Your pillow’s arriving in an hour, announced Bob.
Getting ready to leave for Manhattan.
To pick up grandchildren.
Maybe I’ll take a nap, I quipped.
Knowing I’d be baking bread, a pie.
Pulling a Shabbat meal together.
Why, you might wonder, did I order a pillow?
For, after many years of marriage, I have dozens.
Let me explain.
Never ever did I own one made of down.
Always synthetic stuffing.
For my husband had terrible allergies.
But, he went for weekly treatments.
Till his reaction to plumage, gone.
As evidenced in Cape May.
When both of us slept on feathers.
Fell into deep, relaxing slumbers.
Without sneezing, wheezing.
But rather than tempt fate,
I ordered only one for me.
Hoping no repercussions.
No need for apology.
Lynn Benjamin
October 8, 2023