"Uhhh! Even sleeping on the couch doesn't deafen your snore. If the only way to get away from it is divorce then so be it," the female exclaims.

Both their eyes go wide. Neither of them had ever used the 'd' word before. Her hand covers her mouth as silence fills the room.

He breaks the silence first, "We've got to do something about this." His tired eyes look to her for a solution. The perspiration from her head has smeared her mascara and washed away some of her makeup, revealing the dark bags under her eyes. Her hair, in a bun, has started to come loose with strands of dirty blond hair at odd angles undecided if they want to return or droop down with her bangs.

His face has cooled, but the flush has yet to finish leaving his face, "I'm sorry for snapping at you. I think I'm more irritable lately."

"I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have attacked you for napping and not helping with dinner." A slight smile comes to her face as she adjusts her navy business blouse. "Lack of sleep can do that to you --" She corrects herself, "to me -- to both of us."

Her smile slips, "But what can we do? Your apnea won't let you sleep deep, and your snores are keeping me awake."

"I want to sleep. I'm trying to sleep. I drink Chamomile Tea at night. I go to bed at a reasonable hour after a period of no electronics."

She finishes for him, "I know, Mark, you even use a fan to drone you to sleep. And, yet you still don't sleep well. I guess we'll have to go to surgery, since the CPAP machine isn't working for you."

His head snaps up, eyes wide, well, wider. "There might be another way, Sue."

"Oh?"

He hustles to his computer with her trailing behind. Upon reaching a website, he clicks and scrolls through images that both disgust, intrigue, or excite Sue. At last he clicks on a picture and spins in his chair to face her with arms spread wide, "Ta da!"

On the screen is a strange image to her. It is a pillow but not a normal pillow. Along with the lace and cloth is a female head at one end followed by two cloth breasts sticking up and a hole she assumes is a belly button. All in all, it's a very decorative pillow that looks like a woman's torso.

She looks to the screen and then to him. Confused, she asks, "You think a pillow will help you sleep better? Haven't we tried getting a new pillow?"

"Well, yeah, but this one is special."

Still not understanding, she raises a questioning eyebrow, "Oh? And what makes this one different from the other one?" Then she adds, "Other than it is shaped like a woman?"

Mark averts his eyes and scratches the back of his head, "Well, uh, you see ..." The rest is an almost audible mumble.

She takes a step closer, "What did you say?"

"You would be the pillow," because of her proximity, his words come out as a whisper.

Her eyes go wide as Sue stumbles back a step, "What?!" Taking another step back, "N-No w-way."

"Why not?"

"Th-That's im-impossible."

"Maybe not quite as impossible as you might believe. There's these machines called Venn machines. There's one --"

Sue's face is flush. Mark can't tell if it's from whatever is scaring her or something else. "I-I know about Venn Machines. The girls m-mention them all the t-time."

"Oh? And what do they say?"

It's her turn to look away, "Ah-all s-sorts of things."

"Like turning into a pillow?"

"Well, not that, but yeah."

"So, what are you afraid of?"

Startled, she backs up again, eyes wide. How did he know? He closes the distance and wraps her in his arms, "What is it? I won't laugh."

For his ears only, she whispers, "It doesn't have arms or legs. I'd be so helpless." She leans back in his hug to look into his eyes. She finds no sign of amusement, only concern.

"Yeah. That could be a problem." He turns toward the computer to close the browser. "I guess that rules out that idea. I was hoping that because it was just the two of us, that there would be no problems."

Mark leaves the room and heads to the kitchen and sets a kettle on the burner to start the water boiling. As he's pulling the pill bottle from the cupboard he hears Sue quietly ask him, "How long would it be for?"

He sets the container on the counter as he turns to her pensive yet penitent face. "They didn't tell you much, did they?" She shakes her head. "The shortest time the machine will allow is eight hours, but if we don't want the form anymore, we can go back to the machine to end it early." He lets her process that before continuing, "For a sleeping pillow, I would think that we should consider at least the minimum. The next level up is 16 hours. Again, we can end it early."

