WASHING MACHINE

It's 3:30am when a faint sound creeps into my ears. Being the protector that I am, I listen, trying to decipher where it's coming from and what it might be. The problem is, I'm almost delirious from being so tired and my thoughts are all jumbled. But if I have to know if it's going to be trouble so I focus.

It's repetitive.
It sounds almost mechanical.
There's a bit of a flow to it.
It's coming from the basement.

I finally write it off as the wash cycle of the washing machine. So my head hits the pillow again.


(An undetermined amount of time passes.)


My eyes blast open. "Why in the hell would the washing machine be going at this time of night?!" I say to myself.

So I really start concentrating on the noise. I have to listen first. If it's a dangerous, I want to try and take in as much detail and information as I can before I go leaping into the fray wearing only undies. As I'm intently listening I realize that it's not coming through the floor. It's coming from right next to me! I lower my head in the general direction from which it was coming. That's when I find the source, my infant son Paladin, the little snore demon. He was sleeping on Nicky who was right next to me as usual.

I smile, kiss his soft little forehead and go back to sleep.