noah: a sleepwalker's journey

late last night lana came running upstairs. she was a bit frantic. her voice was shaking as she told me noah had walked out the front door.

a little bit before, i had gone upstairs to get ready for bed. i had left lana on the couch watching a movie, and noah had fallen asleep a bit earlier. i actually looked at noah as i walked past to head upstairs, and decided to put him to bed later.

poor lana. she was panic stricken. she wasn't properly dressed to head outside after her brother, and i could tell she was upset that she had to get me instead of running after her brother. i was undressed. undressed for me means no bra. i didn't have the time to re-dress. i quickly grabbed my robe. the robe that was missing its tie. lana and i raced downstairs. i was pulling my robe shut and she was pulling her t-shirt down to cover her bottom. we both headed out the already opened front door into the dark.

noah was no where to be seen. it was really dark. the road one turns from into our neighborhood is quite busy. cars travel 45+ down that strip of tar. it's crazy what one can think in a matter of seconds. i didn't know if i should turn towards the road, race behind the house to see if he was in the pool, start walking down our street...my heart was pounding thinking about what i was going to do. was i going to have to call the police? was i going to find him? was he hurt? how far away was he?...

lana and i decided to start calling his name. i think i yelled "NOOOOO-AAAAAAAAH!" four times before i thought i heard him respond. i called his name again. i heard a faint reply as i tried to place the location. we walked forward calling still and then he responded a "what" to my name calling. i continued to call out so that he would follow my voice. we found him on the front porch of his friend's house. they live across our street and two doors away. it was pitch black, no porch light on. i don't even think they were home.

as we turned and started back to our front door, i tried to ask noah what had made him go to his friend's house. he didn't answer any of my questions. i guided him home. recently, he's been waking and needing to use the bathroom. so i asked if he need to use the bathroom, and he proceeded to walk past the bathroom door, pulling his pants down. i quickly turned him back in the right direction, made sure he hit the correct target, and led him to his room to tuck him in. he was still wide asleep.

poor lana. "he just got up and walked out the front door. i didn't know what to do. he didn't answer me when i called him to stop." she said now she has to worry about him walking outside and getting hurt or run over by a car.

i'll be worrying too.

when i asked noah about last night he remembered nothing. he doesn't remember going outside, walking down the street, or standing on the doorstep of his friend's house. he doesn't remember me calling his name, coming back inside or me putting him to bed. he does like the story. his face is all smile as we repeat the happenings when noah walked out the front door completely asleep. i wonder if this is the first couple of pages in noah's tales of nighttime travels.

i'll have to compose the prequel. short stories of nighttime sleepwalking and nowhere to pee.