When I was 18 and studying for my final exams I found I couldn't sleep. At first it wasn't too much of a problem; after all I needed to study hard if I wanted to get into the college of my choice.
However after nearly eight days with only the occasional cat nap to keep me going I was starting to feel rather unwell.
Certainly my Mom had voiced her concern about how pale and ill I looked but Dad told her I was a teenager and that I had exam nerves. He was right about that.
It didn't help that my Mom and Dad had just gone away on a four week vacation and that I was stuck at home with my Dad's younger brother Jack.
Don't get me wrong, I get on well with Uncle Jack who is 15 years younger than my father, it's just that I had hoped to have the house to myself for the four weeks that they were away but it seemed that my Mom and Dad didn't trust to leave me in the house on my own.
Something about coming back to a trashed house and a lot of shitty excuses from their one and only beloved daughter. That really made me feel pissed, you make one mistake when you are 16 years old and you pay for it for the rest of your life.
I said as much to Uncle Jack who at 29 wasn't a stick in the mud like his brother, my father.
Uncle Jack and Dad are actually half-brothers, same father, different mothers. Despite this they get on really well, and when Jack is on leave from the army he crashes at our place.
He has a self-contained studio over our garage and its really cool. He has even let me and a couple of my friend's hang out with him, and he lets us have a beer or two as well but not so many that we get wrecked.
"Your father would fucking kill me," he said to me and I had laughed.
"You're not afraid of Dad, Uncle Jack," I said in a teasing voice.
"No," he agreed with me but then added, "But your Mom scares the shit out of me."
That made me laugh even harder but he was right, Mom is scarier than Dad!
Uncle Jack is good looking, my two best friends actually describe him as "hot" which made me go "EWWWWWGH" but actually they are right.
My Uncle Jack is really hot. He's six foot tall, he's tanned from his time in Iraq, he works out so his body is toned and hard and I have to admit, I love to watch his butt when he walks. Talk about eye candy or what! He has short cropped blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes that crinkle when he smiles and the reddest lips I have ever seen on a guy. He looks nothing like my Dad who has brown hair, green eyes and burns to a crisp in the sun. Plus he is getting a bit of a belly on him, too much eating good food when he is on the road my Mom says.
Luckily I take after Mom, I am not tall but not short either, I have grown into my figure, once I was all puppy fat and jowls, now I have a size 6 waist, round hips that roll when they walk, milky pale skin and I have got Mom's HUGE jugs.
Mom has tits that Dolly Parton would be proud of though she complains about them all the time.
My father laughs at her and says, "Harriet, women pay a fortune for boobs like yours!"
My boobs are big, bouncy and pert. I have long wavy red gold hair that falls over my shoulders and I love to flick it back like the celebrities do on the red carpet. I have bright green eyes, a really thin nose that I hate but my lips are nice, full and red. A bit like Uncle Jack's in fact and I am pale skinned like my Dad, no tanning for me sadly.
So back to the story. I couldn't get to sleep and by the fifth day I was miserable and cranky as you can imagine. I couldn't concentrate on my books and I was almost in tears by then.
I lay in my bed, trying to sleep, trying to force my body to do what it should do naturally. Go to sleep. To no avail. Eventually I gave up. I decided to make myself a hot drink of milk, not that it had helped all the other nights before but I couldn't think of what else to do.
I had even snuck a couple of cans of beer out of Dad's study and downed them but all that had done had made me pee more than I normally did. I would have tried the spirits but Dad would have known if anyone had been at his fine whisky and brandy. I could get away with pinching some beer, because Dad assumed Uncle Jack had taken it and usually he had but Uncle Jack didn't like spirits, at least not the ones Dad bought.
I padded down stairs to the kitchen bleary eyed and miserable but almost had a cow when my Uncle Jack suddenly appeared out of the darkness, clutching a carton of orange juice in one hand and a glass in the other.
"Holy fucking shit!" I screamed in fright. I made him jump and he swore too, luckily he didn't drop the juice or the glass.
"What the fuck?" he yelled when he got his senses back, and then he was furious and I think a bit embarrassed at being made to almost jump out of his skin by his teenage niece, "What the hell are you doing up at this time Tiffany? It's quarter past three in the fucking morning! Get back to bed right now before I put my hand print on your sorry ass!"
