A REALLY AWFUL RACKET and a BIG SWIM

I crept to bed late in the wee
Dark hours of the night,
When, shining in a corner, I
Espied a dim red light.

‘A toy left there,’ I theorised,
‘And battery running down,’
So with intent to switch it off
Went groping – like a clown! 

I found a button, pushed at it,
And jumped out of my skin –
Loud drumbeats shattered all the peace –
It was an awful din! 

A microphone, as it turned out,
Had been abandoned there,
But to ensure it was switched off
There had not been due care. 

And, built into the wretched thing,
Was a percussion choice
To feature as the drumbeat sound
Against the singer’s voice. 

Awakened from the deadest sleep,
The wife was not amused,
And with the background of the beat
I roundly was abused. 

No button seemed to do the trick
In stopping awful sound,
Until, with torch, found volume knob
And firmly turned it round. 

The racket faded out until
A final twisty ‘click’
Eliminated light as well,
So that had done the trick.

Return of silence gave the chance
For wife to air her views
On what she thought of me, and of
The hours that I choose! 

And hooray for R!  She came out of school not feeling too well, and it seemed that her only opportunity to do an official 400 meter swim before she turns five would be lost.  However, she bravely decided to try, and although she was already rather tired half way through (the timer, ignoring my requests to cool it, was pushing her too hard at the beginning stages) she kept going and finished in a time of 26 minutes – 6 minutes slower than when she and I last swam the distance.

Anyway, the main thing is that she did it!  I am very proud of her. 

© Colonialist April 2013 (WordPress)