The Clock

Some time ago, in the late fall, Ni knew she had to get up early for work, and there was a storm warning, which meant that the electricity might go out. Not trusting our electric clock, we started looking around for our travel clock, which is battery powered, small, and light. It was nowhere to be found, and after about half an hour of looking I blurted out in frustration, “If I ever find that clock, I'm going to throw it away! I'm tired of having so much stuff that we can't find what we want....” And so on. In other words, I gave what Ni calls “a performance”.

What does that have to do with Amtrak, you ask? Well, I am just getting to that. Last night was our first night on the train, meandering through northern California, rocking around, a baby crying nearby, and I couldn't sleep a wink. So I headed for the lounge car to read my book on the American banking and money system. Which ought to cure insomnia, but didn't.

Anyway, that left Ni free to sleep across two seats in our passenger car. And she was doing a good job of it. About 4:30 she started dreaming that a cell phone was ringing. And then she woke up, aware that many annoyed neighbors were restlessly giving her The Eye. Slowly she realized she was not dreaming, and that the sound she was hearing was not a cell phone. Turns out it was the alarm clock we couldn't find last fall. Where was it? In my travel toiletry bag, of course.

So much for the clock and my threats of revenge. Some people have a little egg on their face now and then. Me, I like to make sure I'm wearing a 12 egg omelet at all times....