Deciding not to pressure her, he turns back to the sleeping pills. Over his shoulder he asks, "I'm making Chamomile tea. Will you want some?"

She nods. He transfers the hot water to the pot to steep. "And it would only be for the one time?"

"If that's what you want, sure. It's just a test anyway. We don't even know if this will work."

Mark watches Sue close her eyes and clench her fists for a moment. Reopening them, she musters her courage and tries to smile while saying, "Well, if it's only this once, I suppose I can take one for the team." She takes a deep breath before continuing, "I've always said that I would try anything once."

Mark stands there stunned. His wife has offered everything to help him sleep better. I didn't think she'd do it after her confession in the room. What should I do? Take her up on it now? Wait for her to say when?

"Hey, ya big dope. Are we going or do I have to put up with the chainsaw for another night?" He smiles at her brave front.

Together, they head to the Venn machine, hand in hand.

"That's it?" Sue looks at the seamless long box with the slow turning symbol and then to Mark.

"That's it."

"I somehow thought it would be bigger or more elaborate or more colorful."

"Yeah, nope. This is it." He takes a step forward, but she stays behind. As their hands begin to separate, Mark turns back, "Something wrong?"

"My hair and makeup. I must look a mess. Why didn't I freshen up before coming?"

He smiles at her logic, "Because if you had, you'd have lost your nerve."

"That's true."

Mark looks back. Sue's not joining him, but she's not frightened either. She's in awe? "Ready?"

"You go first. I'll watch."

"You're not chickening out?"

"No, this is all new. I want to see."

With a nod, he heads to the machine and inserts a dollar. The time settings light up, "16 hours?"

"Uh huh." He punches a middle button and the doors open. They do not slide or swing open. Person-sized holes appear.

Mark turns back to her. "It's time. You need to enter one side. I'll enter the other. We'll be able to see each other inside." Looking into her eyes to make sure, he asks, "Ready?"

Her eyes steel as she gives a firm nod and steps forward and into the machine. Sue turns to the door when the room darkens. Or at least she tries to.

Where the door had just been is nothing but wall, no cracks or seams. In fact the only light in the room seems to be from the door on his side. And then he steps in. She watches the hole become wall in a blink. How? Her focus drifts from the bizarre door/wall thing to Mark's face.

Now the illumination comes from the clear screen in front of her and the various interface controls. She watches as he pokes at the screen between them and says things like "pillow" and "girl". On her side, she notes, there is a big image of Mark. Around that there are smaller and smaller versions. From time to time he looks at her and pokes some more.

"Perfect," he declares. Then he looks into her eyes for confirmation, "Ready?" Sue nods, not trusting her voice to answer. "Okay. Here goes." He touches the place where her green button is.

Sue can't believe her eyes. Where did Mark go? I was just looking at him. Instead of seeing him, she is looking at something blank like the wall. In front of her and to the side is the interface, she had just been looking in. But if that's there, then?

Realization hits her. I'm on my back on the floor.

Sue tries to get an arm under herself and push herself up. Nothing moves. She tries to roll over onto her belly. Still she can't move.

Fear attacks. I! Can't! Move! Her eyes unfocus. There's only one thing. Moving. And she can't. "Mark?" No response. "Mark!" She hears his voice but not the words. "MARK!"

"Calm down, Honey. I'm almost there."

"MARK! I can't move!"

"I know. You are a pillow." Upon hearing his voice she calms a little, enough to listen, but very much on edge. "Come on, timer. Come on."

Her breath speeds up again. "I'm almost there, Sue."

Mall lights pour through the opening onto her. A moment later, he looks down in on her. Her fear washes away. "There you are." Sue sees him reach down for her and then feels the pressure on her sides where he grabs her. She thinks that being lifted and turned would make her dizzy, but without an inner ear, it's not even noticeable. Maybe being a pillow isn't so bad.

"Ready to go home," he asks down to her clutched to his chest.

