"Do you ever see green swirls behind your eyes as you fall asleep?" Johnny asked, his arms crossed over his chest as he tilted his head back against his recliner. He held his eyes closed just on the edge of dosing off.
"Pops, the only thing I see when I close my eyes is the backs of my eyelids," Billy said. "What do the swirls look like?"
"Sort of like the aurora borealis, just all green." Johnny could hear the baseball Billy tossed in the air smack against his palm repeatedly.
"What's the aurora boreality?" Billy asked through a yawn.
"Yep," Johnny said, opening his eyes. "That's my cue. I'm goin' to bed. Lights out, boy."
"Wait! What's the thing?" Billy asked, holding out a hand.
"An aurora is naturally occurring lights in the sky. They swirl and shift, and that's like what I see when I close my eyes, and when it's pitch dark. Looks like swirls and shapes," Johnny explained as he trudged towards the hallway that led to his room.
"You're just weird, Pops," Billy said, reaching up to switch off the lamp next to him as he settled down under the covers on his cot.
Johnny shook his head, waving a dismissing hand in the boys direction as he moved towards his room. "Thanks, Bill."
