Smoke alarm

147. 23 December 2021

Eeep! EEEP! EEEP! EEEP!

Four a.m. I stumble up, stumble around, heart thudding…

EEEP! EEEP!

Wass going on? Earthquake? Volcano?

House on fire?

EEEP! EEEP! EEEP!

Check downstairs. Nothing.

EEEP! EEEP!

Landing. No smoke. No visible fire.

EEEP! EEEP! EEEP!

I wake Bill, my son, sleeping soundly.

I get him to push the button on the smoke alarm

Which I can’t reach.

EEEP! EEE… Silence. Blessed silence.

I go back to bed, try to get more sleep.

But I know smoke alarms of old.

They’re specially designed to keep you awake

And I can’t sleep because I know it’s just waiting for me

To relax and go to sleep at which point…

EEEP! EEEP! EEEP! EEEP!

I can’t even remove the cover.

It stops again. It can go off at any time

Like a baby.

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