Alarms and diversions

First the septic tank backed up and sent sewage spurting all over the house and then my sister-in-law (who has never smoked) tossed a lighted cigarette into a trash can full of paper while a total stranger snorted cocaine on my living-room sofa, and then a diapered toddler went wandering off into the dark damp scary furnace room while a kid who couldn't have been more than three years old sat on the basement steps cursing.

I think it was the cursing child who finally woke me up. I intended to turn to my husband and comment on how odd it was to find a cursing child on the basement steps, but I looked at the clock first and said, "We've overslept! Up and at 'em!"

Who needs an alarm clock? My mind is creates its own alarms.