# 21

The science of holding an adjacent individual..
There are two optimal locations on the human body for which to hold another as they fall asleep The first is the space where the proximal bicep muscle and the distal deltoid muscle intersect and the second is where the proximal deltoid and the and the lateral part of the pectoralis major muscle intersect. These two areas form a natural cradle between muscle bellies for the human cranium of another individual to settle on comfortably. That is comfort for both parties involved in the activity (or lack of activity). One must bare in mind that these two locations only work if the gleno-humoral joint (shoulder) is in an abducted-externally rotated position. There is one other location that is worth mentioning that functions as well and that is the cubital fossa (front of the elbow) with the arm basically in the same position.
This morning I woke up before anybody else in the family as I usually do with the sun. I went down stairs to see if anybody else was stirring. Nobody was until my movement woke up my 5 year old daughter. She was up like a bolt of lightening. I went into her room and told her that I was going to go back to sleep on her bed since she was not using it any more. She then proceeded to inform me that this activity was definitely prohibited in accordance to the mommy laws that were set into enforcement on the basis that no one should be getting into bed with dirty clothes on. I then informed Maddy that I had just put on my clothes and that they were clean. But Maddy as the marshal of her room would not be dissuaded by mere technicalities. So I was obliged to remove my person from her location of evening retirement.
Soon after this I was further informed by the girl of what she expected to be served for her post nocturnal meal. I agreed and told her that we need to inform her brother of these for planned events.
I opened Thomas’ door and said gently “Good morning Thomas”. At which I received no reply. I then crawled onto the top bunk where he was still silently slumbering and lay beside him and gave him a slight nudge at which he responded by lifting his head and moving it toward me. For some reason I responded out of reflex and extended my arm and his head came to rest on my shoulder.
I was hit all of a sudden by a flood of memories. Thomas’ infancy began to relive itself. I realized that I had not held Thomas like this in probably what had been perhaps five years. I was taken back to the South American sub- tropical city of Santa Cruz on a misty-humid dusk. Here I am holding a baby on my shoulder while sitting crossways in a hammock. The baby is wiggling as babies usually do when they are tired and slightly fussy. The child eventually falls into a deep sleep on my shoulder as the hammock swings back and forth. He seems to gain two pounds as his little body finally relaxes into a little human pile on top of me. At this moment there is nothing else in the world that seems to exist at that accept me and him.
I don’t know how long I maintained this state of weightlessness but it was not long till the little Marshal came in and popped my bubble. This was done by her informing me in a no non-sense manner that she was hungry and had waited quite long enough for her meal.
Sometimes the day ends before if begins.
FeO2