Entry #12050104001305

Three Cheers For Organization

As Jay took his first break from cleaning, he flopped down onto the cushion at the end of the couch, turning to look out the window behind him. Lifting the blinds with his index finger, he saw that, three hours later, it was still raining. The house itself had mostly been cleaned; the dishes were in the dishwasher, the papers had been stacked up on the counter to be sorted through later, and the overflowing trash cans had been emptied. The only thing left was sorting the papers (which was something Tim would have to do), organizing the medicines, and then grocery shopping. Just as Jay was contemplating whether or not to go shopping then or later, Tim came down the hall looking more tired than ever. The circles under his eyes were darker and he seemed stiff. Yawning, he came into the living room and plopped down on the unoccupied end of the couch. Immediately, his head leaned back into the soft cushions and his eyes closed. Even after taking a long nap, Tim could never seem to get enough sleep.

"Sleep well?" Jay asked, already knowing the answer. Tim made a noise that sounded like, "Hm" but otherwise remained quiet and still. Finding his companion to be lousy company, Jay returned to his task of organizing and cleaning. He wandered room to room, picking up bottles of pills as he went. Some were half full, some were completely full, and a few others were empty, but the most frustrating thing about them was that several of the labels had been torn off or damaged. The few that were still legible were simply Tylenol and other over the counter pain relievers. Setting all of the bottles he had gathered on the coffee table in the living room, Jay asked, "Tim, how many different medications do you have? Because there's at least twenty bottles of these and I can't read the labels." Groaning, Tim pushed himself up on the couch - he must have fallen over while Jay was in another room.

"I take three different kinds, but none of them look similar. Just group them that way," Tim replied tiredly, his eyes remaining closed.

"And you're sure about that?" Jay asked, inspecting the pills. Tim didn't reply but by the way the pills looked, he seemed to be telling the truth. There were three different types and none of them resembled the others. Sitting down on the floor, not wanting to disturb Tim, Jay began sorting the bottles into different categories. Small white ones over here, larger blue ones over here, huge oblong white ones over here, and generic pain relievers over here. The process didn't take long and soon, Jay had to wake Tim so he could tell him what the pills were exactly. Tim let out a short groan but opened his eyes and stretched his arms before leaning forward to look at them.

"The white ones are Trazodone," he said, pointing to a bottle with small white pills. Pointing to the blue ones, he said, "Those are Bupropion," and moving to the last ones, he looked at them carefully before saying, "I think those are Diazepam but I can't remember. Either way, they're for seizures." Nodding, Jay grabbed a loose piece of paper and began writing down the information Tim had given him along with what he could salvage from the labels. Might as well make new labels, Jay thought as he copied the information over and over, creating a new label for each illegibly labeled bottle. After hunting down a pair of scissors and some tape, he taped the labels onto the bottles. They weren't fancy, but now they had labels and Tim would know what they were, how many to take, and when to take them. That was a start.

"Where would be the best place to put these so you'll remember to take them?" Jay asked, gathering up the bottles.

Tim sleepily shrugged then indifferently replied, "Bathroom cabinet, I guess." Jay nodded then took the armful of bottles to the bathroom and lined them up in the cabinet above the toilet. Returning to the living room, Jay found Tim was finally awake and alert.

"You need to go grocery shopping," Jay informed him, "And also sort the papers on the counter." Tim rolled his eyes, back to his sarcastic self now that he was awake.

"I'll do that if you take a nap," Tim shortly replied, not bothering to explain his reasoning. But Jay wasn't having that. As with anything else, he wanted a reason why. Rolling his eyes again, Tim said, "Because. You don't get enough sleep. When's the last time you slept through the night? Longer than five hours?" Jay thought the question over but couldn't answer it. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had slept well. "Precisely," Tim said after a few beats of silence. "So while I do these things, you're going to take a nap. Now go." Jay rolled his eyes but complied with the command.

Going into Tim's room, he closed the door behind him and flopped face down on the bed, not bothering to take off his jacket or shirt. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.