Tuesday, December 03, 2024
HUMOR - VINCE'S ALARM
By Donovan Baldwin
I'm watching something on TV and it reminds me of one of my first days at Florida State University (FSU) in 1965.
My roommate turned out to be a friendly guy named Vince. We had a couple of days before classes started, so, we got up when we felt like it. Then came the evening before our first day of classes.
We both had to get up early and I told Vince I would set my alarm but I was worried about oversleeping. He told me not to worry about it because there was no way we could sleep through his alarm.
So, we went to sleep with his alarm set.
The way these dorm rooms, in Kellum Hall, were designed, one side had an elevated bunk with a bookcase and desk below it. The other bunk, on the other side of the room, was built to fit under the upper bunk in the next room.
I was in the lower bunk.
It should be mentioned that Vince warned me that he was very hard to wake up, and that's why he had such a good alarm.
My roommate turned out to be a friendly guy named Vince. We had a couple of days before classes started, so, we got up when we felt like it. Then came the evening before our first day of classes.
We both had to get up early and I told Vince I would set my alarm but I was worried about oversleeping. He told me not to worry about it because there was no way we could sleep through his alarm.
So, we went to sleep with his alarm set.
The way these dorm rooms, in Kellum Hall, were designed, one side had an elevated bunk with a bookcase and desk below it. The other bunk, on the other side of the room, was built to fit under the upper bunk in the next room.
I was in the lower bunk.
It should be mentioned that Vince warned me that he was very hard to wake up, and that's why he had such a good alarm.
I use the word "good" very loosely.
At the appointed time in the morning, Nazi rockets began exploding in London...or...to put it another way, Vince's alarm on the window sill went off.
I woke up in the air with my face and body inches from the panel above my bunk. I had made a convulsive leap as a result of the horror that had been unleashed on the room.
The alarm continued to ring.
Eventually, I saw an arm fall over the side of the upper bunk and grope blindly for the still-screaming alarm. As you might have guessed by now, the waving hand knocked the alarm off the window sill and onto the tile floor which helped project the sound upward and outward, filling the room, and my head, with pain.
I saw Vince's leg, drape over the edge of the bunk and feel for the step down. He virtually "fell" out of bed, winding up on hands and knees on the floor where he crawled under the table, found the alarm, and, after a couple of attempts, managed to shut it off.
It wasn't until the alarm was off that I realized my heart was still pounding from the shock and awe of Vince's alarm.
Eventually, I learned to wake up without defying gravity, but, I have a suspicion that some of my hearing loss in later years might be traced to Vince's alarm.
At the appointed time in the morning, Nazi rockets began exploding in London...or...to put it another way, Vince's alarm on the window sill went off.
I woke up in the air with my face and body inches from the panel above my bunk. I had made a convulsive leap as a result of the horror that had been unleashed on the room.
The alarm continued to ring.
Eventually, I saw an arm fall over the side of the upper bunk and grope blindly for the still-screaming alarm. As you might have guessed by now, the waving hand knocked the alarm off the window sill and onto the tile floor which helped project the sound upward and outward, filling the room, and my head, with pain.
I saw Vince's leg, drape over the edge of the bunk and feel for the step down. He virtually "fell" out of bed, winding up on hands and knees on the floor where he crawled under the table, found the alarm, and, after a couple of attempts, managed to shut it off.
It wasn't until the alarm was off that I realized my heart was still pounding from the shock and awe of Vince's alarm.
Eventually, I learned to wake up without defying gravity, but, I have a suspicion that some of my hearing loss in later years might be traced to Vince's alarm.
Labels: alarm clock, donovan baldwin, Florida State University, humor, Kellum
