weren’t fighting constantly. At that point, he seemed like the sanest person I knew.
Although I wasn’t in the mood to sing, by the second verse I found it impossible not to join in. Once the song was over, I finally felt calm enough to tell him what happened. This time he caught every word I said.
“Wow. That’s messed up, Ruby. I know we ruled it out as a possibility before but I think you should ask your dad to run some drug tests on him while he’s at it.”
So which was worse—thinking Zach was crazy or that he was hopped up on who knows what? Neither choice was something I thought I would ever have to face. For now, all I needed was a plan to keep him under control long enough to keep anything tragic from happening. But how? He was a landslide of insanity gaining momentum at an exponential rate. And I was the poor little straw hut caught in its path, determined to remain standing.
“Tie him up like the dom that you are!” Clay joked. “Just kidding, of course.”
“Of course,” I replied sarcastically. “Seriously, though. What am I going to do with him? I’m afraid that he’ll have another episode and do some real damage. I have to find a way to keep him sedate until the weekend.”
“Well, I don’t know what ‘sedate’ means but I do have an idea. You said he’s tired all the time, why don’t you get him some sleeping pills and help him out a little? Keep him asleep as much as you can.”
I grinned at his suggestion and the fact that subconsciously, I suspected that he did know the meaning of that word. He wasn’t as stupid as he sometimes pretended to be. “That isn’t a bad idea. It will have to be something over the counter, though. If I offer him something like that, he may see that I’m trying to help him out—that I’m not the enemy by any means. Thanks, Clay.”
“No problem, Ruby. Are you going to head home now then?”
“Yeah, as soon as I find a pharmacy. You’re one hundred percent correct—the more he sleeps, the better off we’ll both be. At least until I can get my dad involved.”
“Okay. If you’re good, I’ll head back to Sophie and Clayton then. My little man is growing up so fast—he’ll be older than me before I know it. But if you need me, give me a holler and I’ll be right there. Scout’s honor.”
I smiled and nodded in acknowledgement. Thirty minutes later, I was back in our apartment with a bottle of melatonin in hand. When I asked for help at the counter, the pharmacist told me that melatonin was good for jet lag and would help re-regulate Zach’s much disturbed sleep schedule. But he certainly didn’t need it tonight. When I peeked in on him, Zach was sound asleep. I cleaned up the bathroom then crashed on the futon for the night. As bad as I wanted to sleep in that bed, I didn’t want to risk waking him up. At least he was calm when he was asleep and not turning things—our lives included—upside down for no apparent reason.
A few hours later, I woke up to something dreadfully strange. My first instinct was to give him one of the melatonin tablets and hope that it would knock him out until morning. But I soon discovered that my plan wasn’t going to work at all. Zach wasn’t awake—he was sleepwalking. Or shall I say, sleep hallucinating. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any weirder, he managed to find a way to crank the crazy meter up a few more notches.
13. Any Way the Wind Blows
Not finding that dress tonight depressed me. And the best cure for depression was sleep. I didn’t want to be disturbed until morning. Ruby seemed to have taken the hint that I wanted nothing to do with her for the rest of the night. Thank God. If she
Although I wasn’t in the mood to sing, by the second verse I found it impossible not to join in. Once the song was over, I finally felt calm enough to tell him what happened. This time he caught every word I said.
“Wow. That’s messed up, Ruby. I know we ruled it out as a possibility before but I think you should ask your dad to run some drug tests on him while he’s at it.”
So which was worse—thinking Zach was crazy or that he was hopped up on who knows what? Neither choice was something I thought I would ever have to face. For now, all I needed was a plan to keep him under control long enough to keep anything tragic from happening. But how? He was a landslide of insanity gaining momentum at an exponential rate. And I was the poor little straw hut caught in its path, determined to remain standing.
“Tie him up like the dom that you are!” Clay joked. “Just kidding, of course.”
“Of course,” I replied sarcastically. “Seriously, though. What am I going to do with him? I’m afraid that he’ll have another episode and do some real damage. I have to find a way to keep him sedate until the weekend.”
“Well, I don’t know what ‘sedate’ means but I do have an idea. You said he’s tired all the time, why don’t you get him some sleeping pills and help him out a little? Keep him asleep as much as you can.”
I grinned at his suggestion and the fact that subconsciously, I suspected that he did know the meaning of that word. He wasn’t as stupid as he sometimes pretended to be. “That isn’t a bad idea. It will have to be something over the counter, though. If I offer him something like that, he may see that I’m trying to help him out—that I’m not the enemy by any means. Thanks, Clay.”
“No problem, Ruby. Are you going to head home now then?”
“Yeah, as soon as I find a pharmacy. You’re one hundred percent correct—the more he sleeps, the better off we’ll both be. At least until I can get my dad involved.”
“Okay. If you’re good, I’ll head back to Sophie and Clayton then. My little man is growing up so fast—he’ll be older than me before I know it. But if you need me, give me a holler and I’ll be right there. Scout’s honor.”
I smiled and nodded in acknowledgement. Thirty minutes later, I was back in our apartment with a bottle of melatonin in hand. When I asked for help at the counter, the pharmacist told me that melatonin was good for jet lag and would help re-regulate Zach’s much disturbed sleep schedule. But he certainly didn’t need it tonight. When I peeked in on him, Zach was sound asleep. I cleaned up the bathroom then crashed on the futon for the night. As bad as I wanted to sleep in that bed, I didn’t want to risk waking him up. At least he was calm when he was asleep and not turning things—our lives included—upside down for no apparent reason.
A few hours later, I woke up to something dreadfully strange. My first instinct was to give him one of the melatonin tablets and hope that it would knock him out until morning. But I soon discovered that my plan wasn’t going to work at all. Zach wasn’t awake—he was sleepwalking. Or shall I say, sleep hallucinating. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any weirder, he managed to find a way to crank the crazy meter up a few more notches.
13. Any Way the Wind Blows
Not finding that dress tonight depressed me. And the best cure for depression was sleep. I didn’t want to be disturbed until morning. Ruby seemed to have taken the hint that I wanted nothing to do with her for the rest of the night. Thank God. If she
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