To say that I’d become accustomed to coming home to some sort of weird situation, is putting it mildly.
This time, Jeff was sitting-up on our living room couch. His head was bent as if he were scrutinizing his foot-ware. It took me a moment to realize he was fast asleep.
The sitting-up-sleeping thing wasn’t the unusual part. It was the fact that he’d couched. We rarely used our formal living room, even though it was right inside our front door.
All the good stuff, like the TV, stereo, surround-sound, book cases and treadmill lived in the den. It was where we spent the majority of our evenings, at home.
He woke up as I finished rustling in. “Oh, hey!” he said, cheerfully, like he hadn’t been completely conked-out. “You’re home early!”
I checked my watch. It was, indeed, a few minutes earlier than normal. “You’re right,” I agreed. “It’s only 5:45.”
“Huh. 5:45?” Jeff frowned. “I was just resting a minute after… oops!”
Wind-milling his legs for propulsion, he pushed off the couch, unsteadily heading toward our Dale Earnhardt shrine-home office.
Paused in the doorway, Jeff threw his arms up in frustration. “Aw, dang it! I never got the groceries put up!”
“When did you go shopping?” I asked, following. Gathering up bags, Jeff answered, “On my way back from dropping off the boxes.”
“When was that?” I prodded. He thought for a few seconds.
“I dunno.” He replied, pulling on his beard. “Sometime around 2:30-ish, I guess. I think I was home by 3:30.”
I was still processing that Jeff had been shoe-inspecting, sleep-sitting for over two hours, when the house phone rang.
Grabbing a few bags on my way to the kitchen to answer the call, I commented over my shoulder. “The milk’s probably no good, but everything else should be ok.”
“The milk’s probably ok, too,” Jeff hopefully argued, as he followed me.
I wrinkled my nose. He just laughed, and headed back to the other end of the house for the rest of the goods.
“Well, you’re the one that’s going to have to drink it…” I amusedly called after him.
I set the groceries on the counter near the phone, and picked up the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Hon!” the cheerful voice on the other end greeted me. We were lucky enough to have the sweetest, most sunshiny neighbor.
“Oh, I’m just checkin'” she chuckled. “Did Jeff tell you about the car, today?”
“About the car?” I squeaked.
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