It's time again for Raven's Saturday Wordzzle.  Like Boggle, it's meant to get our creative juices flowing. Participants are to incorporate the 10 words given in the challenge into a SHORT paragraph.  Raven also offers a mini challenge for anyone opting for less words.  You may also opt to use all the words in one story.  I must warn you, this one is NOT short... but it was fun and it's a true story.

This week's ten word challenge is:  Florida, spit, child bride, operatic, busy, holding pattern, sunflowers, ginger jars, office, superintendent


And for the mini challenge:  music to my ears, plot, powerful, braggart, super model



1:36am (bedroom clock)

There's nothing worse than watching time go by...

1:37am  (bedroom clock)

Something wakes me up.  I try to go back to sleep...

I lay there for a bit, with my eyes closed.  But sleep is a fickle mistress.

1:47am  (bedroom clock)

So, I get up.  I meander into Buddy's room.  I absently feel my foot brush up against something.

Suddenly, I hear "Driving down the highway, in my little tow truck, honk, honk, beep, beep, I'm on my way."  This is NOT music to my ears!

I freeze, like a deer caught in headlights.  Fortunately, the sound is muffled by the fan in his room.  He doesn't move... The song ends.  I kneel down to reach around the side of the toy truck, trying to turn it off, but I fail.  How many buttons does this toy have?!  I accidentally press one.  It starts playing another operatic tune!

I manage to turn it off, but not before he stirs.  He rolls over, powerfully smacking his leg up against the crib rails. Thud!  The sound reverberates in my ears.  My heart skips several beats.  Have I been discovered?

I stay in my squatting position like a toad in a holding pattern in a Florida crocodile swamp, waiting and hoping.  I'm no super model but I can squat for long periods of time.  What a braggart huh?  He's still.

I slowly get up to leave.

But not before catching a glimpse of his clock.

1:56am 

I head downstairs.  I peak into BG's room.  She's sound asleep.  She's stretched out all over the bed.  Her sheets are festooned on her head and are dripping down her shoulders.  She is a child bride in pink.   I know there are Lincoln Logs all over the floor.  The little logs are all standing at attention like little ginger jars at a flea market.  They mock me, daring me to enter.  I leave them to their own devices.

The dog is next on my list.  He's sleeping in his kennel.  He looks up at me as if caught cheating on his time card by the superintendent herself.  After what seems a long time, he lazily puts his head back down, his eyes closing.  I wonder if he was even sleeping.

As I walk through the kitchen, my stomach reminds me I'd traded dinner for an early bedtime.

2:09am  (microwave)

I open the fridge and dig out a cup of soy yogurt.  The drawer makes an uncanny sound as I close it.  In my mind I hear the bats scatter as if in a bad movie.

I take my yogurt into the computer room.  I turn on the light and nearly blind myself in the process.

2:16am  (computer clock)

I sit down to catch up on blog reading.  I check my e-mails.  I don't comment or reply because I don't want to get any flak for being awake.

2:21am 

I sit in silence, reading and listening to the hum of the air conditioner.  I read a little while longer.  Then, return to the kitchen to toss my cup.  I put the spoon in the sink.

I go back upstairs and go into the bathroom to brush my teeth.  I spit quietly.

There's a clock in the bathroom.

2:52am

I get back in bed.  I close my eyes.

They flutter back open.

4:06am  (bedroom clock)
4:07am
4:08am

Was the trash bill due this month?
Will it rain tomorrow or will I have to water the garden?
Is it too late to plant sunflowers?  Is there even enough room in our plot for them?
My basil is dying, I need to take it out of the pot.

Do ants sleep?  They always seem so busy.
I make a mental grocery list; soy milk, eggs, whole milk, dish washer soap, low sodium turkey...
I remind myself to add these to the list when I get up.
I make a mental note to check the messages on the voice mail when I get into the office.

4:12am

I consider turning on the TV, but Hubs is blissfully snoring next to me. 

I close my eyes again.

Snore.  Snore.

I rub his arm until he shifts.

There's silence.

I close my eyes. 

Snore.  Snore.

4:23am

I turn over.

4:28am

I sit up.

I consider getting up to take my shower and go to work early. 
Even at this time of night, that seems like an obscene notion.
It's too damned early to get up!!

I close my eyes, again.

Snore.  Snore.

4:45am

I remember I have to call the library to see if my books came in.
I close my eyes, again.  I try to take shallow breaths.
I imagine my feet falling asleep.
Then my ankles.
Then my...

6:56am

I tally up the number of hours I slept in my head; seven total but not consecutively.
I feel hung over and groggy.  I'm grumpy about the wasted hours...  My eyes close.  My brain is tired.
I can't seem to shrug off the sleep... I roll over.
Then I hear Buddy say, "Mama, where are you?"

Blargh, insomnia really stinks!  So much for getting a good night's sleep...

For other Wordzzle stories, please click here.