Alarmed! (16 Feb 2011)

I forget the actual beginning of the issue, maybe seeing all the clock's in "Hook;" bentley's all time favorite movie.  In any case, he really wanted a clock and so Beth bought an alarm clock for him.  It is similar to the one pictured here, but humbler.  Still, it was a good old mechanical ringer.  The first night Bentley was excited to set the clock, but the cacophony the next morning was shocking, so he asked Beth not to set the alarm anymore.  Dad, however, did not know this.

To be helpful, the next evening when Bentley was asleep, I checked his clock and finding the alarm "off" I fixed the situation and slid the switch to "on."  In the morning (I sleep till 7:00 but Beth is well up by then) I hear the alarm go off and it wakes me - sort of.  Until it is ringing for a couple seconds and I hear Beth ask, from the dressing room, "Did you turn on Bentley's alarm? He said it was scary for him." So I (uncharacteristically) LEAPED from bed, ran in to Bentley's room - switching on the light and hurriedly shutting off his alarm.

On the bed, I see Bentley, partly covered in blankets with his hands pressed hard against his ears.  With the alarm off, a mild, sleepy voice says, "That surprised me.  I asked Mom to shut off my alarm."  I hugged him tightly and we both chuckled at the shocking, but ultimately funny, surprise.  Now I know: he likes the alarm clock, but it is too loud to use for waking up in the morning.

 copyright, 2012 Jay Reimer