Having his arms wrapped around her in a hug, she mumbles out a euphoric, "mmmhmmm."

Upon reaching home, Mark gives her a tour of her new body, "See, I picked satin because it's your favorite cloth. And I made the fabric red because you like that color a lot. Look." He folds her in half to where she's sure that it would crush her lungs, but she's fine. Then he smashes her further so her cloth cheek touches her body. He rubs her side to side. "See? It's like I said, perfect, right?"

They return home to reheat the tea and take the sleeping pill, or at least Mark does. They quickly discover that Sue doesn't need to eat or drink. And despite not having real lungs, she manages to talk. They settle in and cuddle on the bed.

"So, how do you know about these machines?"

"Uhhhh, well, you know. Me and the guys decided to try them out." He sees that she's not convinced. "Okay. You remember that long weekend back a couple of months ago?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, we didn't go golfing. We were trying out the machine."

"What did you try?"

"Mostly we tried being girls, well, women. Buck tried being a little girl."

"Oh." With no more to say, Mark reads himself drowsy.

When, at last, Mark slides down the wooden headboard, he slips his wife under his head and closes his eyes.

All of Sue's fears come to life all at once. She is surprised as she is moved. Unable to grab anything or slow her descent, she panics. And then the pressure of his head pushing into her body locking her into place. She crushes her lips together to keep her fearful scream from escaping. I said I'd try this once, so I will.

Then his head flops to one side landing on her pillowy breasts. Oh! Oh that's! Maybe I'll give this pillow thing another chance.

In the middle of the night, Sue starts awake. I must have fallen asleep. That when she notices it.

Mark isn't on her. In fact, he's just to one side snoring like a chainsaw. He must have stirred during the night like he usually does. She tries to move herself, but she is just a pillow. Surprising she falls asleep as soon as she closes her eyes. His snoring doesn't keep her awake.

What does wake her is their alarm. Sue reaches for it, but doesn't manage to move. Still a pillow she finds it hard to do much at all. "Mark." He stirs. "Mark, turn off the alarm." He turns over. It takes a bunch of cajoling, but he does get the alarm off. He flops off the bed and shuffles to the shower.

Upon exiting, he talks excited to her, "Sue, it worked, sorta. I almost feel awake this morning."

"That's because you rolled off of me in the middle of the night."

"That's not good. We'll have to find a way to fix that."

Humming, he leaves the room and heads for the kitchen. Mark whips himself up a quick breakfast and heads out the door.

Work proceeds like usual. Just before Noon his phone rings. Glancing down at it, he sees that it's Sue. "Hey!"

From his phone pours a stream of curse words describing various parts of his anatomy in very unflattering words. In the breaks, he manages to find out that he left her at home and she just now restored. She is very late for work.

Many apologies and much time passes before they succumb to exhaustion and try again.

Weary, the couple stumbles toward the machine. Just before they get there, the doors pop open. A giant Anaconda and a voluptuous maid exit.

They try to pass the odd pair on their way to the machine. Mark swaggers and bumps into the maid as he passes. "Sorry, about that." She nods and pivots away.

"Pleassssss excussssssse Maid Mariam. Sssssssshe issssss mute." Mariam bends down, lifting the back side of her micro skirt up and giving anyone behind her a clear view of her panties. On the front side, her generous bosom threatens to spill out of her frilly white blouse with plenty of viewing space for her cleavage. Facing the snake, her hands swirl around and make fluid motions like a little dance with her fingers. At the end the hands slow to a stop and individual gestures show one after the other.

"Robin Hood?" The anaconda inflates his loose skin attached to his head. As expected a hood appears. "I ssssssupposssse that makes sssssenssse."

Mark and Sue begin to trudge on when the snake notices them again. He climbs the maid's body and peers over her shoulder at them. "You don't look sssssso good."

Sue speaks up, "Yeah, we are going to turn me into a pillow in an attempt to get this oaf to sleep so we both can get a good night's sleep."

"Ssssssounds good."

