Sleepwalking through Life

From what I remember, I spent a lot of my time sleeping. I had... have... an uncanny ability to fall asleep anywhere and everywhere under any types of conditions. This probably stems from my time in Atlanta. My mom, newly single, and not employable, picked up a job as a bartender/ waitress. She also decided to go to school, perhaps community college, although I'm not sure. During this time I grew accustomed to sleeping in the back of the car, in the booth at the restaurant, and even outside of the classroom in the hall.

The school I particularily remember. I would sit in the hallway, and my mom and her... friends, presumably... would take turns coming out to check on me. They'd buy me lunch, or was it dinner? in the cafetaria, and I'd sit outside the classroom with a beige tray on my lap. I don't remember the food, although I imagine it not to be dissimilar from hospital food. This again brings me to the thought... what did the women who used to check on me think? Those who walked by me in the hall? Was there pity? Did they find it odd? Did they think my mother was unfit?

Oddly enough, I did have a fear of sleeping alone in my room at night. This lasted me well into my teens, I will admit. More often than not, I would wander to my mother's room, and snuggle in the bed with her. I'm not sure what the fear was, but I remember sitting wide awake in my room, staring at the hallway light bulb, and truly believing it was flashing on and off. I'd scare myself with these visions and sometimes sprint to the other room. It was irrational. I was 4.