Sleep Tight

Sleep Tight

“I’m going back,” Mia said.

“Going back, where?”

“Back to St Lucia,” said Mia to her sister, Sylvia.

“Rather you than me, I recall, it was a traumatic family holiday that year.”

“Yes  I  know , I remember,” Mia screwed up her face, her eyes reflecting the pain of  remembering.

 “This boarding house is very primitive,”  Marlene  their mother had sniffed. That was true. Linoleum on  the  floor  showed cracks along the skirting board, the curtains were worn,  window frames needed paint. There was an overall look of decay and neglect.

“What can you expect out here, miles from anywhere,”  said  Dennis,  only interested in the angling side of things, anything to do with fish.

They had brought their little dog along, Toby.  After  10  days of boredom, the girls and dog went with Marlene and Dennis in a small rowing boat. There was a ghillie too.  A storm came up.

“ I  am afraid ,”cried out  Mia as she and Sylvia were pushed into the small safe space in the bow. Mia  saw  the hippos lifting their heads,  showing their eyes. They seemed to pop up everywhere,  watching,  sinister and huge.

The waves bundled the boat around , rain slashed down, the wind blew the little dog over the side. “No!’ shrieked Mia, Sylvia hid her face. It was too rough, Toby disappeared in the grey water.

“Press on, we can’t do anything!” said Dennis to the ghillie, or we’ll all get drowned.”

Mia  struggling  to get out from the bow , jumped  over the side. She swam to where she could see the little dog and got him by the neck .

“Hang on, hang on,” the ghillie swept by, catching hold of her jumper. They were pulled back into the boat,  just  in time before a huge wave hit them and they were almost turned upside down.

Mia never forgot how her father had said “press on,” when Toby was going to die in the cold water.

At the jetty, they clambered out, like wet rats.

Now Mia was going back, to see if she could  face  the  pain, of returning to a place where she  had lost all respect for her father.

She packed carefully, the evening before her flight to  Durban, you had to be ready for any kind of weather in the tropics.

 The passengers streamed off the bus in front of the Mfolozi  Hotel.

Mia stood at the desk waiting to sign in. The lobby was very old fashioned with ancient looking, leather  furniture .  There was a stale, sour smell of beer and damp.

“I  am afraid , you have to share a room, with another guest,” said the manager, “the hotel  is fully booked and there is only one room left. We didn’t receive the correct number of bookings. The rest of the town is booked up, for the community  annual  sport festival,  you won’t find anything anywhere else.”

He was a thin weasly looking man, with close cropped grey hair, not someone to cross swords with.

“Here are  the keys to room 112 on the first floor.”

A young man stood next to Mia,

 “ I must be your bedroom partner?  I didn’t expect this to be a luxury holiday but this  beggars belief.  We don’t seem to have an option at this time of night? My name is Gray by the way.”

“Mia,” she mumbled.

Walking up a flight of stairs

“I didn’t come for a luxury holiday either, just to lay old ghosts. “

“Tell me about it when we have got to the room.”

“At least the beds are single, that  helps,  we don’t need to get too cosy!”  Laughing, he put his bags down in front of the door. Taking her suitcase, he lifted it up with strong hands on to the suitcase rack. She got a faint scent of his after shave lotion, a hint of lemon and lavender.

“We  have to share this space too.”

Mia had seen Gray on the bus and on the flight from Cape Town. He had a firm mouth and eyebrows growing close over the bridge of his nose.  He walked with a steady pace and long stride. There was a deep timbre to his voice.  This did  not make her feel more comfortable about sharing a room with him. It was the pits, having to share a room with a man who looked as if he could eat her for breakfast, large muscular arms and legs and a mischievous look in his eyes. She hated the thought of sharing a bathroom with him. She would forego having a shower at least for now.

It was way past 11 o’clock, when Mia settled down to sleep.  Fifteen minutes later she started to itch. It was a terrible itch. It was all over her arms and legs. She put the light on to have a look. Nothing to be seen.

Gary who had fallen asleep in a flash, sat up and put the light on,

“ What’s  wrong,  can’t you settle for  goodness sake, after all the travelling we have done? You should be lights out by now.”

“ Have you got a dog at home?”

“No, have you? Why do you ask? This is the middle of the night, for God’s sake.”

“ I  think  I’ve got company in my bed.” 

“It’s not my company. Who the Hell is it? Don’t tell me the manager from downstairs has sent a third  roommate  up?”

The company I have, is biting  me  and making me itch like nobody’s business. You must have brought fleas with you!”

“There’s nothing biting me. Are you inventing it?”

“Certainly not”

“Well let me have a look then.”

“It’s all on my legs, the top half.’

“Come on, I’ve seen legs before, I’ve got two of my own, show you them, if it makes you feel better.”

Mia scowling, lifted her pyjamas  revealing  huge,  ugly red welts.

“These don’t look like flea bites to me “ said Gray.

Looking up at the ceiling he saw marching across it, like soldiers  on parade,  an army of small brown insects.

“It seems we have bugs for company, saw them once when I was in the army”

When the bugs were over the beds they  dropped  like  hungry  lions onto the bed linen.

Gray inspected his own  bed ,

“It’s just a matter of minutes before the little buggers go for my juicy blood.”

“Is there anything we can do? I need some sleep.  They give me the creeps.”

“The only plan I can think up, is that we take turns to sleep, we’ll clean them off the one bed and one of us can sleep while the other one keeps watch and fends them  off,  as  they drop from the ceiling.”

“Ok, let’s give it a try.”

They cleaned Gary’s bed and took the blankets off. It was a warm evening so they could just lie under a sheet.

“You try sleeping first. I’ll watch over you.”

Mia tried to go to sleep and after half an hour slept the sleep of the dead, she was so tired.”

Gary had thought her quite a plain girl, with her gap toothed smile and  wide mouth but as he watched over her, he became fascinated  with  watching her breathing in and out, noisily at first and then gently.  He listened to the small groans of tiredness escaping her lips. Her eyelids fluttered from time to time as if in a dream.  He was amazed at the feeling of tenderness that took hold of him. She had nice legs too.

Gary woke her up after two hours.

“Your turn now, and I must say, I am ready to drop off .”

In two minutes he was asleep and Mia had to stay on watch. The bugs were very determined and dropped off on to the bed, with a speed that was almost frightening.  If they had been humans they would have won all the sprint races. Must be starving!

“I could have been reading my book to keep me  awake,”  she thought  but the bugs just kept on dropping off every minute or so.  She had to be alert to catch them before they slithered out of sight into the bed sheets.

Gary  looked  defenceless.  “ I guess all people, look defenceless, when they sleep.” He seemed so cocky when awake. She looked at his face. It was a nice face, she thought , a kind face, that had seen some suffering and hardship. There were small lines of worry on his face,  not all laugh lines. Men put  on  such a show of always being brave.  He had been in the army he said. Now his guard was down. The rampaging beasts would get him, if she was not watching over him.

Mia felt a strange stirring of emotion and a deep sense of a nurturing.

Gary opened his eyes.

“Your turn to sleep now, I think we should give each other two more hours.”

That did it. The arrow struck them both simultaneously.

Ten years later. They would go to bed and say,  smiling ,  before going to bed.

“Good night, sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.”