She forges on, "But HE rolls off me and I can't do anything about it because I have no muscles or way to get back under him. -- Oh! That feels good." Sue looks over her shoulder to see Mariam massaging her shoulders.

"Yessssss, sssshe givessss the besssssst rubsssss." The snake looks them both over before continuing, "Sssssssounds like you need to give your pillow more featuressss, maybe tasssselsssss with mussssclessss."

"What?"

"You'll ssssssee ..." The snake and handler mosey off and soon Mark and Sue are in the machine.

Sue again watches Mark poke at his side of the interface. This time it takes him longer and after a couple of attempts, they find something they agree should work. With much effort, Sue lifts herself up by her foot long, thick tassels and crab walks her way out of the Venn machine. Mark scoops her up and soon they are asleep in bed.

For good measure, Sue lifts her lower two limbs and hugs his neck. Surely that will keep him on me.

In the middle of the night, she feels his movement. He's about to roll off. Sue holds on tight. His roll takes her up off the bed and hanging on the back of his head. Sleeping on his side, he starts up his snoring.

Maybe since I am by his ear, I can get him to roll on his back. "Mark. Mark. Roll over." He makes no move. Using her tiny strength, she tugs against his neck trying to send signals to his brain. No dice. The CPAP machine must be too loud.

Out of options, she lets go and drops down. Using her body, she crawls like a caterpillar toward him. She pushes herself at him, only causing him to roll a little onto his face. But then he turns back. She dives, pushes, forces herself into the crack and curve of his neck. I've got to do this. He needs this. I need this.

Inch by inch she gets herself under him. Sue uses her leg or arm, she's not sure, that has passed him and uses it to tug the rest through. Feeling her move must have triggered his brain, because he lifts his head some to let her in.

If she were a human she would be covered in sweat and all out of energy from the exertion of the maneuver she just did. But Sue is just a pillow. So, she closes her eyes and falls asleep.

Several more times during the night this happens. There's got to be a way to get him to stop moving around so much at night.

When the morning comes, their alarm is slapped off before it can finish its first round. Sue watches as Mark bounces out of bed and strides into the bathroom. She lets him shower, but calls out to him as he passes, "Mark! Take me with you."

He does and places her near the stove where she can watch him cook. "So, how did you sleep," she asks already knowing the answer.

"I slept the best I ever have. If other nights are like last night, I might be able to stop using the machine." He stirs the pan and turns to her, "How did you sleep?"

Sue remembers all the effort and fight it took to give him that rest. She also remembers what happens when she refuses to do it or they fight. She decides to lie, "It was pretty good."

Excited, he turns to her with bright eyes, "Does that mean we'll go again tonight?"

"Yeah."

He misses that she is not quite as excited as he is about this. "Great!" He looks back down at his cooking food. "Oh!" and he stirs to keep it from burning.

After breakfast, they head to the Venn machine. This time it's more crowded. Once it's their turn, she returns to her previous state of disheveled hair and wrinkled clothes. Then they realize they only have one car here. Mark drops her off at the house and they both arrive to work late.

Both bosses see that their employees are in the best shape they've been in a while, so they excuse it this once with the promise it won't happen again.

Sue spends the day trying to think of a way to get Mark to sleep better with less work on her part. She doesn't get any closer to a solution because she has never used one of those machines before and has no idea what they are capable of.

At last, evening comes. They make their way to the machine, ready to do it again. At least, Mark is. Upon entering her side of the Venn machine, she is left with looking at Mark through the biggest bubble in the middle. "Mark? How do you work this?"

"You've never used one before?" She shakes her head. He shakes his, "That should have been obvious. Sorry." Without touching the interface he traces  a lop-sided circle in the area she is looking through, "This is what I would become if you press the green button right now. But these," she watches through the main view as he seemingly points at the not quite as large versions of him, "are possibilities of what I could be."

Suddenly, Sue's world opens up. How did I not see all those other circles before? Like a multifaceted eye of an insect, a myriad of versions of Mark look back at her, each different than the rest. And the further they get from the big circle the smaller and harder to see they are. "Wooowww."

