Advice on Sleeping Well

For years, there’s been an unspoken open-door policy in this house. Meaning that most of the time, the doors to each of our apartments are kept unlocked (unless of course Sophie’s boyfriend is over or Olga is feeling moody). So naturally, barge-ins happen frequently.

Rarely are they hostile barge-ins; mostly they are just friendly check-ins for questions or to simply pass the time with someone else’s company. Although, Sophie has been known to hobble into Olga’s apartment enraged and hollering about a bowl Olga has been borrowing too long or how she’s still mad at Olga for always making Sophie chauffeur her around in her car twenty years ago, or something of the like.

Being on the top floor, Mrs Fruehauf and I are more or less safe from barge-ins from Sophie and Olga, as the trip up the stairs is too much of a biblical trek for the arthritic grannies below. But I feel no shame in barging in on Sophie or Olga whenever I please. When I barge in on them, I usually find them sitting in their respective armchairs, either watching tv, listening to the radio, nodding off to sleep, or staring blankly into space. Sometimes they will be up and about, futzing around their apartment, but usually I can count on them being parked in their armchairs.

My very favorite barge-in happened one afternoon last summer, when I needed to ask Sophie some important question about something or other. I could have just called her to ask, but it’s much faster for me to just fly down the stairs and right into her apartment than it is for her to get up and answer her phone. So as I barged in, I found her in her usual spot. But this time with something very strange going on.

She was sitting in her armchair with a towel over her head.

For a moment I was frightened, thinking she kicked the bucket and in her last few living moments attempted to cover her face with a veil, but when I asked her what she was doing, she grunted and said she was taking a nap. When I asked her why she needed a towel over her head for a nap, she answered, “I sleep better mit dat towel.”

Well I’ve never tried it, but maybe the lady’s onto something?