September 6, 1992
At 2 am I waked to find O. J. had not come back to bed after a trip to the bathroom.I turned on lights as I walked through the house. He was not there. I started calling without answer. Then I unlocked the front door and saw him sitting in the car. When I opened the car door I saw that he had been crying.
"What happened? Why are you in the car?"
"I don't know. I don't know where I am. I came out the door and it locked and I couldn't get in the house." he said.
"Are you alright" Are you sick?"
"Where am I? I want to go home." He was growing angry.
"Let's go back inside." I helped him up the steps and into the house.
He looked around puzzled."Where am I?'
"We're home You must have been sleepwalking?
He looked at me as if I were a stranger. O. J was the most confused than he’d been in several days.
I asked” “Do you know who I am?” “Yes!” Angrily. “What’s my name?”
“I don’t know right now but I know who you are.”
“I ‘m Dorothy and we’ve been married 34 years. Do you remember?"
“Yes...” in a bewildered wavering tone of voice as if he did not quite understand the question.
I led him back to the bed and he just sat there. “Lie down and I will straighten your sheets for you.”
“O. K.”
Even though he seemed unsure he was careful to place his head so that the blood flow not be impaired . Or maybe the scar from the carotidectomy caused him to position his head carefully to avoid discomfort.
“O. J. , do you feel all right?” ‘Yes” spoken softly as a sleepy child. “Do you need a cold glass of water?”
“No.” His voice was a whisper. In minutes he his sleeping soundly. Twenty four hours ago he was alert and estimating how much turnip seed it would take to plant a half acre patch.
I was up about seven am for coffee and television news.
I walked outside looking at fading flowers and the unevenly cut grass. My fault. I’m always cutting in circles to keep from backing up. It used to drive O. J. crazy. His military trained, go by the book mind never got accustomed to my short cuts. But I’d inherited the grasscutting job several years ago.There are a few scraggly peppers still bearing bright red and green fruit in the garden. I pour a cup of coffee and mix one creamer and one sugar before I take it to his bedside about 7:30 . I leave it there without disturbing him.. After forty years of getting up early to go to work at the tire factory, he enjoys staying in bed late. The coffee in bed bit is passed down from my parents. It is a good time to visit before things speed up. At 9:00 when I check on him again the coffee is cold. I try to waken him more energetically. His days and nights seem to be reversed. His night time wandering has begun to get out of hand. It’s not the usual sleepwalking. Each episode leaves him tired and more confused. I need to ask the doctor about it.
