Excerpts
HEALTH ISSUE | APRIL 2021
28
Writing: A Cure for Insomnia Chapter 38, Excerpt from Tilted Justice: First Came the Flood, then came the Lawyers by Sidonie Middleton to write a grocery list during the year after the flood. My life revolved around restoring two flood-ravaged houses and repairing or replacing furnishings and appliances. And I couldn’t allow myself to be slowed down by the fatigue that was aggravated by being unable to sleep through the night.
For four years I have been repeatedly told that all that had transpired was so incredible, fantastic, insane, and preposterous that I should write a book. I just laughed. I hardly had time
From the time I became aware that Tenant was coming onto my property in the middle of the night, I started waking at the slightest sound, listening, unable to go back to sleep. The once-familiar sound of the wind rustling through the trees or a shutter rattling against a window would at times take on the ominous suggestion of a car engine or tires on the rock driveway. Here I was, out in the woods alone and with no neighbors within screaming distance. And once I was awake, the wheels in the brain would engage and I would start fretting over the entire imbroglio—the devastating flood damage, the death threats, the lawsuit, and all that I hoped to get done the next day despite the fatigue.
