I was dimly aware of the phone ringing in my dream. I was swimming underwater, breathing without any assistance, and cursing that someone should phone me when I was happily floating so effortlessly through the ocean depths. Funny how the brain takes external sounds while you're sleeping and integrates them so perfectly into your dreams. Blending reality and unreality into a mish-mash that seems so right while you're asleep, but when you awaken and reflect on the events, they actually seem terribly absurd.
The insistent ringing finally reached through my subconscious layer and smashed into my conscious brain, waking me with a start. I half sat up in bed, wondering for a moment where I was, what day it was. Bright sunlight streamed through the window, half blinding me. I fumbled for the phone, still dazed.
"Hello," I croaked.
"Dave! Welcome back!!" yelled the familiar voice of my brother Mike on the other end of the line.
"God, what year is it?" I croaked. Thought was slowly returning. I had crashed into bed last night after the body destroying twenty hours flight back from the US. I had been away for the past three years travelling Europe, Asia, the mid-East and the Americas. Now I was finally home and needing to start ordinary life again.
"Hey, you sound like shit!" he said, stating the obvious.
"Yeah, I think I'm strung out over half a dozen time zones that haven't all caught up together yet."
"Jetlag. Bleh! I know what it's like," he said sympathetically. "Listen, you'll be right in a day or two. Rest up."
We chatted for a while. He filled me in on the family going ons that I didn't get from our parents emails. I had known Mike met a girl, got married and had a child. Life was good.
"Can I ask a favour of you?" he enquired.
"Sure, anything."
"Well, I'm in a bit of a bind." he said. "Lisa and I have got a function to go to on Friday night and it's going to be a late one. I've got a babysitter for Christopher and ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem, but she has a comp on the next day and has to be home by eleven pm."
"What about Katherine or the folks?" I asked.
"The folks took off for a trip up country and Kate is out of town."
Katherine, Kate as she is usually known by, is our older sister by a few years. Married with a couple of kids. I used to help out with looking after her first child a little, so looking after young children wasn't foreign to me.
"No probs," I assured.
"We'll be back late," he explained. "It'll give you as chance to meet Lisa in the morning and we can have a breakfast and catch up."
"Sounds good," I replied. "Where you living these days?"
"Same place. The key is in the usual spot. I've worded up the babysitter so she won't be surprised if you let yourself in. Could you give her a lift home? It's only five minutes away, but I don't want her walking home alone in the dark, if that's ok?" he asked.
"Sure, sure. See you on Saturday morning."
"Thanks a bunch!" he finished off enthusiastically before hanging up.
I put the phone down and fell back onto the bed. I lay there trying to get my brain working. I was feeling out of synch with the world and I knew it was going to take a few days to get back to normal. First order of business was a shower and breakfast. I could mull over my plans then.
I stepped into the shower, letting the sensation of the tingling hot spray draw the sleep from my body. Thoughts drifted to sex as I soaped myself and ran my hands over my semi turgid cock. My body wasn't responding too well though. The long flight and jet lag had taken their toll. My libido was going to be down for a few days. Probably better that I wasn't distracted for the next few days anyway. I had a lot of things to catch up on before the weekend and chasing pretty girls was going to have to wait until I got personal affairs sorted.
I always found the shower a great place to think. The falling water inducing a kind of disconnected state where the thoughts flowed easily and freely. Plans started to form. First was getting the motorbike up and running. It had been three years in storage, but properly prepared for it. I figured half a day to get it operational. Next was the business.
Before I had left on my world "tour" I had a small but successful photography business going. I decided that before it got too successful and consumed all my time, I'd stop, see the world and come back perhaps a little more knowledgeable, experienced and with some luck great shots for future use.
As it was I had taken thousands of photographs. Storage was easy with a digital camera. Cut a CD, mail it home, or upload to my web storage. I had managed to fund some of my trip as a freelance photographer, selling good shots. I kept the best ones for myself of course.
The day was glorious. Bright spring sunshine, the edge was off winter and whilst the morning air was still a little cool, the day would warm up. I decided to skip on making breakfast. The food situation was probably not the best anyway. My flatmate had the unseemly knack of being unable to think far enough ahead to get food for meals. He was very bright in some respects, but generally lacked in some of the common sense areas.
I walked out the door and headed for my favourite coffee shop. It was time to rejoin local society and get back to work.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next few days flew by. I had got the bike up and running, restocked the apartment (with food!), found a place to set-up my photography studio and caught up with old friends and started re-establishing relationships with old clients. Before I knew it Friday was on me and it was edging up on 10pm.
The insistent chiming on my mobile reminding me of my promise to Mike to baby-sit his kid. I had spent the day frantically running around arranging furniture and equipment for the studio. The estate agents had rung earlier in the day to say the place was going to be available a week earlier than expect, so I could effectively occupy the place next Wednesday.
The day had been unusually hot, typical of spring. A day or two of summer and then plunged back into a winter day just to taunt. There was no time to get back to the apartment and clean up. Easier to get washed up at Mike's, eat and relax.
I jumped on the Duke and headed off. Twenty minutes later I was at the house. I cut the engine as I rolled up the driveway. I didn't want to disturb the neighbours or wake anyone at this hour.