The Number Puller

“Lightning struck the Empire State Building again,” Teddy said sipping his coffee as the news ticker scrolled by on his television. 

“Really?” Jessica’s brows lifted. 

“It’s not that big of a deal. Lightning hits that building at least twenty-five times a year,” Teddy shrugged his shoulders. Standing, he walked over to his wife and kissed her forehead. “Engineers are learning how to absorb and deflect the massive amounts of energy away from the tall buildings.”

“You and your infinite amount of random facts,” she winked at him. “Hey, before you leave for work, did you get any sleep?” Their eyes locked in a shared understanding. Knox. They both knew it was him. 

“Maybe he’ll pick your number tonight?” she said crossing her fingers and closing her eyes.

Always the dreamer, he thought to himself. 

“Don’t be so pessimistic, Teddy,” she said. “Knox isn’t as bad as you make him out to be. He picks numbers at random. He’s not picking on you. It just isn’t your time. We all have to go through insomnia at times. It’s for the…”

“For the safety of the community,” Teddy cut her off. “I can’t do this today, Jessica.” 

Her shoulders dropped. He hated fussing at her, but his nerves were shot. He needed to think. It had been weeks since he’d slept. He couldn’t eat. He had a new project that was supposed to be going through quality assurance testers, and he had missed multiple loopholes in the code. His boss would be watching over his shoulder. Nothing was worse than being over-supervised. 

“Stop asking me if I’ve slept, Jessica. I haven’t. And stop defending Knox. He can let anyone sleep at any time. He’s a power-hungry Number Puller! The Number Pullers before him were fair, and you know it. Everyone knows it. Insomnia rotated for everyone. Pineville residents only went through this a few times a year, for the sake of the city’s safety.” He left the house and headed to work, the slamming door rattling his nerves further.

Taking a deep breath he rubbed his bloodshot eyes. The burning was getting worse, and he wanted his mind back. 

It had been weeks since he’d slept, but he wasn’t the only one. Last night he’d stared through their window at the apartment complex across the street. Every night more and more lights stayed on. The software engineer in him needed to know why Knox was keeping people up. It was common for the Number Pullers of Pineville to increase insomnia in the city if there was a security issue. He watched the news regularly, but clearly, there was no uptick in crime. Something else was going on.

He felt his blood boil when he thought about the people in Pineville. They never questioned the Number Puller, for safety’s sake, of course. They blindly trusted him for their sleep. If their number didn’t get pulled, they lived with it. If their spouse or child’s number didn’t get pulled, they gave lectures on the safety of the community. Safe. That’s what Pineville lived for. And for the most part, Teddy agreed. Safety mattered, but this wasn’t about safety anymore. 

“Teddy, you look like death,” Anna said as he passed her cubicle shattering his thoughts. 

“Thanks,” he grunted, avoiding her comments as much as possible. The office gossip and full of energy, she drained any remaining people skills he had left. 

He walked two more cubicles down and fell into his office chair. He knew he had to address and fix the bugs they’d identified in testing yesterday, but his mind was too foggy. Why was Knox doing this to Pineville, and him specifically? 

“Teddy,” his boss shouted from his office door. A man with eyebrows like caterpillars and a gut the size of a beach ball, he had a temper. Normally Teddy didn’t get caught up in the emotions of his coworkers, anger, excitement, or jealousy. They clouded his ability to write code. Emotions were irrelevant in the office. He preferred intellectual conversations with his coworkers, his wife, and even Hanley the hotdog cart guy on the street. Life was better that way.

“Teddy,” his boss shouted again, this time more irritable than the last. 

“The code is being sent over for review,” Teddy said as he approached his boss’s door. 

“Good, and why the heck do you look like you’ve been tortured all night?” he demanded. 

“Knox hasn’t pulled my number in weeks,” rubbing his ears to stop the ringing. 

“Oh, give Knox a break. You know he has a hard job deciding who keeps the city safe. Stop complaining. Fix the code. Stop trying to understand the Number Puller, Teddy,” he barked and sat at his desk. Teddy knew there was nothing left to say. He also knew there was no way he’d figure out the code today either. The need for sleep permeated every thought that attempted to fill his mind. 

Sitting back down at his computer, he did the only thing he knew to do. Search the internet. If he could understand how sleep worked, could he override Knox? He’d trick the system. Could he help Pineville sleep again? 

His fingers felt heavy and he typed slower than normal, but he searched, “Why can’t I sleep?” Could organize his thoughts on the science behind the chemicals that should switch off or slow down when it was time to sleep? Chugging his third cup of coffee, he sat back feeling a little relief. Random facts. They helped.

“I’m headed to lunch. Can I…” Anna piped up, startling him and spilling his coffee down his pants. 

“Leave me alone. No, you can’t get me anything!” Grabbing some napkins in his drawer from leftover fast food he dabbed at his pants to no avail. “Ignorant woman,” he mumbled to himself, standing to his feet to leave. 