"Would you like to see what I'm seeing?" She nods. "Then just say 'clone.'"

"Clone?" The ring of images around the main one changes. One looks like her last night. Another is like that but has Mark's face. Another is just a picture of her.

It's then that the coloration of the views catches her attention. She moves her head to the side and the images adjust. Sue could swear that the interface is made of bubbles of varying sizes. She reaches forward to pop the bubble of herself as a pillow girl.
But there is no pop. Her main image changes. Mark is no longer there. The pillow girl she was last night is in his place, floating in mid-air.

The mouth on the face on the pillow moves in time with the words of Mark's voice, "If you want to adjust it, you can touch one of the bubbles on the outside." He pokes one, but her display doesn't change. Sue looks at the circles, several look tempting. I shouldn't touch them. I said I'd do it again.

Still she can't help but be in awe of the machine and Mark. "So, you say you tried being a girl?"

"Oh yeah." Something triggers in Sue's brain. He has done this before. Well, not this, this. I bet he wouldn't mind being a pillow. And I never said it would be me becoming the pillow, only that we would do it again tonight.

An idea begins to form in her head. When I was a pillow, I woke up refreshed, both days. And he would, too ... Yes, I'll do it.

"What did you look like as a girl?"

His eyes look confused looking back at her, "Uhhhh... Which time?"

"Pick your favorite one."

"Well, I liked the time I had red hair. I mean fire red not orange or strawberry blond. Like a firetruck."

"Stop sign red hair?" The options around the main area switch to red things. One gets it right and she pokes that. The dirty blond hair on the floating pillow opposite her, turns bright, almost unnatural red.

The Mark pillow nods, "Yeah, and it was straight and short."

"Your hair was straight and shoulder length?" She changes the image changes to match. She continues to lead him through various details of his appearance until the image before her matches the descriptions he has given her.

When he slows, Sue asks him, "Mark, I have an idea. I'm going to try it, okay?"

"Sure." With approval, she hits the green button, "We can always reverse it lat-- Woah!"

When the time elapses, she rushes over to the other side to find a pillow on the floor like the one in the display. "Mark? Is that you?"

"Yeah. What did you do to me?"

"I turned you into a pillow girl like you did to me."

"Ooooookay." She can see that he doesn't understand why the tables have turned. Sue picks the pillow up and hugs it.

"Ready to go home?"

Mark has the same reaction she did. "mmmhhhmmmm."

Once they get home, she explains it all to him. "Both times, I was a pillow I woke up refreshed. So, you'll wake like you had a whole night's sleep as well. Plus I don't have sleep apnea, so I should get a good sleep, too. And I'm sure that it won't be bad with this comfortable pillow I have." She fluffs Mark a little.

The pillow girl's face blushes. "Th-th-th-that sshhould work."

Before long, they drift off to sleep. A moment later, the alarm buzzes. Sue's eyes pop open. She turns off the machine. Is it morning already? The rising Sun colors the translucent curtains.

Mark watches while Sue whips into the master bathroom. After a quick shower and a short stop in the closet, she zips out while scooping the pillow up. Bypassing the kitchen, she hustles out the door and into the car, dropping Mark in the passenger's seat and using the belt to keep the pillow girl safe.

On their way there, she asks, "So, how do you feel?"

Silence fills the car as he thinks about it. The pleasure of her grab and the belt begin to dull and Mark is able to think again. He realizes, because he still thinks of himself as he despite his form saying otherwise, that he is well rested. Not tired at all. "I feel pretty good. Best sleep in a long time."

"I agree. It was my best sleep, too. Especially with my comfortable pillow."

Neither speaks for a time, both thinking happy thoughts about the night. A short stop at the Venn machine and they head back to the house. "This seems to have solved both our problems. Do you want to do it again?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I guess we'd better get a new routine."

"Yeah."

They both head to work thinking about their next good night's sleep.