“I keep waking up at night,” I proclaim to my distracted roommates. “It’s that—” I hold off the ready expletive, “—music.” I glance around the small, busy kitchen, wondering if any of them had heard me. “I need it to stop, okay? I’ll buy you earphones, I don’t care, but I need to sleep.”
“What’s that?” said Lucy, pulling out an earbud.
“I need the music to stop,” I repeat.
“You can hear it?” she asks, a look of surprise coming over her face.
“That’s what I’ve been talking about. It keeps waking me up.”
Her face passed from surprise to confusion. Her eyes wandered the over the ordered chaos which ruled most mornings.
“I can barely hear my music over everything. Do you want me to turn it down?”
It takes me a moment to process what she’s saying, and I stare at her, I’m sure with my mouth hanging open, for what feels like a minute.
“No,” I blurt. “Not your music. That’s fine. I’m talking about at night, when I’m trying to sleep, someone keeps waking me up.”
Tale Told 