Turns out it wasn’t just that little spot under the left side of the window. (Saw that coming a mile off.) And so I signed the change order, the entire wall that goes between the wallboard and the siding was replaced with termite-proofed wood outside that bedroom, the window was taken out and put back in, the new siding was given an undercoat of paint, and tomorrow the siding goes up.

And on a different note, I woke up at 5 a.m. and reached over for my phone on the side table to see what time it was.

I SAW the phone. From the bit of moon and the city light reflected downward from the fog through the upper windows I was able to see where it was, and realized with a shock that completely woke me up that I had not been able to at night for some time now and hadn’t consciously realized it because I’d always fallen back to sleep and the blind searching to find it by feel had been forgotten by daybreak.

How many times had that happened? I could only guess.

I clicked the button on my old 6S–and saw the time bright and clear just like how it always used to be, and you know, I could get used to that.

Two single-drop doses of steroids for my Fuchs. That’s all I’d had. And I could see again.