What exactly is a Randomfic?  It is a short story that begins with a random 
line from the Christy novel.  The line is taken completely out of context 
and begins a short story.  Here was the novel line that Angela and I used to 
write the following piece.  It is from the chapter of the novel where 
Christy goes to lay out the body of Opal McHone's baby:  "The man lolling on 
the foot of the bed laughed uproariously."  Read on to see how we took this 
line out of context and created our own little story!

Angela and Lisa Renee


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Though I Slumber"
A Randomfic by Angela and Lisa Renee


        The man lolling on the foot of the bed laughed uproariously.  He was my 
husband, but at that moment, he didn't deserve to be called anything more 
than "the man."  I failed to see the humor in the situation.  Yet the more 
sternly I looked at him, the harder he laughed.

        "Neil MacNeill, you are the most despicable man who ever lived."  I folded 
my arms across my chest.  "How can you laugh at me like this?"

        For a brief moment, he attempted to hold back his obvious mirth.  But a few
seconds later, he was again unable to stave off the paroxysm of laughter and 
had to turn around so I couldn't see him.

        "Neil!"  I shouted at him then.  "This is absolutely not funny!"

        "It absolutely is!" Neil managed to say amid his laughter.  "Christy, you 
talked in your sleep ALL night long!  And the things you said --"  His deep 
laugh rumbled from him again, and he fell back on the bed.

        "It must have been that gingerbread I ate before bed.  It always gives me 
strange dreams," I explained.  "But I've never been known to talk in my 
sleep before."

        "How would you know if you talk in your sleep if there hasn't been anyone 
around to hear you before now?"

        "Well, what exactly did I say, then?"

        "You woke me up saying, 'It's hot in here.'  So I scooted back to my own 
side of the bed, but you kept on.  'Creed, don't put any more wood in that 
stove.  Mountie's breaking out in a sweat sitting right next to it!’ ”

        "What's so funny about that?"

        "Nothing," Neil replied.  "But it got funnier as you went on.”  He began to 
chuckle again, and I hit him with a pillow.  What had I said?  It must have 
been horrible for Neil to carry on so.  I wondered how long he would laugh 
about this.

        "I think by the time you finished talking, you'd named every one of your 
students -- and reprimanded most of them, too.  You should have heard 
yourself, Christy!  Now I know what goes on in that classroom everyday."

        Neil continued with his recollection.  " 'Sam Houston!  Stop drawing on 
your slate and work those arithmetic problems!  Orter Ball, if I have to 
tell you one more time to stop shooting paper at your brother, I'm going to 
keep you after school and have you clean the chalkboard.  And Zady!  Stop 
passing notes to Ruby Mae or you'll be writing sentences for the rest of the 
afternoon.'  I had no idea that my wife was such a hard woman!"

        "I'm not hard," I protested.  "But you have no idea what it's like getting 
their attention sometimes!"  I allowed myself to laugh.  Oddly, the things 
I'd said in my sleep were all things I'd spoken throughout that week of 
teaching.  "But my day is not one continuous string of scolding," I told my 
husband.

        "I know that."  He reached for my hand, but started laughing again.

        I groaned.  "There was something else, wasn't there?"

        "Yes," he answered, "and you were most definitely scolding me with what you
said next."

        My heart beat a little faster.  What HAD I said?  "Neil!"

        His face was red, and the bed shook with his laughter.  "It's priceless, 
Christy..."

        I watched him with growing alarm and indignance.  Finally he stopped 
laughing, sat up, and put on a very straight face.

        "About the time you finished scolding your students, you began to whimper 
and toss and turn.  I had to dodge your arms -- you were flailing them about 
so.  I was afraid of getting a black eye."

        "But what did I say?"

        Neil continued as though I hadn't interrupted.  "At first you were rather 
incoherent.  Finally I made out, 'Neil, I can't sleep.  You didn't kiss me 
enough.  Can't sleep...Need you to kiss me.’ "

        My mouth hung open in surprise.  The schoolroom comments were taken from my 
waking life, but I'd never begged Neil to kiss me before.  Surely I couldn’t 
have said such a thing!

        “Neil MacNeill, are you making that up?”

        Neil's hazel eyes grew round with innocence.  "Cross my heart."

        I was still skeptical.  I edged away from him.

        "Christy," he said.  "Why would I make that up?"

        "Because you love to torment me."

        "Torment you?  You think I'd make all this up just to torment you?"

        I shook my head.  Neil's expression was truthful.  He'd never make up such 
a crazy story.  How outrageous, though!  What kind of woman begged her 
husband for kisses in her sleep?  Mother would be appalled.  It was too 
humiliating.

        Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with curiosity.  "If you heard me begging, why 
didn't you just kiss me and shut me up?"

        A slow smile spread across Neil’s face.  He moved to hold me.   "Because it 
was so much fun hearing you say it."

        I looked up at him unsmiling.  "I'll say it one more time:  Kiss me."

        And with equal seriousness, he did.

The end.