It happened again. My peaceful night’s sleep was interrupted by the jarring noise of the smoke alarm in my room chirping a low battery alert. Mom, who I’m not sure has ever enjoyed a peaceful night’s sleep, heard it too, and was immediately there to rescue Asa and me. As soon as she flung open the door I was off like a rocket, ready to enact my well thought out safety plan. Down the stairs I raced to the door in the kitchen, so I could escape to the safety of the backyard.
Asa, on the other paw, ran to the master bedroom. He was no doubt going to wake Dad, who somehow manages to have a good night’s sleep no matter what is happening. Or so I thought he was doing his part of my safety plan. Seconds later, Asa reemerged in the hallway, and greeted Mom not with Dad, but a sock! A sock? I can understand wanting to save valuable possessions in an emergency, but a sock is definitely not a part of my carefully constructed emergency plan.
Meanwhile precious time was being wasted while Mom woke Dad, leaving me no choice but to start digging at the tile by the kitchen door. As the chirping pierced my sensitive ears, Mom and Asa eventually arrived in the kitchen with me, while Dad groggily went to investigate the cause of the commotion. Finally my plan was back on track! Or not. It was pouring rain outside, and Mom thought it was best if we waited inside the garage, rather than getting soaked. At least Asa dropped the sock before heading to the garage.
After what was the longest 10 minutes of my life, give or take a bazillion minutes, Dad joined us in the quasi-safety of the garage. The alarm chirping had been stopped. The threat was over. There was no fire. The best he could figure out as the cause was the excessive humidity somehow triggered the alarm. Something similar happened last summer too, as he recalled. I blame Asa’s spider friends. They are always weaving some sort of plan.
Not convinced that the threat was over, I refused to go back into the house and demanded we finish my emergency plan by letting me outside to patrol the yard. Alright, I’m not too proud to admit, the chirping alarm scared the poop out of me, and I really needed to go relieve myself. While I took care of business, Asa went back into the house to search for the sock he attempted to rescue, but misplaced in his excitement. He is no help in an emergency…not even to socks!
