A Curious Observer
The biggest surprise came on a Sunday afternoon. I walked into the bedroom to grab a book, and I found my wife. She wasn’t on the “Cloud-Rest 5000.” She was lying on my Tatami mat, reading. She looked up, a little embarrassed. “I just wanted to see what the fuss was about,” she mumbled. “My lower back was hurting a little from the gardening.”
I didn’t say “I told you so.” I just smiled. “How is it?” I asked. She shifted her shoulders against the firm cotton. “It’s… different,” she admitted. “It feels like a massage. Like the floor is pushing the knots out.” That afternoon, she took a nap on the floor. When she woke up, she didn’t complain about her back. The fortress of the $3,000 mattress was beginning to crumble. I knew then that the experiment was over; this was just our life now.