Short story – “Bated Breath”

“Bated Breath”

A phone alarm brought Alice to the brink of consciousness.  The alarm was turned off, but before Alice could slip back to sleep, Dana pushed on her shoulder.  “Wakey, wakey.”

“Five more minutes,” Alice mumbled.

Dana leaned over and Alice felt her breath on her ear.  “No.”

Alice began to groan, but it quickly became a shriek as Dana began tickling her.  Jolting up, Alice tried to squirm out the blankets while crying, “I’m up, I’m up.”

Dana stopped her attack, then hugged Alice and gave her a lengthy kiss. 

When it finished, Alice smiled and asked, “Do you really want to wake me up?”

Waving her phone, Dana said, “Let’s see if there’s a reason for us to celebrate first.”

Alice flopped back on the bed and closed her eyes. 

“What’s your prediction?” Dana asked.  When Alice didn’t answer, Dana nudged her with her foot.

“I’m thinking,” Alice replied.

“Do you want to hear mine?”

Alice shrugged.  “Sure.”

“I’ll say that he isn’t dead, but he did have a heart attack or something and he’s in the hospital.”

“Is his outlook not good?”

“We can hope.  So what’s your guess?”

“I’ll say,” Alice paused for a moment before continuing, “he bombed some random place in Mexico to stop one of those non-existent migrate caravans.”

“Ooooh, spicy.”

Checking the news, Dana said, “And the winner is ….”