I woke up later with a soft, warm body pressed up against mine. It was Alison. She was fast asleep, but I woke her up anyway.
“What happened?” she asked. She stretched and turned to look at me.
I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. “You must have sleep walked or something. You crawled into bed with me.”
“Oh, yeah.” She yawned and stretched again. “I couldn’t sleep all alone. The ceiling creaks and the couch is uncomfortable. Besides you are cute. I want to sleep with you.”
“What? No,” I said. “Go back to the lounge and sleep on the couch.”
“Please,” she said, “just for tonight.”
“You’re too young. I’m almost thirty and you…” I paused because I didn’t know how old she was. “…are too young.”
“What’s the date?” she asked.
I told her.
“Well I am almost forty-one,” she said, “and that makes me a cougar, but plenty old enough.”
“A cougar?” I asked. “What’s that?”
“Nevermind,” she said, “I am plenty old to share your bed. I only look twenty-two because that is my subjective age. My objective age is forty-one. Besides, we are just sleeping.”
“Fine,” I said, “but tomorrow night you are going back on the couch.”
“Okay,” she said. I turned and went back to sleep. She never did go back to the couch in the five months we waited for the relief ship.
I woke up late the next day. Alison was gone. I figured she was in the bathroom, but I didn’t hear water running. I got up and went inside and looked around. She wasn’t there. I wondered where she could have gone. I was about going to do a tour of the station, but then I heard a thumping sound coming from the galley. I raced to that compartment to see if she was okay.
She was standing on counter wearing just her EVA diaper and t-shirt. She held a bunch of food containers and was stacking them in the cupboards.