The kids have pranked themselves. While I was asleep, they disabled the habitat thermostat and pulled the control rods out of the reactor. I woke up to a siren howling, flashing lights, the computer talking about overrides, evacuation plans, and the kids bawling their eyes out.
They did not expect this! Neither did I. But I do remember getting up early in the morning on a weekend, wanting to listen to my favorite audiobook, but not quite understanding the knobs and sliders on the console. I turned every knob and pushed every slider, and when the story finally started with about 120 dB I reacted much like my kids did – and I’m hoping that I’m reacting like my dad did. He was dazed, he was confused, but he turned the volume down, said some words I don’t remember, and went back to bed – and so did I. It was super hot for a few hours.
Sometimes I think back to the seasons we used to have. Some nights it was so hot even a blanket seemed like too much, and half a year later we’d wake up, shivering, and snuggling up to our partner under that quilt. Perhaps we should turn those knobs more often.
