Sleeping at Natalie's

Jim sat in the empty classroom and had no idea how to pass the time. Everything he brought to pass time while traveling was in the trunk of the BMW, and there was absolutely nothing of interest in the classroom.

Jim decided to take a quick nap at the table, both to pass time, but also because he was already extremely tired between jetlag, the hard workout and the hard test — and he did not know whether he was finished or not.

Jim dozed off.

He awoke as Linda burst into the room. Sleepily he asked her how much time had passed, and was shocked when she answered "a few hours". Linda told him to follow her, and they went down to the restroom where he could freshen a little up. Afterwards they left the school building on foot and walked down to a small town.

A few minutes later they sat in a small restaurant and ordered some food. Jim was really starving so he looked forward to eating. Idly he wondered how many hours had passed since he ate on the plane — but without a watch there was no sure way to know.

During the meal they talked about different things, but this time Jim did not feel like he was being pumped for information. The conversation was pleasant, albeit shallow, and the meal was good.

Linda said she had to go to the ladies room and left. Jim sat around finishing his meal. The waitress came and asked him if he wanted another coke. He accepted, thinking he could always pay for it himself.

As the waitress returned with his coke, she dropped a 50 Franc bill (around 20 dollars) at Linda's seat, but neither Jim nor she noticed it. As Linda returned she asked Jim if it was his bill on the seat. Jim said no, and concluded that it must belong to the waitress. He quickly rose from his seat and went to find the waitress.

As soon as he found her, he handed her the bill and explained that she must have dropped it as she gave him the coke.

As he arrived back at their table, Linda was finishing up her meal. As he had already finished, he sat down next to her and chatted with her.

When they left from the dinner, Linda said that their program for today was finished, and that Jim would sleep with a trusted family nearby. They walked back up the hill and got in the BMW. After around 20 minutes of driving, Linda dropped him off at the curb with his luggage and drove off.

Again Jim was alone in a strange place with only skimpy directions on how to proceed.

Jim went to the door and rang the bell. A girl about his age opened the door.

"Hi", she said, "I am Natalie, please come in."

Jim entered the tastefully decorated house just as two adults came into the hallway.

"Hi, you must be Jim", the man said, "I am George and this is my wife Sabine. I take it Natalie has already introduced herself."

"We are very sorry, but we are currently rebuilding some of the house, so our guest room is unavailable. So, we have decided that you can sleep in Natalie's bed, and she will take a mattress on the floor."

Jim was so surprised that he would sleep in the same room as a girl, that he did not hear the last part about the mattress, and, as George took his suitcase and put it into the room, he did not get another clue until later.

The rest of the evening progressed uneventfully.

Jim's sense of pride did not allow him to sleep in the bed and the girl on the floor, so when Natalie lay on the mattress, he proposed that they switch places. Natalie accepted thankfully.

Later, Jim regretted the switch as the mattress was very uncomfortable and he could not find a suitable position to slip into sleep.

After some time, Jim heard Natalie whisper: "I know that mattress is very uncomfortable. We could share my bed — it is king sized after all."

Jim was unsure how to reply, but the hardness of the mattress finally decided for him and he slipped up to the bed. Natalie grunted pleased, and Jim drifted off fairly quickly.