2am story

last night i slept early (9pm).  i was tired.  i set my alarm (4:30am), checked to see how darcy was doing (on his side, asleep), and slumbered peacefully until a CRASH! woke me up.

it didn't sound like paper.  or books.  or a water bottle.  or my bag, which would have sounded like a THUD.  it was a CRASH, the sort of sound you'd hear when something heavy and resonant falls to the floor, from a height.

it could only be one thing.

("oh shit.")

i jumped out of bed and grazed my hand on my desk in the dark.  what should have been there wasn't.

("shit, shit, shit.")

i ran to turn on the light.

and it was there, on the floor: my week-old laptop, bottom up.  a few inches away was the wooden book stand i use as laptop platform.

also there was one of my cats, the one who likes to sneak into my room through my window.  spassky jumped from my desk, sensing perhaps that he'd done something wrong because i was making all these fast movements and glaring at him.  i made him go out the window again with a spanking on his butt and a "no spassky! bad!".  i finally locked the window flap shut with a twist wire. 

i went over to darcy's box and checked him.  he was asleep (but in a different position).  relief.  good thing the cats haven't discovered that i now keep my lone rat in my room, and that i let him walk around freely while he's sick.

next, i took the laptop and shook it a bit, listening for anything loose inside.  didn't hear anything.  then i put the laptop back on my desk and hurriedly checked for anything broken.  pushed the power button on and wished so hard it was okay (warranty terms were already floating around my head, particularly the "seven days replacement" thing, then i remembered it's been more than a week since i bought it, and i didn't want to go through the hassle of having it repaired, bla bla bla).  the screen granted me my wish; the machine started up fine.  i found the memory card slot cover on the floor and put it back in.  the cd drive popped out normally-- i'll have to check if the reader-burner functions work though.  that was all my sleep-muddled mind was able to command my body to do at two in the morning.

satisfied that my rat was safe in bed and that my laptop showed no signs of brain damage, i went back to sleep.