Parental Dilemma

Kicking off my boots I padded silently across the thick carpet and stood in the doorway to the adjoining room.  Jaimie and F_ were still wrapped in their robes, lying on top of the covers facing one another, their noses almost touching.  They were both fast asleep.

The television was still on, but tuned to one of the radio stations the hotel streamed with a running slideshow of local attractions and display ads.  They had finished their movie and had turned the music on low as they lay face to face talking quietly until they both drifted off.

I felt the pang of a parental dilemma – an underaged boy and girl in bed together.  To awaken and pack them off to separate beds would send the message that what they were doing was immoral.  Instead I saw the innocence there; a friend in crisis seeking the comfort of someone close to them; someone who cared deeply for them and wanted to be present in a dark time.  I couldn’t rob either of them of that kinship, so I left the door open and headed off to my own bed.

Jaimie was up and in her shower when I got up.  F_ was still asleep, sprawled on his side of the queen bed, his robe pulled open and twisted around him.  I was grateful to see he was wearing his boxers.