It was quiet. The sun had set hours before, and the house slept. Clark, the Irish Setter, was cozily dreaming in his doggie bed, and Cleo, the tabby, was covertly nestled into the laundry basket in the bathroom. Yet, one being stirred, tiptoeing stealthily into the living room, to a table where a tablet was charging.
Matthew knew he was not supposed to be up late online, as the lack of sleep interfered with his ability to concentrate in school. However, he could night fight the impulse to stay up, hiding under his covers watching video after video with his headphones on one ear, lest his mom get up. As he unplugged the tablet, he glanced at the clock, which read “10:32,” and promised himself he would only watch for an hour or so.
At 1:12, finally being too tired to stay awake and not wanting to fall asleep with the incriminating evidence still in his possession, he crept back to the table and, reluctantly, relinquished control of the tablet. He did not know that he was being watched while coming and going. Mandy, his little sister, had been awoken by the light under his sheets and the very faint sounds of the videos. When he returned to bed, she quietly chastised him in the way a five year old pretends to be an adult. He swore her to secrecy, but she did not promise not to keep his secret.
At school the following day, Matthew was exhausted. More than once, he almost nodded off during a lesson, and he was only able to enjoy recess because of a second wind of nervous energy. He did poorly on his writing assignment and the third grade teacher, Ms. Latimer, asked him to stay after school was dismissed, concerned about how tired he was. He told her that Clark had been barking all night.
The following night, the pattern repeated, although, this time he was sure to keep the volume lower and the light concealed from Mandy. And the following day, he was more tired than ever, prompting Ms. Latimer to make a call. When Matthew got home, his mom was there waiting for him.
“Matt, Ms. Latimer called me today.”
“Oh. How come she did that?”
“She says you’ve been too tired to participate in class lately. Is there anything I should know about?”
“No. I just keep waking up. I don’t know why.”
“Okay. Well, if this continues, we’ll have to go see Dr. Abernathy.”
As much as Matthew did not want to have to see Dr. Abernathy, he could not control his appetite for the tablet, and, once again, he furtively retraced his steps to his obsession. It was nearly 2:00 a.m. by the time he felt satiated enough to tear himself away from the endless images of funny animals, people acting ridiculously, and video game experts. While exiting the bedroom, he stubbed his toe on the dresser. Trying not to cry out, he silently danced around the room, shaking his foot. The pain finally began to subside, but, as it did, he found Mandy sitting up in bed staring at him with a scowl upon her face and shaking her head, as if she were their mother. Matthew put his finger to his lips, as she glared at him, and returned the tablet to its rest.
School was a torment for him the next day. He fell asleep and was sent to the counselor’s office, where he was questioned in the most pleasant manner, about why he wasn’t sleeping. He told his counselor that there had been something outside his window keeping him up. However, when school was out and the bus had dropped him at his house, he saw that his mom was home from work already. Upon entering, he found her and Mandy waiting for him, his mom on the couch … holding the tablet … and Mandy in an armchair, looking downcast. He was instantly angry at her for having ratted on him.
“So, this morning I was looking for my keys,” his mother began, “ and I noticed that the tablet was unplugged. At first, I imagined that Cleo had been playing with it, before remembering that Cleo slept in my room last night. Clark has never shown any interest in it. So, I went though the history and found all sorts of videos that someone has been watching late at night, when they know they’re not allowed because it will make it hard for them to go to school. Matthew, you’ve been having trouble getting up the past few mornings and have been tired during the day. Have you been sneaking out here and taking the tablet? You’ve been warned about it before.”
He didn’t know what to say. There was good chance that if he admitted it, he’d be grounded, and it was almost the weekend. However, there didn’t seem to be any way out of it. He had promised not to play with it after 8, and his mom was going to be disappointed even though he couldn’t help himself. When he didn’t have the tablet, he felt as if he was missing everything and wouldn’t be able to talk about the latest cool videos with his friends. He wanted to cry.
Mandy was watching him carefully and, as he was about to confess, she interrupted.
“I did it.”
“What?” her mother asked, being immediately skeptical.
“I did it,” Mandy answered. “I didn’t know why Matthew likes the videos so much, so I took it to find out. I’m sorry, Mommy. I won’t do it again. I was just curious.” Mandy knew that her mother would forgive her, being only five.
Matthew just looked at Mandy, so precocious, and kept quiet. Their mother wasn’t a fool and knew well that Matthew had been the culprit, but, looking at her children and the bond they were having, even though she knew her daughter was not telling the truth, she thought it best to let the matter drop.
“Okay, Mandy. You will take the garbage out for the next three days.”
The trash was normally Matthew’s job, and he felt bad. When they were alone in their room, Matthew didn’t say anything. He just gave his sister a hug, and that was all the thank you that she needed.
That night, their mother awoke and thought that the television had been left on. Climbing out of bed to investigate, it quickly became clear to her that it was the tablet, and her disappointed was deep. She could not believe her son would so flagrantly ignore the rules again. Prepared to take the tablet and lock it away in her closet, she entered the living room … and discovered Cleo causally watching videos. She wanted to laugh uncontrollably, but didn’t want to wake anyone. Turning the gadget off, she found Cleo the catnip ball to chase and checking on her children, she found them both sound asleep.
For the next three days, when their mother wasn’t looking, although she still saw with that extrasensory vision parents have, Matthew took the garbage out for his sister. His grades in school improved the following week, and he wasn’t tired anymore. There were no more trips to the counselor’s office and no more calls home.
He didn’t touch the tablet again after 8:00.