The Worry Wart

I'm at home visiting my parents this week. One night I had to sleep in daddy's man cave because we had extra company. After staying up until 2:00 in the morning, I was jolted awake four hours later by one of daddy's clocks.

It's the kind of clock that chimed six more times after jarring me awake. I knew something would happen again at 6:15 so I got up and took the clock off the wall figuring that if the pendulum couldn't swing, the clock wouldn't chime.

At the 6:15 chime, I got up and took the battery out. As I tried to fall asleep again, I heard the whispers of the second hands in daddy's other clocks. 👀

***

Delving into my worries for this week's writing prompt was more than I wanted to think about on the last day of my vacation. So I solicited the help of my daddy and asked him to give me ten things he worries about.

At first he didn't want to think about it either, but then he started rambling off a list of things that I had to hurry to write down.

Mom chimed in with one and then I narrowed his list down to ten. He's still talking as I type this.

10 things that worry my daddy

1. Getting old and getting sick

2. My children and grandchild

3. My spouse

Mom: Letting your wife go anywhere by herself!

Daddy: That's what I meant.

4. Tornados & Hurricanes

5. My stereo breaking down

6. Nuclear war

7. Running out of wine

8. Going to the dentist

9. The West Nile virus

10. The clocks not having the exact time

My daddy collects clocks and having them synchronized down to the second is an obsession. I too hope his stereo never breaks down, otherwise he'll hear and worry that the whispers of the second hands are not in sync.

The next time I sleep up there, I'll defuse the chime and mask the whispers with some white noise.