[Previous entry: "Content"] [Next entry: "Five Weeks Before the Mast"]

04/06/2004: "Night watch"

It was only a fragment of the dream that stayed with me when I woke: I was sitting next to her as she lay in bed, and I saw on her face an expression of calm and contentment. I thought, "it must be time for her pain pill, but it looks like she's doing okay, so I won't say anything." And I woke up long enough to realize that I'd gone back in time, that she hadn't needed any pain medication in six years, and that the expression on her face was no falsehood, that, even more, it was a promise and an assurance to me.