Bill Murray Awakens
by Robbie Maakestad
After Bill Murray swipes the sleep from his eyes, the first thing he checks is whether the sky watched him sleep throughout the night. Its presence brings comfort, for as a child young Billy sometimes awoke to find his mother, or his father even, bent over, watching him sleep—a maternal / paternal act (depending on the night) which resonates with any parent: the viewing of one’s sleeping progeny—so still, so sweet—the wondering of what great acts of courage or valour the child might one day perform, what great fame or fortune they might navigate, who they one day might love. And for Bill Murray, these are the things he wonders still about his future self. Bill Murray has yet to find a single night when the sky has abandoned him—for when he awakes it’s always there, gazing down upon his just-woken form—an assurance that for him, an exciting future might still unfold.
ABOUT THE CREATOR
Robbie Maakestad is a Senior Editor for The Rumpus and an Associate Professor of Writing at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. He is writing a biography of place about Jerusalem’s City of David archaeological site. He has been published or has forthcoming work in Gulf Coast, Boulevard, The Normal School, and The San Diego Union-Tribune, among others. Follow him @RobbieMaakestad on Twitter and Instagram.