I SLEEP THE SLEEP OF THE RUST

When Kaya and the twins come to visit, I'll tell ya: there is no 'pause,' as it is called in the twinless world. No, there is no hiatus, no time for extended reflection. Nor is there any way you can say "I think I'll go upstairs and take a nap" and then actually go upstairs, lay down and attempt to doze off, because even if you were crazy enough to try, you'd only lay there wondering if that was the stove door opening or isn't that the sound of running water and I do I smell smoke, what is that pounding, or the best-case scenario: gee, it's quiet down there...

And you know this, deeply, so you don't go upstairs, and downstairs as I say there is no pause, you just carry on through all the day, learning to hitch your exhaustion to that boundless energy like harnessing a fully loaded beer wagon to a herd of Clydesdales, it is a rush I must say, hair streaming behind you as your eyelids droop, to take the trio to the library where Kaya, now of an age, sits quietly and reads book after book while the twins rearrange and count all the chairs, stack the books, race through the aisles and hide under the tables, all without shoes on - they love to go shoeless so no one can catch them (and no one can) and not getting caught is one of life's big thrills, as we all know.

Then it's streaking back home for dinner and now that I've already put all the split firewood up on the deck the twins offer to help me carry it - one piece each - the three feet to the wood rack, as long as they can wear one of my high rubber boots on one wrong foot and one of my low work boots on the other wrong foot while hopping, and later watch me turn a satisfying purple when they throw some firewood over the deck railing as a sort of work-reversal bonus they've earned through all their hard effort.

Later at last I'm making the fire I'm going to unobtrusively lie down and toast in front of while they eat, but they keep jumping on my horsey back as I try to light the kindling, leaving me no choice but to tickle them senseless so as to gain 30 seconds or so in which to handle live flame…

Then when they're about to go home they run to me with open arms and smiling faces, say "Bobu-chan suki!" ("I like [you,] Bob!") and there's a big sweet click in this part of the universe.

Followed by an unmatched night's rest.