A Bedtime Story

...and it was already midnight, your usual bedtime, and so I asked whether you were already sleepy and you said kinda but your heart was palpitating because you drank some coffee and then I said maybe it's not because of the coffee and then you asked what it could be, then I had to say maybe it was because of cyclic AMP and all that biochem blather because it was too early to be straightforward and it simply wouldn't do.

And we had this long-winded talk about cells because the cyclic AMP brought it on but you insisted that it was probably the coffee and you said you were also hungry and that was usually the case, then I asked you to go grab a bite and you said you're too lazy to get out of bed, and I said if I were there I'd go get you some pizza and bring it over to your bed and you said that would be lovely.

Then I asked you if I were there in your room, will you allow me to lie down beside you and you said only if I promise not to do anything and I promised and that I will be stiff, stiff as a post, but then I thought you were cold, would you come a little closer to me and you said no thank you, you have a blanket, then I said now I'm the one who was cold and I asked if I can share your blanket and you said you'll get me another blanket, but I did not want you to rouse yourself so I offered to take the blanket but then I slipped and fell...?

And you said I fell on the bed then I said I bounced back and fell on...? And you said I fell on the floor this time and then I said I hit my head on the floor and now I've got temporary amnesia and I looked at you and I asked who you are.

And you told me I was a priest with a vow of chastity and then I said, I still don't know who you were, and then you said you were confessing your sins to me, and then I questioned why we'd be doing that in your bedroom but you brushed that aside and you said that your sin was that you lied to me that I was a priest.

And then I said that since I was the priest, the punishment I gave you was that you will care for the first man you will see, and surprise, that was me, but then you said that I couldn't do that since I do not know who I really was yet but then I said it didn't matter and then you said since it was your house, it's your rules but I said that when you said that you slipped and fell on...?

The bed you said, and then I said you bounced back and fell into my arms and as I looked at you, my memory came back, and then you said you fell asleep in my arms, and so I said I'd lay you down on your bed carefully and guard you while you sleep then you said "Goodnight Bry, til tomorrow" and I said "Good night C****, I'll keep my watch so you will be safe" and it turned out to be a great night all in all.

And now you're sleeping there in your room, back in the real world, but I'm still here within my imagination, watching you sleep and I tell you it's still too early you know, it's much too early, but I want to thank you for keeping this little boy inside of me alive again and I do not know what will happen to us, really, but I do not care because these precious moments that I've had after meeting you had been the happiest I've had all year.

"And so it came to pass that in the dying land of his heart, rain came finally pouring down from the heavens, bringing life to its mountains and valleys and plains - a reminder that what was thought dead can still be revived. Once sown, the seed of love persists. Dormant, it may be at times, but a love as deep as this cannot be uprooted. It lasts until the end of time."