Super Sleepy Sara (Sara Scanlan #5) - Episode 5
by Phyllis Korkki
Mom, you have to help me!
What’s wrong, Sara?!
I can’t get out of bed!
Oh no! Do you need an ambulance?!
No…I’m just soooooooooo tired.
I don’t think I can go to work today.
Sara! You shouldn’t have scared me like that!
This IS scary. I LITERALLY can’t get out of bed.
I think I’m going to have to call in…tired.
Honey, I don’t think that would go over too well.
But this bed is like a magnet. A really STRONG magnet.
You don’t understand how strong it is!
And the sheets, it’s like they’re madly in love with me.
We can’t stop hugging each other!
Sara, were you up late last night?
Sara…are you there?
Sorry, Mom. I fell back asleep.
Yeah, I was bingeing on Twin Peaks last night.
And I didn’t get to sleep until 4 a.m.
I see. So what you’re saying is, you brought this on yourself.
No! The TV show did. It wasn’t my fault it was so addictive!!
Sara, you need to get up and go to work if you want to keep getting a paycheck.
Even if you’re dead tired.
I do it all the time.
Millions of other people do too.
Okay, Mom. If you say so.
But what if I moved back home?
Then I could sleep all day if I wanted to.
No.
But sleep is IMPORTANT.
Everyone is always saying that.
It’s important to your HEALTH.
Being able to support yourself is more important.
Get up.
OMG.
This is so hard.
It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my LIFE.
90 minutes later
Thanks a lot, Mom.
What did I do now?
I made it to work, even though it seemed impossible.
I’m so proud of you, honey. You’re my hero.
Is my sarcasm coming through?
Yeah Mom, loud and clear.
But you don’t understand what you did to me.
I thought maybe I could get through the day.
But there was a big meeting at 10.
And I fell asleep during it.
Oops.
I tried so hard to stay awake!
I got a quadruple espresso.
The barista cut me off when I asked for a quintuple.
Even that didn’t help, though.
It didn’t?
No. It just made it worse!
Miranda started droning on about budgets and my neck started jerking down.
I jerked it back up again but then I got sleepy again. My neck jerked back down.
And then I fell over sideways.
When I woke up, there was slobber on Bill’s arm.
And THEN I knocked over my espresso onto his lap.
Oh dear.
Maybe you SHOULD have called in tired.
You know what really wakes a person up, Mom?
What?
Being EMBARRASSED.
Well at least you’re awake now.
Try to get some work done.
I’ll try, but I’m supposed to be working with Bill.
And he’s so mad at me.
Just remember, someday this will all be a hilarious memory.
Okay Mom, if you say so.
Mom! Are you there?
I’m here. Are you awake now?
I was for a while, but then I got so sleepy again after lunch.
I started slouching and slouching in my chair until I slid right onto the floor.
Did you get back up?
Yeah, but then my head fell on my keyboard and I feel asleep again.
There’s a square from the “6” key indented on my forehead now from my sleeping on it.
And there’s about two-thousand 6’s on my computer screen.
I think it’s a message from the devil.
The devil didn’t do this to you. You did it to yourself.
Can’t you just ride it out?
You only have a few more hours left.
Sara, are you there?
Sara?
Please try to stay awake, Sara.
You can’t move back home.
30 minutes later
Mom, can you hear me?
No, because you’re texting me.
Well if texts could whisper, that’s what my texts would be doing right now.
Why?
Guess where I am?
I don’t even want to try. Where are you?
Under my desk.
UNDER your desk?
I built a little nap room down here.
Sara, get out from under your desk right now!
Your employer is not going to put up with these antics.
I TRIED to use the lactation room.
But only nursing mothers are allowed in that room.
Isn’t that outrageous?
Yes, it’s so unfair.
But you need to get back in your chair.
What if someone sees you there under your desk?
They won’t, Mom. I’m hidden by some copier-paper boxes!
I settled myself in and piled them up alongside me like a fort.
If only you could use this kind of ingenuity on your actual work.
I know!
There’s just a little space at the top for me to see out.
I got a cushion from the lounge to use as a pillow.
And I’m using my coat as a blanket.
It’s actually pretty comfortable!
I’m just going to nap here until 5.
But won’t people wonder where you are?
I told them I would be at a marketing meeting.
And what about the whole idea of working while you’re at work?
I’m too tired to work!
Besides, I’ll work twice as hard tomorrow!!
Oh no.
What is it?
Someone is in my cubicle.
It’s Bill.
I recognize the stain on his pants, unfortunately.
I think…I’m busted.
1 hour later
Sara, do you still have a job?
Yeah Mom, everything’s fine.
Bill guarded my cubicle until I got back in my chair.
Nobody except him knows what I did.
He thought what I did was funny. And clever!
It really was.
He said he could relate. He gets tired in the afternoon too.
I was honest about him about why I was so especially tired today.
And it turns out he’s a Twin Peaks fan too!
I’m going over to his place tonight to watch it with him.
But we both promised to finish at 10 p.m.
Well thank goodness for that.
I thought Bill was one of the most annoying people you ever met.
He used to be.
But once he stopped typing so loud and started eating his smelly lunches in the cafeteria…
He kind of started growing on me.
And we’ve been through so much together now.
Plus we’re going to work together on a political cause.
Oh? What cause is that?
Nap rooms, Mom.
NAP ROOMS FOR ALL!
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