Alex Pepple

Doctors Have Found Man Who Never Sleeps I imagine a human satellite tuned to the spectral swings of night and day. Did they make him jerk off in a test-tube to research a sleep-resistant breed? Fresh paint will surely line the placards of alarmed coffee traders. I hope he never needs a major operation. Is he an alien among millions? I see drones released single file from a mother ship, all-night breeders wired to mate with our women and overrun us. I am at the cash register before I can read without buying. He is an earth native. Someone who saves from not buying bedroom furniture. If married, he has a nag-proof excuse for the late late movie. Maybe he is the darling of a lucky Hi-Tech startup. They flash him to investors as premium asset and see their initial offering on Wall Street rise like mercury in an oven. I remember a friend's lunchtime story about an ex- coworker's experiment to cheat sleep a psychology nut with an unfinished book, 99 Ways to Beat Sleep and Harness Time. Sleep is a waste, he had said. Never again! Daily, he changed like litmus paper until he was an alien to my friend. He broke down in his office and snored for days. My friend brews fantastic stories I challenge when I verify them. But here in print is the prototype night shift nurse cum daytime burger-flipper. He wears all the subtle flickers and shifts of light from the revolving domes of horizons. He may not dream, though with a mate can't miss how all night, her eyes in sleep tremble like wings.

Copyright © 1999 Alex Pepple All Rights Reserved