied, Johnny decided to wash and wax the Land Rover while the day was still sunny. A few hours later, the vehicle was sparkling.

Finally tackling the task he liked least, he stuffed the huge pile of soiled clothing into several pillowcases and took them over to the Laundromat. He had brought a paramedic text along to read while he waited for the cycles to finish, but ended up flirting with a woman doing her laundry.

By the time he returned from the Laundromat, it was early evening. He knew he should call Roy and had finally run out of things to postpone the call any longer.

"Hi, Roy."

"Hi Johnny. What's up?"

"Just cleaning house, doing laundry and stuff."

The silence on the line grew strained as both men struggled to think of something neutral to say. They hadn't spoken to each other since Sunday.

Johnny thought of something first. "Did you still need help painting the eaves?"

"No. I finished that. I'm scraping and painting the window sills, now."

"Can you use some help?"

"Sure. If you want to."

"I'll come over Saturday."

"Are you coming in tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"We've got a trainee scheduled."

"Oh."

The silence started to build again.

"Uh, Roy?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm real sorry about the other day."

"Yeah, me too. I think we both said some things we didn't mean."

"Okay."

"Well, see you tomorrow."

"Bye."