I'd had too much sleep the night before. In bed by 9:30? A waste, made more wretched by the headache I'd been nursing all day. I always get a headache if I sleep too long. I'd resolved not to repeat the incident.
So it was that Benjamin found me at 3:10am, spread out on the couch, glued to the sixth season of The West Wing. He stumbled over in his pajama pants, tufts of hair akimbo.
"Why are you up at three in the morning?" he squinted at me in confusion.
"You did it last night!" I countered brilliantly. (Which was true: He'd been playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a fantasy role-playing game.)
He ignored my retort. "Here, you'll need these for your quest," he mumbled, handing me a pair of used earplugs.
I looked at the earplugs, then at his face. It was scrunched up, as if to keep the rest of the world around the edges. "Earplugs?" Maybe he was hinting that I should turn down the volume.
"Yeah. For your quest."
"What quest?" I started to giggle.
He made a face and tried to hand the styrofoam slugs to me again. "Come on, don't laugh at me, you know what I mean!"
The giggling was getting worse. He sighed and started to turn away, and I grabbed his hand to keep him in place. "Why do I need earplugs for my quest?" I had a hard time getting the words out, this time.
He wrestled away, smiling confidently. "You need them. And you should stop laughing at me." He shuffled back to the bedroom, leaving the earplugs on the coffee table.
I should mention that Benjamin does have a history of sleepwalking. His favorite episode took place many years ago, when he left his shoes on a neighbor's doorstep. It was a secret mission.
The West Wing was still paused. I closed it down and made my way to the bedroom, leaving the earplugs behind. Benjamin lay flat on his stomach. I sidled alongside.
"Benjamin!"
He twitched.
"Benjamin, why did you give me the earplugs?"
A mutter rose from the pillow: "I was returning them to you. You knew what I meant!"
I spent the rest of my waking moments that evening laughing hysterically.