i woke up to the sound of my
computer's
CD-ROM drive opening and closing
its tray. open, close, open, close, open, close, about once every half-
second or so. i got up and walked over to it, and ran the '
w' command to
see who was logged in. just me. i did it again. just me. i did it one
more time. me, and some user named 'troy'. as i've never given anyone
named Troy an account on my machine, i became a little suspicious. i
looked at his login; it was coming from the
Linux router in the machine
room. what? that can't be. he musta
cracked it. i got pissed.
i went outside and looked around. i heard a knock on the door, and went
and answered it. it was Troy; i just knew it. he looked at me and didn't
say a damn thing. i grabbed the sides of his head and knocked his head
to mine in a desperate attempt to communicate with him. it didn't work;
he kept staring at me with deep, quizzical eyes.
i let him go. i heard music. i turned around and Troy was gone; shit.
i turned again and Frosty was there, wondering what was going on. i tried
to explain to him how Troy had cracked into the router and then crackpipe
and started playing with the CD-ROM drive and woken me up and done all
that i've just told you. more deep, quizzical eyes. i went back into my
room and tried to catch up on some sleep.
i gradually woke up again, this time to the sound of my own thoughts. was
the oil guy coming this morning? my room wasn't locked. was it? i
wondered if it were locked. i would certainly have a hard time getting
out. what if i had to pee and the oil guy was here and i was locked in?
i could pee in a bottle, i guess. i counted the bottles in my room in my
head. two. no, three. it would take some aim. i doubt Frostbyte locked
me in anyway. he wouldn't do that. then what if the oil guy checked my
room? moving my bed was out of the question. there weren't even any
steam valves in my room. wouldn't do 'em any good. our heat was working
fine. and if i wasn't locked in, and the oil guy was here, and i had
to pee, what then? i could sneak out and hope he didn't see me. but the
bell, that bell on my door. he'd hear that. would he ignore it? i
don't think he'd need to see my room. the sun looks low; it's probably
too early anyway. Frosty said he was going to wake up around 10am.
it's too early to be 10am. i'll sleep until then.
but shit, i can't sleep through this. i've gotta be gone by then. would
Frostbyte have woken me up before bringing the guy in, or would he have
let me sleep and hoped i'd catch on that i should stay in my room until
he gave an all-clear? and shit, what if i had to pee? dammit, this makes
no sense. he couldn't be here yet. i don't hear anything. i listened
some more and still heard nothing. SHIT what the hell was that? sounded
like a kid chucking gravel at my window. i listened some more. a truck,
downstairs. the goddamn dumptruck. i concluded that it was a dumptruck
chucking gravel at my window.
i became slowly aware that my computer was on its desk. where it belonged.
not over by the wall, where it had been opening and closing its CD tray.
where it didn't belong. what the hell....?
then i woke up. i had to pee.
don't drink Jolt before bedtime.