Alternatives

The den is paneled with cherry wood.  The focal point of the entire room though is a rather large and striking rustic stone fireplace with a mantel fashioned from railroad ties.  On it rests an antique Seth Thomas clock which Nancy inherited from her parents and always seems to need winding.  Bob inherited the winding detail and often wondered why an eight day clock needed winding every three days.  Also on the mantel are two brass candlesticks and pictures of their lovely daughters, Meghan and Elizabeth.  The functional aspect of the room, though, remains a pair of La-Z Boy gliders positioned to comfortably view a plasma television set.  Nancy and Bob Holt spend many comfortable and relaxing hours, in this their favorite room, reading, viewing TV and just talking with one another.  This night was such a time.  With the galley in ship shape and their stereo softly playing Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ they were relaxing in their La-Z Boys reminiscing about their courtship days.  They had met while in high school.  He eyed her from a distance in the school cafeteria one day and was drawn immediately by her striking beauty.  A friend later arranged an introduction – and the rest is history as they say.  They reminisced about some of the special dates they had including parties, proms etc. and even some of the pitfalls and heart aches they had both endured over the years.  They always enjoyed one another’s company and had their conversations in the den rather than the bedroom because about a year or so ago Bob contracted congestive heart disease which separated them into different bedrooms.  With this disease congestion occurs in the lungs making breathing very difficult especially while lying down.  Breathing becomes quite loud and very labored making it quite objectionable to others who might be sleeping in the same room.  There are even times when breathing stops altogether for short periods.  Doctors refer to this apnea as Cheyne-Stokes syndrome.  So Nancy eventually took over the master suite while Bob settled into the guest room. 

This night was no different as Nancy started through their nightly bedtime routine by shutting off lights and unplugging appliances not in use.  She had a thing about unplugging appliances including the television even when the house was occupied. 

          “Hey, I’m still watching the news”, cried Bob, as she flicked the television off. 

          “Oh, I thought you were going to bed too.  When you do be sure to unplug it, please.”  Bob got up from his chair and kissed and hugged her goodnight.  After embracing they looked at one another, grinned and almost simultaneously said “Don’t forget to unplug the TV.”  Bob gave her a light spank on her rear end as she turned and headed down the hall to her room. Little did Bob realize that it would be the last time he saw her walk down that hall to her room. 

At 11:00 o’clock when the news was over Bob shut the TV off and with a slight grin on his face remembered to also unplug it.  He then checked to see that all doors and windows were closed and locked and that all lights were off before he went to his room.  Before getting into his pajamas he went through his nightly hygienic routine in the full sized bathroom adjacent to the guestroom.  And, as in the past, he vowed to get rid of the gaudy pink tile some day.  They had bought this house eight years ago and every year he swore that he was going to rip that awful tile off the wall and floor and replace it with something more traditional.  Maybe this year, he thought.  When he crawled into bed and shut off the light he noticed that a light in Nancy’s room was still on.  She must be reading he reasoned but thought nothing of it as she was in the habit of doing that quite often.  Not suspecting anything out of the ordinary he promptly fell off to sleep.

Later that night something caused Bob to stir and when he was fully awake he noticed a light was still coming from Nancy’s room.  He glanced at the digital clock on his night stand and noted that it was 2:00 A.M.  She must have fallen asleep reading, he reasoned, and decided to quietly go in and shut it off so as not to disturb her.  He fumbled for his light switch, slithered out of bed and headed for Nancy’s room without bothering to put on hi