I burst into tears then. My Uncle's blue eyes went huge; he wasn't use to me bawling my eyes out. I usually give as good as I get but I was so tired and miserable and when he yelled at me, well that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
"Fuck!" my Uncle said and his anger turned to concern, "What's up Tiffany?"
He hurriedly put his juice and drink down and guided me to the breakfast bar and one of the wooden chairs. I was aware that he was in his PJ'S just like I was, he was wearing army regulation shorts and a t-shirt and his feet were bare. I was in my baby doll night outfit, and I knew my boobs and ass were hanging out all over the place but you know what? Right then I didn't give a shit, I was that exhausted.
I told my Uncle about not being able to sleep, how I had tried drinking hot milk, not studying past 1130 at night, doing all the things they told us at school to do in order to relax and wind down after studying but nothing, nothing worked AT ALL.
As he listened to me Uncle Jack poured me an orange juice and made me drink some.
I gulped it down and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, "I feel sick," I said my voice wobbling, "I can't even sleep in the day time, I just can't sleep!" I wailed out the last words.
Uncle Jack scratched his head. He looked thoughtful.
"You're stressed," he said finally and I looked at him through tear rimmed eyes.
"You don't say?" I mumbled, and then I sniffed, "I'll try anything to get some sleep, anything, I'd even skinny dip in next door's swimming pool if I thought that would help!"
Uncle Jack laughed and shook his head, "You'd freeze to death" he said, "That pool is not heated."
I sniffed again and hiccuped. Uncle Jack bit his lower lip and then he said in a slow voice, "I have an idea of what might help make you sleep Tiffany."
"What?" I said miserably and he smiled.
"Do you trust me?" he said suddenly taking me by surprise. I blinked.
"Well, yes," I said and I did. I really did trust Uncle Jack.
"Come on then," he said and he took my arm, helped me up from my chair and took me up to his studio.
For a soldier my Uncle was a slob, I told him so and he laughed. The room which was one huge square, had a double bed in one corner, a sofa in another which was in front of a 50inch flat TV and a small kitchen and freezer in another corner though Uncle Jack only used it to heat up snacks when his poker buddies came over. He ate with us mostly or got take-out.
There were empty beer cans in a box by the sofa, several pizza boxes, most with crusts and grungy bits of cheese in them scattered around the room. All of his laundry both dirty and clean were in piles on the floor and I tripped over two pairs of his combat boots before I even got through the front door properly.
The small sink was full of dirty coffee cups and the poker table which was near the kitchenette had three ashtrays overfilling with fag ends and ash.
I wrinkled my nose in disgust, "This place stinks," I said and I sneezed.
"You'll get used to it," he said and he handed me a can of beer which he opened. I looked at.
"I have tried that," I said with a sigh.
"I know," he said with a wry grin, "Your Dad said I was drinking too much, I haven't touched his beer but I guessed you had."
I went bright red in the face, "I only took a few cans," I said, "I hoped they'd help me sleep."
"I was going to bust your ass about taking them," he said with a glint in his blue eyes and I flinched; Uncle Jack has only busted my behind on four occasions in my life time and I remembered and each and every one of them; he hadn't been gentle and I hadn't been able to sit down for two days afterwards. But if I was honest with myself I had deserved all four of those spankings and some, "But in all fairness when you have wanted a beer, you have always asked me, so I guessed something was up, I didn't realize what though until now."
I smiled at him gratefully and gulped down the beer he had given me. It tasted good but I knew it wasn't going to help me sleep.
"If I help you get to sleep," my Uncle said taking me by surprise, "You clean up this place," he motioned his hand around the grubby studio, "For the duration of my leave, not only clean it up but do whatever I want whilst I am here."
He was so damn sure of himself I thought crossly. Well I was sure he was going to fail so I said boldly in response, "Okay, and if you fail, you go out and buy me some real alcohol so I can get wrecked enough to pass out and get some real sleep."
"It's a deal," he said and he grinned at me. For a brief moment I felt uneasy but then I remembered he was my Uncle and that I trusted him so I pushed aside this odd feeling of fear.
"Okay," Uncle Jack said after I had finished the beer, "Come and lie on the bed."