Pearoast No. 3
When he was about 12 or so, my oldest son used to be very fond of falling asleep on the couch after school in front of the TV. It usually took a bit of effort to wake him up for dinner, so I wasn't too fond of this habit of his- I mean, if I can get up at 5:00 and stay awake until 10:00, he should be able to as well, right?

So I used to wake him in odd and memorable ways. Once I held a strange looking Burger King toy about three inches from his face and grabbed his shoulder with a shrill howl and screamed "It's the end of the world!" Another time I put on a weird pair of goggles and this wild headdress from a Halloween costume and shook him awake while whooping in his face. He used to wake up screaming and disoriented as his father seemed to be some strange monster in front of him, much to the amusement of his siblings.

So one weekend when I had been up far too late the night before I lay down for an afternoon nap, and he decided to take his revenge. Using leftover Halloween paint and costumes, he painted his face green and tried to look as weird as he could, then snuck into my bedroom and howled as he shook me by the shoulders.

I opened my eyes groggily and said, "What time is it? Do I need to be making dinner yet?" and yawned.

He stood staring at me for a moment, then said "Yeah. And I guess I'd better go wash my face," and stomped grumpily down the hall.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 17 Apr 2008, 17:00, Reply)