I just read that insomnia has become a public-health emergency.

Unless you’re mainlining or planning a murder that’s bullshit.

I had an insomniac summer when I was a kid.

So that I could keep my grandfather alive.

He liked to sit outside, he said shhhh when I joined him.

We watched the stars, pointed to some, mouthed their names, smiled.

My insides roared.

He died at the harvest moon.

I like to think there might be something to that.

Now I can insomniac at will.

Haven’t slept since May.

How ’bout you?

Are you awake on this murky cusp of July?

Shall we meet under the stars?

We can rest our souls in the Big Dipper.

Selected byRaymond Huffman
Image credit:Skyriser/Lix on Flickr
Sherry Cassells

short stories you'll long for litbit.ca