This month, I have committed to writing every day through the community at Two Writing Teachers. All are welcome to the March Slice of Life Challenge! It's not too late to join in with comments-- or just read...
It took a while to get to bed last night. You know the type--there were a few projects to finish from school. Someone needed to go over a homework assignment. One of the dogs wouldn't come in. Someone else wanted to talk about a social issue at school.
I was pretty happy to turn out the light. Even happier to close my eyes and find my comfortable position...but...(you knew that was coming!)
Somewhere, an alarm went off. I waited. Maybe it would stop. It didn't. Maybe my husband would get out of bed and go in search of the alarm. He didn't. Maybe Julia would leave her homework and go in search of the alarm. She didn't. She just called out to ask what that noise was.
Finally, I got out of bed. I pressed my ear against one bedroom door, but the alarm was not coming from there. The next room? Nope. Begrudgingly, I headed downstairs and realized that the alarm was coming from the emergency call system that my mother had brought home from my grandmother's house. Since my grandmother no longer lives alone, she does not need the monitor.
I began to press buttons, but the thing would not shut off. Clicked the switches, but it wouldn't stop beeping. How do you turn these things off? And, what does it mean that the alarm is going off? Are there emergency vehicles on their way to my grandmother's house in New York? Uh-oh.
I'm going to admit something now. Instead of throwing the thing out in the snow, which I thought about, and instead of seeing if I could muffle it in a garage corner, I brought it upstairs and stood next to Garth until he opened his eyes.
"I can't get this thing to stop," I said.
Groggily, he sat up and turned the machine over. In less than a second, he clicked a lever in the back of it, and the thing silenced. Ahhh.
Why are mechanical things so difficult for me?
Happy Slicing!
They're difficult for you because your brain power is needed for other things, like writing and teaching kids. Don't sweat it. :)
ReplyDeleteCan totally relate. I hate it when my husband can figure something out and I can't. But I always beat him at word games.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you built the story to its conclusion. I kept wanting to know how it would resolve itself. Good call to bring it upstairs and wait until your husband woke up. Not because he could fix it, but because if you are going to lose sleep because of an alarm, so should he.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't these things happen in the daytime? Nice solution!
ReplyDeleteI love the waiting in the beginning... maybe it would go off, or julia would go get it. It reminded me of the saying that if you just ignore something hard enough it will go away.
ReplyDeleteWonderful storytelling! The suspense had me curious. And yes, some people just get machines. Obviously you have other strengths and one of them is problem solving. You accomplished your goal. ;)
ReplyDeleteYour story reminded me that I yanked out a smoke detector on the second floor the last time something like this happened...time to get that fixed!
ReplyDeleteYou structured this piece so well Melanie. As a reader I was drawn in and drawn on. it's a common experience,but I was intrigued to know how it ended. Your experience also connected me to an episode of 'Friends' where Phoebe wrestled with a smoke detector and tried unsuccessfully to quell it. Sleep well...
ReplyDeleteYou structured this piece so well Melanie. As a reader I was drawn in and drawn on. it's a common experience,but I was intrigued to know how it ended. Your experience also connected me to an episode of 'Friends' where Phoebe wrestled with a smoke detector and tried unsuccessfully to quell it. Sleep well...
ReplyDelete