Night of Bad Dreams

1st March 2015 

Dear Cassi,

Last night was a night of bad dreams, but in waking I found the sink a mess and the laundry in need of doing. Were the dreams so bad as my reality? I had to hold off on proper food and eat only something to keep my body going. Until nearly midnight I could make myself no proper meal because of the mess I had to address.

I had taken nothing into my gut for nineteen hours and so was feeling drained and weak. I guess you know this life, but I can only guess. I do not recall when I first started doing dishes, but I know it had hard to reach the counter top when I did. You must remember that back then my mother was too weak to wash and the rest of my family to lazy.

I stacked out the dishes and started addressing the jumble in the linen closet having to wash everything over again. I can’t imagine how Pickle finds it so hard to fold towels. Then the cabinets get rumbled after he washes dishes and the mess grows until I pull it all out and start over.

For more than twelve hours the washer or dryer ran with most of it being both at the same time. The dishwasher ran twice and the long run of cleaning only made a dent in the detritus.

In the end I finally when back to sleep and had more bad dreams, but not as bad as my waking nightmare. Now in the twilight of the day I sit before the computer logging this misfortune.

Live as you can, little sister,




Richard Leland Neal