Charlie Yohe seemed to be an easy-going sort of fellow who enjoyed life, including his job as an electrical engineer. He was about my age, or a bit younger, and roughly my size and better looking, according to some folks. Charlie and I both worked in the engineering department at Westinghouse. Although we had been acquainted for many moons, my earliest recollection of Charlie dates from the time when he operated a now-outdated analog computer, used to simulate electric power systems. The computer was useful in testing variables in the design of systems and devices. Charlie and his computer were of great help to my design work.

During our career we were called upon to travel together to consult with either a customer or a vendor. I don’t remember which, but it makes no difference to this story. We arrived at the airport early in the evening after a pleasant, uneventful flight from Dayton, Ohio. We rented a car and headed to our designated motel, which happened to be on our way to our business destination. A few miles down the road we came to a lit up place called Starlight Motel.

“This is the place?” I asked.

“That’s what it says on this note,” Charlie said, “let’s go see what we’ve got.”

There was a surprisingly large reception room, nicely furnished with comfortable chairs. It looked like a decent place, so we signed in and went to our rooms where we cleaned up a bit. The motel had no restaurant but the desk clerk told us of one nearby. Two hungry guys found the place and had pretty good leisurely meals, so leisurely that by the time we got back to the motel it was time to turn in for the night.

“Good night, Charlie. See you in the morning in the lobby to check out at about seven,” I said as we headed for our rooms.

After a fairly good night’s sleep, considering the strange bed away from home, I answered my wakeup call and got ready for the day. I checked out and sat down to wait for Charlie to show up when I noticed a body stretched out on a small couch in the corner of the lobby.

“Good morning, Charlie. Looks like you got up early. Am I late?”

“Hell no. I’ve been here all night. Managed to get in the public washroom and shave and wash up a while ago. Hung out here all night.”

“Strange,” I said.

“Went in my room last night to get ready for bed and heard a snore. Some dude was sleeping in my bed. I felt like the baby bear in the Goldilocks story.”

“Didn’t you tell the guy he was in your bed?”

“No. He looked too comfortable to disturb. I called the desk and asked for another room. The clerk mumbled something about a convention nearby and told me there were no rooms to be had. Thought I wouldn’t mind sleeping with a stranger, I guess. So I just bunked here for the night.” 

“Did you get any sleep?”

“A little. Lets go find some breakfast.”

Our meeting went all right and we accomplished our mission, but I noticed that Charlie hid his mouth behind his hand a time or two.