While You Were Sleeping

Strange things happen at 2:00 AM and usually not good things. Whenever some one is shot or stabbed, it usually happens after two.

• Unidentified male shot while walking down Marshall.
• Police break up fights outside Richmond nightclub after closing.
• Shockbottom pizza parlor shot up by angry patron.

This stuff very rarely happens at five in the afternoon. By 2:00 am, I am usually tucked away in bed in blessed unconsciousness. If I am lucky I sleep till seven and shake off fog with a cup of coffee, make some breakfast and move on with my day. Then there are nights that don't work out so well. I have stayed up till two, writing, browsing, posting and twittering. My eyes are crossing and my fingers don't work too well. Being my own parent, I shut off the computer, grab a blanket and a pillow, lay on my couch and I'll just shut my eyes waiting for the static to set it. When the static starts, so do my dreams. Odd and familiar strangers appear I become a character in stories to strange to tell. One dream was in my stepdaughter's home, but it was full of dog shit and rednecks. These people were full time drunks operating on autopilot while I stumbled along behind, unable to hold my liquor. I was so glad to wake up and find I wasn't there. I didn't bother to call Becky. I just hope nothing remotely like that is going on.

This doesn't happen often, but often enough. Every once in a I will get up and write it all down before the fog lifts. Sometimes on the edge of sleep, I will have a brainstorm and have to get up to write down before it goes away forever. Some of my best ideas have come while falling asleep and I'll never know how many I have forgotten. One dream I wrote down has become the most read story I have ever written. Just type "Tuesday Morning 2:00 AM" into Google and see what shows up. Each week when I check my reports, Tuesday Morning 2:00 AM shows up in my top five stories. It is literally something I put together on a Tuesday morning at 2:00 AM. I have labored for hours on stories that nobody has read. I worked on this one for 30 minute and near two thousand have read it. In my world, that a best seller. I am considering writing more stories while sleeping and see how that works out. Usually it is not this pretty.