Deciding food might be better than gallons of coffee he’d ingested, Teddy decided to get a hot dog from Hanley. Maybe an argument with him could stimulate his thoughts. Not in a bad way. But Hanley had a way to keep a conversation intellectual. Teddy could ramble on about how Hanley needed a new point-of-sale system to keep track of his growing hot dog stands and Hanley would fire back that customer experience was more valuable to him than some numbers system. Inevitably though, the conversation ended with each debater eating a hot dog in silence. 

There were few people Teddy respected more than Hanley. And the way his jaw jutted forward underneath a curtain of a mustache made Teddy laugh. He’d twist that thing every time he thought he was winning an argument. Teddy would smile. Then Hanley would come back with a witty comment leaving Teddy silent. It was often the best part of his day. 

“Hey, Curly Fry,” Hanley shouted as Teddy approached the hot dog cart. It was a ridiculous nickname Hanley had given him. “Man, you look like death.” 

“Everyone has said that to me today,” Teddy sighed. “I haven’t slept in weeks man. It’s killing me. Literally.” 

“It’s nothing a hot dog can’t fix,” he laughed, smacking him on the back. 

“I have a dilemma,” Teddy said as he drizzled ketchup in sloppy zigzags across his hotdog. 

“Here we go,” Hanley laughed, as he began to twist his mustache. 

“I’m serious. Knox won’t let me sleep.” 

Silence hung in the air, waiting for either of them to speak against Knox in public. Leaning forward Teddy cupped his mouth and began to whisper, “I have been researching all day. What I figured out is the Number Puller does have some control over what numbers go into the machine at night. He just can’t control what numbers come out at what time.” Pausing to take a shaky bite, he continued. “If I can reprogram the Number Machine to fail, everyone should be able to get the same amount of sleep.” 

“You’re delirious Teddy,” Hanley said shaking his head. “You’ve gone off the deep end. You know everyone in town loves Knox, especially your boss. They’ll never believe you that they can control their own sleep.” 

Shifting in his seat, Teddy thought. He was right, as much as he hated to admit that to the old guy. 

“What does Knox do during the day?” Teddy wondered out loud. 

“Sleep,” Hanley laughed taking a drink out of his old metal water bottle covered in stickers. Water poured down his mustache and onto his chin, and then he wiped it away with the back of his hand. “You know he’s supposed to be honored at the Chamber Of Commerce event tomorrow night?”

