家有“惡魔”擾清夢

The summer sun topped the horizon. My alarm clock’s bell rattled me to my senses. Our first born child cried. I slapped the button on the clock， slipped from my bed and stifled a scream， as my little toe caught the edge of the dresser.

Half asleep， I stumbled to the kitchen， opened the refrigerator door， grabbed the prepared bottle of formula， heated a pot of water and slipped the bottle into it.

I opened the door to my little girl’s room. She clung to the railing of her crib， stood on tiny unstable legs and smiled.

The odor from her diaper filled the room and made me gag.

I cleaned， dressed， carried her to the kitchen and retrieved her warm bottle.

She suckled. I tried to stay awake.

My wife Ginny woke and took over baby duties. I dressed for work. As I left the bedroom， I looked at the clock and frowned—evil annoying ringing thing.

Before bed that night， I unstrapped the watch from my arm， wound it up， put it on the dresser， turned， picked up the evil clock， turned it over and wound it up too. I hated it， but it did me a favor. It reminded me of things to be done. Every night I wound it to wake me in the morning. As much as I hated its clanging bell， I relied on its nagging clang to get my day started. Even worse， it didn’t have a snooze button. You had to get up after the first ring.

Electronics ended the days of winding my clocks. It’s all taken care of by amazing digital chips. I don’t need to worry about winding the clock or my watch.

Time moves on. The electronics keep up. A battery goes dead. The power goes out.

We’re lost. “What time is it？” I asked Ginny.

“I don’t know. The power is out and my watch battery went dead.”

“How did they manage in the past？”

“They wound the clock. Before that， they relied on the sun， roosters and other things.”

“I remember it as a chore. I sometimes forgot to wind it up and slept in the next morning and was late for work. Do you remember the other hand on the clock face， the red one for the alarm？”

“I forgot about that. It was a pain. People knew what to do， to know when to get up and when to go to bed. It was something we did every day.”

I smiled at the memories and groaned too.“It was a chore to wind the clock. I remember trying to sleep. I’d get paranoid and wondered if I pulled the button on the back of the clock， so the bell would ring. I’d reach out， half asleep and check several times before I was satisfied. Now I roll over and see the red dot in the lower right corner of the display and know it will rattle me awake in the morning.”

Ginny laughed， “I did the same.”

The clock is just one of many modern conveniences to make life easier for us， but do we really appreciate it？

We want to do what we want and when we want. We don’t like being told what to do. However， there comes a time when we must accept our obligations.

Few are without rule. We all need the clock.

夏日驕陽越過地平線。我的鬧鐘鈴聲喋喋不休地將我喚醒。我們頭一胎的孩子哭了。我拍下鬧鐘上的按鈕，從床上翻下來，小腳趾踢到了梳妝臺的邊緣， 想尖叫但還是悶忍下去了。

半醒之中，我蹣跚走到廚房，打開冰箱門，拿出一瓶準(zhǔn)備好的配方奶，加熱一鍋熱水，將瓶子放了進去。

我打開我那小女孩房間的門。她爬到嬰兒床的扶欄邊，不太穩(wěn)地撐著細腿站了起來，微笑著。

她身上那尿布的氣味充滿了整個房間，讓我一陣惡心。

我給她洗好，穿好，然后把她帶到廚房，取回她那個溫暖的瓶子。

她吮吸起來，我努力保持清醒。

我的妻子金妮起床接過照顧嬰兒的責(zé)任。我則穿衣上班。當(dāng)我離開臥室時，我看看鬧鐘，眉頭一皺——邪惡、惱人的發(fā)聲玩意兒。

那晚睡覺前，我從手腕上解下手表，上好發(fā)條，將其放置梳妝臺上，轉(zhuǎn)過身，拿起那個“惡魔”鬧鐘，翻過來，也上好發(fā)條。我討厭它，但它幫了我一個忙。它提醒我有什么事要做。每晚我都會上發(fā)條讓它第二天早上叫醒我。我無比討厭它叮叮當(dāng)當(dāng)?shù)拟徛暎乙餐瑯訜o比依賴它那喋喋不休的叮當(dāng)聲來開始我的一天。更糟的是，它并沒有瞌睡鍵，它一響你就得起來。

電子科技結(jié)束了我為鬧鐘上發(fā)條的日子。現(xiàn)在的鬧鐘全由不可思議的數(shù)碼芯片來控制。我無需擔(dān)憂要為鬧鐘或手表上發(fā)條了。

時間過去了。電子技術(shù)繼續(xù)。電池耗盡了。沒有電了。

我們都蒙了。“現(xiàn)在幾點了？”我問金妮道。

“我不知道。沒電了，我手表的電池耗盡了。……