3:40am

At 3:40am, a combination of the noisy neighbours leaving for work (a story for another time) and a heart pounding dream dragged me from sleep. My pillows were on the floor, the duvet a tangled mess at the foot of the bed. Two very concerned puppy faces staring up at me in the moonlight. I slid my hand across the sheets to the sleeper next to me, to say, “I just had the worst nightmare.” But there was no one there.

I’m not sure why I was so surprised - the other half of my bed has been empty for months, but it left me feeling confused and abandoned. I lay there a couple of minutes longer waiting for sleep to claim me again. Then I gave up and slid out of bed.

I wanted to call someone. For that human contact, to have them explain this to me. But calls at four o’clock in the morning are for emergencies. So I yanked on some jeans, pulled a T-shirt over my nakedness, and went outside to sit in the half dark and listen to the night.

Slowly common sense seeped back into me from the warm fluffy little bodies pressed against my legs. I sighed, cuddled the doglets and padded quietly back to bed.