An idea filtered into Teddy’s clouded mind. Armed with the facts of how sleep in the city actually worked and some food in his system, he thanked Hanley for another hotdog and conversation and excused himself. 

~~~

Dark and raspy jazz melodies mixed together in the banquet hall as business owners mingled to discuss tourism in Pineville and the upcoming volunteer initiatives. The event was never stuffy. But it was safe. Always safe. Everyone followed safety procedures to enter the banquet hall, and once inside attention to detail was mandatory. 

There was a hand washing station by the buffet, and everyone was handed the latest building evacuation instructions at their assigned table. Teddy was thankful for protocol, it’s how his brain was able to make sense of the world. But tonight, the safety strategies were over the top. He’d wished Jessica could have come tonight, but his boss only had two tickets. One for him, and reluctantly he sent Anna along too.

“She’ll be the life of the party,” his boss had beamed. 

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Teddy mumbled taking the tickets from his hand as he left work earlier that evening. 

Teddy hated these kinds of events. He never knew how to start a conversation, and he’d rather stand against the wall and observe. Especially when Knox walked in. He wanted a good look at him, and he didn’t want the creep to know he’d come tonight. It didn’t matter if everyone believed insomnia was for their safety. It wasn’t. 

There he was. He watched Anna run toward Knox like a high school cheerleader chasing a quarterback, unashamed. Keeping his eyes on Knox, he was taller than he remembered, but also more muscular. Come to think of it, he had been the quarterback in high school. They’d both gone to Centennial High, but their paths never crossed. Knox was the award-winning athlete with muscles. Teddy was the computer nerd with curly hair. 

What did the guy think he needed to prove back then? The next track meet win. The next farthest throw on the field. The next girl to conquer. Rolling his eyes, he rubbed them again. Even breathing had gotten more difficult the longer he went without sleep. Taking an espresso from the waiter walking by, he threw it back. Feeling the burn run down his throat, it was now or never. 

Taking a deep breath, Teddy searched the room for Anna. She was buzzing around any of the men in the room, but Teddy was focused. Wishing he’d been nicer to her earlier, he walked over to her and touched her shoulder. 

“Yes,” she snarled. 

“I need your help. The boss wants me to make an announcement about our upcoming tech conference. Can you get the microphone for me when it’s time for everyone to share?” Teddy would make the announcement, but no one would notice him unless Anna used her magic first. 

“Sure,” Anna said turning back around to bat eyelashes with the newest realtor to the chamber. 

Satisfied, he left to search for the Number Puller machine. He was sure it was just down the hall. The city kept their offices close together, it was safer that way. Just outside the banquet hall, lined the hallway of offices. It didn’t take long, office number 107, two doors down.

Looking around, he tried the door. It was unlocked. “Safety,” he mumbled to himself. Once inside, he saw it. The number puller machine still contained paper numbers, like those found at deli counters. He’d thought the city had become more technologically advanced but apparently, the paper numbers worked just fine. He had to work fast. From his internet search about sleep, he’d learned that the greatest influence to sleep is exposure to light. He’d guessed that’s why no one was sleeping. When Knox pulled people’s numbers, the lights went out in their rooms. If he didn’t pull their numbers, the lights stayed on. The exposure to light made it impossible to fall asleep, especially when the madness continued night after night. 

Teddy’s plan was to reprogram the number puller to fail with every number pulled. With persistence and tact, he’d then have to convince Pineville tonight that they had the ability and responsibility to turn off the lights in their homes on their own. Working quickly, he tapped into the number puller’s system rendering it useless. Testing it himself, he pulled a paper number out of the small metal machine. 

“FAIL.” The red letters flashed across the digital screen. He tried again. “FAIL.”

Perfect. Closing the office door, he snuck back to the banquet just in time to see Anna sauntering her way up to grab the microphone for announcements. 

“On behalf of Software Unlimited, I would like to introduce you to Teddy Reyes. Our lead software engineer. We have an announcement the city of Pineville has been pining to hear,” she giggled about her pun and winked at the realtor who was hanging on her every word. Mumbles filtered across the crowd, as Teddy took the mic. 

His body ached to sit down, but he had to finish what he came to say. Looking across the room, there were faces of friends he’d known for years and faces of people who would protect Knox from any scrutiny. 

“Pineville, I have an announcement to make. It has come to my attention that many of us are sacrificing sleep. The amount of people with insomnia is going up, while crime rates are not changing.” He squinted, eyes blurred. He scanned the crowd for Knox, but couldn’t find him. “Our pursuit of safety keeps us from trying new things. Our obsession with safety keeps us sleepless and in fear. We chose a Number Puller to keep criminal acts down. I would like to propose that it’s not losing sleep that keeps crime low, it’s moments like this.”

Waving his arm across the crowd, he continued. “We need each other, Pineville. But if our senses are dulled due to insomnia and for the sake of safety, we miss seeing each other for who we are. Just like we’ve missed Knox’s power grab for recognition.”

The crowd parted, and Teddy rubbed his eyes again. He was about to pass out from exhaustion. Maybe that would be better. Can someone die from no sleep? 

“You, Teddy, are a liar,” Knox accused. “The reason crime is low is because the city of Pineville has chosen me. I don’t fail, Teddy. It’s what I do. It’s why this banquet is honoring me as the best Number Puller in the city in ten years,” he said. Anna did a small bounce up and down as he brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes. 

“Knox, I’ve calculated that crime rates have gone down consistently, but more and more people lose sleep. You’re torturing many of us who keep Pineville running smoothly, and might I say safely. If this continues, the city won’t be safe any longer. We won’t have functioning minds are ideas. We’ll be irritable and angry,” he finished looking toward Anna with an apologetic side smile.

A gasp from the crowd as someone saw the back doors to the banquet hall open. 

“Jessica?” he asked. Was he hallucinating? Why was she here?

Knox’s face and neck flushed red. Anna tried getting his attention, unaware of anything else happening in the room. 

“Hey Teddy,” Jessica said, walking up and putting her hand on his forearm. 

“What are you…?” 

“Knox, enough is enough.”

Teddy stood stunned. What did she have to do with any of this? 

“May I have the mic?” she whispered. Realizing the mic in his hand was shaking, he handed it to her. 

“Pineville, in high school Knox was the greatest guy. He won awards for us, he stole our hearts. He even put us in the state paper when he smashed that track record. Remember?” she said glancing his way. Knox’s eyes lit up. Teddy wondered why he looked like he was expecting something from Jessica.

She turned to face Knox. “I chose Teddy over you because he loved me. He didn’t need to prove himself to me. He didn’t need me to admire every little thing he did. Knox, don’t look down. Look at me!” 

Teddy had never heard her talk this way before. 

“What we had together has nothing to do with this town. You don’t need to prove yourself to us. You need to let us sleep. I’ve reported your work to the authorities. Your award banquet is off.” 

A tear slipped down Knox’s face, he gripped his fists.

“Jessica, I thought if you saw crime rates go down Pineville couldn’t live without me. And I believed you couldn’t live without me either,” he whimpered, arrogance falling from his voice. 

“Teddy, in honor of Pineville, we want to recognize you,” Hanley said walking up and taking the microphone. “We honor you for your dedication to seeking the truth and true safety for our city.”

~~~

Laying in bed that night, Teddy stared at the ceiling thinking. Pineville no longer had a Number Puller to keep them safe, but as he drifted off to blissful sleep, he realized they had a whole lot more. They had the freedom to choose when they slept, when they got together as a community, and more than that, they had each other.