Mar. 24, 2007 ~ Wondering
At about 1:00 a.m., the phone rang. There is something terrifying about late-night calls; they always start my heart racing. People rarely call in the middle of the night with good news.
I picked up the phone on the bedside table and looked at the caller ID... it was the local sheriff's department. "Bad news," I thought. "Wreck, probably." I had been sleeping soundly and was quite disoriented. Just kept staring at the phone, not remembering how to answer it. Knowing I needed to push a button, but it was dark, and I couldn't figure out which was the correct button.
The nice lady on the phone asked me if I was so-and-so, and did I work at the such-and-such church. Told her yes and yes. Seems someone needed a room for the night, and the sheriff's department had called my coworker first, who told them he was "unavailable," whatever that means. Still barely awake, I told the caller that our church no longer paid for rooms for transients, and then told them who they would need to contact. It was only after I hung up that I thought to ask how they knew to call me. I HOPE my coworker didn't give them my number! Surely he didn't. I'd hate to have to do him bodily harm! Kidding. Really.
Husband and I are friends with the sheriff and his wife, but I doubt either one of them was awake at one a.m., to tell them to call me! The department has never called me before, ever. No one has. So this is a mystery. If this is confusing, please let me explain.
Our church used to be in charge of a community fund which helped low-income folks with utility bills, gasoline, food, etc. And on occasion, we paid the motel bill for transients or abused women who needed a place to stay for a day or two. Specifically, I was in charge of handling the fund, but the minister was the person called in the middle of the night to authorize motel room stays. I have never even been on the list. The previous minister made sure of it. So why did they call now? And in case you were wondering, every local law enforcement and social service agency was notified when we stopped administering the community fund, about a year ago.
So this makes two nights in a row of disrupted sleep, a very bad thing for someone with fibromyalgia. The previous night it was pain that kept me awake. Let's hope tonight brings only sweet dreams.
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