in plain sight

it is light, and the alarm from the ipad sounds.
it is five in the morning, awful five, this is an automatic waking machine.
it cannot realise anything, the idea of it's owners sickness is not programmed.
it makes it's noises as it should, strumming sounds gently wakening.
it is silenced.

then later the sound of other alarms, the steady hum and buzz from the son's room
then the sound of him clambering down off his hight bed
then the sound of fumbling with the switches on the old clock
then the sound of a short silence, nothing to hear at all
then the sound of approaching footsteps.

He jumps into bed between his parents,
the cat is displaced, irate,
a short cuddle, he is comforted, it is some time before six.

and he has set another alarm by accident, it is on an iphone in the hall
he gets up and silences the honking telephone
the wife complains to him that he should not get up that early, it is only six

Get up, make a cup of coffee
the son is getting his school books ready,
then he plays a few notes on the piano
then he goes into panic, looking for his keys.
tell him that they are on the table, in plain sight

grin
oh