COSMIC

7 - Moonage Daydream

My head pounded in protest as I woke up the following morning. I blinked, recalling the dream I had just escaped. It had been late when I fell asleep after many hours of restless thinking, but sleep was no relief. Instead, it carried over the many theories in my mind and acted them out repeatedly in different ways. Sometimes, David came as a space invader, ray gun in hand and declaring that aliens were taking over our world, while other times he came simply to say he loved me.

I shook my head and winced as that only caused it to throb more. Standing up, I staggered out of my room and into the bathroom, where I immediately retrieved an aspirin from the medicine cabinet. After washing it down, I entered the kitchen and began to brew a pot of coffee. Though I had a restless night's sleep, I still woke up before Mom. I attributed it to my vivid dreams, which wouldn't stop playing over in my head-even when I was awake and able to grasp reality.

As I leaned against the counter, I looked out the window towards the sunny day and watched the neighbor's kids playing in their driveway. The world around me carried on like nothing unusual had happened and I began to have doubts. What if Nancy was right? Maybe David Bowie was in town and wanted to play a joke on us. What if it wasn't him at all and Nancy and I were under some hallucination? I chuckled briefly. That's a little too ridiculous, I thought. But how do you explain it?

When the coffee was ready, I poured myself a cup and sat at the breakfast table, finding that laying my head in my folded arms was my only relief-shutting out the bright light as much as possible. I lost myself in the labyrinth of my thoughts so much so that I hardly noticed Mom enter the room.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Oh, I just have a headache," I replied, sitting upright.

"Late night with the gang?"

"Sort of. The gang wasn't there, though-just Nancy." I swallowed, sneaking a glance at my unsuspecting mom. "I don't know why my head hurts."

"Well, don't run yourself into the ground with too much fun. You're making me jealous." She poured herself some coffee and sat across from me. "Speaking of fun, I was hoping we could treat ourselves to breakfast in town today-if you'll feel up to it. I'd like to be served for once, instead of serving. How about it?"

"Sure. I took an aspirin, so I'll be fine in a while. But first, coffee," I said, taking a sip.

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"What can I get you girls?"

The waitress stood over us, waiting expectantly with her notepad as we lifted our heads up from our menus. The diner was bustling with the clatter of dishes and voices, waitresses rushing around to serve the Sunday morning crowd. I was just thankful my headache was beginning to wear off.

"We'll each take the pancake special," my mom replied before turning to me. "Did we decide on that?"

I nodded, as the waitress jotted down our order. "How do you like your eggs?" she asked.

"Over medium," Mom said, remembering we both ate our eggs the same way.

"Alright, I'll get that going for you." The waitress smiled before striding off to the kitchen.

"So," my mom started. "I thought it'd be nice to eat out this morning to bring you a little good news. I got tonight off."

"What?"

"Yes. Another girl volunteered to fill in for the sick girl, so now I get to spend my Sunday with you." My mom grinned at me, but as she noticed the absence of happiness on my face, her smile disappeared. "What's wrong?"

"Well," I said, hesitancy clear in my voice. "Nancy and I had plans tonight."

"Oh...you two have plans every night."