Separate rooms?”

And I said the back was bothering me and the guest mattress was firmer, and he said, “Ah,” and that was the end of it, and I could not risk a second night.

So I slept in that bed for fifteen nights.

I have been asked how, and here is the honest answer.

I did not sleep, mostly.

I lay on my side facing the window with my phone under the pillow and a chair — this is the detail that gets me — a chair from the corner of the room, which I moved four inches, every night, so that it stood between the bed and the door.

Four inches.