REM

         She woke up suddenly, surprised. She normally slept through the night without waking. She turned her head and there he was, awake also—no, sleeping. His head lay flat on the pillow and his long, light eyelashes were moving against the background of early morning brightness behind her curtain. She lifted her head from the pillow and peered closer at his eyes. They were closed while the orbs beneath darted from corner to corner. She was mesmerized. She’d never seen rapid eye movement in person.

         She noticed his hands perched on his chest ever so slightly, the knuckles of his curled right hand just barely resting there. His left hand was in a funny position, fingers spread and wrist bent at an acute angle. She reached over and put her right hand over his, to hold it in case he was having a bad dream. He didn’t wake up.

         She watched his eyelashes dance for a little while. Then she reached over to fix his left hand. It looked uncomfortable the way it was. He slowly withdrew the hand from her and stretched it over his head, craned his neck, and slowly opened his eyes. He noticed her and opened them wider.

         “You’re awake,” he said.

         “What were you dreaming about?” she asked.

         “Oh, I was in some kind of class learning about something, I’m not sure what.” He reached his arm around her waist and rolled onto his side against her side, closing his eyes a little. “And you were there,” he said. “You were in my dream.”

         “What was I doing?” she asked. She put her hand over his outstretched arm.

         “You were hanging pictures on the wall.”

         “Oh?” She turned her head towards the ceiling and closed her eyes. Hanging pictures on the wall—that was a good sign. She felt pleased. Maybe that meant they had a future together.

         “Why are you awake?” he asked.

         “I don’t know,” she said, “I just woke up suddenly.”

         “What time is it?” He bent his neck and looked at the clock. “It’s 5:15.”

         “Two more hours, I’m going back to sleep,” she said, closing her eyes.

         “No, stay awake and talk to me.” He hugged her closer.

         She was already falling asleep again. “I can’t,” she said, “I’ll be worthless during the rest of the day.”

         She thought about how odd it was that she woke so fully and so suddenly in the middle of the night. What a coincidence it was, that she happened to wake up just as he was dreaming of her, and that she happened to accidentally awaken him. She drifted back to sleep, thinking about what a good sign this was.