I fell asleep. I’d been up since 4 a.m. and by 10:30 p.m., I was exhausted. Rain was pattering against the roof and that tends to make me more sleepy. My bedroom reading lamp was still on. The latest edition of Smithsonian was resting on my chest. I was off in dreamland.

The phone rings.

Hello
Can you hear me?
Am I gettin’ through to you?

Hello
Is it late there?

A voice. A deep, soft soft voice. I’m shaken. I was sleeping hard..harder than I should have been for being out only 20 minutes.

My voice is higher pitched than normal because of being woken. I think I sound like a little girl.

Why don’t you
Why don’t you
Go outside
Go outside

Kiss the rain
Whenever you need me
Kiss the rain
Whenever I’m gone, too long.

If your lips
Feel lonely and thirsty
Kiss the rain
And wait for the dawn.

Keep in mind
We’re under the same sky
And the nights
as empty for me, as for you
If you feel
You can’t wait till morning
Kiss the rain
Kiss the rain
Kiss the rain

That voice. I heard it for mere seconds but it’s still ringing in my head. It was late, I was asleep. He didn’t want to disturb me. He told me to go back to sleep.

Hello
Do you miss me?

What’s new?
How’s the weather?
Is it stormy where you are?
You sound so close but it feels
like you’re so far
Oh would it mean anything
If you knew
What I’m left imagining
In my mind
In my mind
Would you go
Would you go
Kiss the rain

And you’d fall over me
Think of me
Think of me
Think of me
Only me
Kiss the rain
Whenever you need me
Kiss the rain
Whenever I’m gone too long
If your lips
Feel lonely and tempted
Kiss the rain
and wait for the dawn

Keep in mind
We’re under the same sky
And the nights
As empty for me, as for you

If you feel
You can’t wait till morning

Kiss the rain
Kiss the rain

Hello
Can you hear me?

I didn’t want to hang up, as tired as I was. I wonder if he knew. I would have rather have heard his voice more.

I couldn’t fall back asleep. His voice reverberated through my head. Finally, when I drifted off, he was there, in my dreams, talking to me.

He once told me he’d come to me in my dreams.

I wonder if he knew how touched I’d be when he did.

Thanks to Billie Meyers for the edited “Kiss the Rain” lyrics.