Sodom

 He finds himself settling into a routine after his trip to Phoenix. His sleep is off. What’s odd is that he in fact slept according to his EST schedule while in Arizona, but only found the night upon arrival back to Pennsylvania that his sleep was thrown off. He found that he slept in the next night, but found himself full of energy the next. This begat a cycle, where he felt good one day, but then felt exhausted, almost delayed by a day. He would sleep more one day but then still felt tired due to the lack of the sleep the night prior. Once in high school, during his junior summer where he had nothing at all to do, he found himself sleeping in an hour more each day, only to stay up an hour later. He later will take college classes at Wilkes through his high school senior year, where he learns of the French scientist Michel Siffre who lived in a cave for 63 days. He found his body’s circadian rhythm was around 25 hours, and that with sunlight cues our bodies reset around the 24 hour cycle of the sun imposed day. This seems to confirm this. 

 

He attempted to stay up all night and found himself thrilled to experience the joy of an early day, particularly the breakfast menu. He enjoyed the solitude of the night, and the refreshing experience of watching the sun rise and then heading to a breakfast meal at McDonald’s or Waffle House. The coffee at said places propelled him with energy to where he would sleep at a respectable time that night. He would then sleep 12 hours only to continue with the cycle. His little experiment was forced to end when his mom remarked, “You’ve been weird with your sleep. Go to sleep like a normal kid!”  He starts the new academic year wondering if his circadian rhythm is 48 hrs, like an alien.

 

He gets to bed, well rested, but exhausted. He has enough energy to shower, but heads straight to bed. He lays there, turning his body to the night stand to turn off the light. On top he sees his Bible In a Year book, splayed open downward, frozen in time, having not been open in weeks. He thinks of all of his habits, in particular his good ones, that he has shed over the winter. He still found himself jerking off daily. The only good habit he kept, having shed his lifting, his running, his healthy moderated diet, was upon waking to read the daily Catholic reading for the homily. 

 

Genesis 18:20-33. 

 

He gets through his morning rote movements, drinking coffee, setting the alarm, packing his computer for the office. He gets into his car, backing out from the garage. He thinks again of how he progressively sloughs off his good habits to just a few. Will God think the same? One less holy person, one less holy habit. He continues his reversal, slamming the car into drive. He sets off for work, recollecting the sequence in the Bible next gets to “one”, but is that the lesson? Is it implied? He wonders if he is playing roulette, and at what point will he have shed too many.