Read the first instalment of Sam Jordison’s serial for children over at 3:PM Magazine. Here’s an extract:
…The funny little, pretty little clock with 13 hours marked on its round face instead of 12 was all he’d thought about since he’d been given it last Wednesday. And he’d desperately tried to stay awake for the last six nights. After his parents had tucked him up into bed and shut the door, he’d done everything he could to fend off the heavy clouds of sleep that always drifted over him.
On the first night, he’d kept his eyes open for as long as he could. He’d even held them open with his hands. But their lids had grown heavy. He didn’t want them to shut, but it seemed like they just pulled themselves down of their own accord.
On the second night, he’d pinched his arm. He’d pinched it so hard and for so long that it was still red in the morning. But even so he’d eventually let go.
On the third, he’d taken off his duvet so that his feet got cold. But – and he didn’t remember how – he had picked it up again and snuggled into its warm and soporific embrace.
On the fourth night, he’d poured cocoa on his pillow thinking that the sticky, wet yuckiness would keep him on his toes. He couldn’t put his head down on that, after all, he’d thought. But he’d just ended up throwing the pillow onto the floor and sleeping with his head on his arm.
On the fifth night, he’d got straight out of bed as soon as Dad shut his bedroom door, and walked around the room, thinking he’d never be able to fall asleep on his feet. He hadn’t either. But he had fallen asleep in the bed just as soon as all the walking wore him out.
On the sixth night, he hadn’t even bothered trying. He’d even gone to bed early he was so tired.
Then, yesterday, he’d had the brilliantly simple idea of using the alarm on the clock That way he wouldn’t have to try to stay awake at all. He could go to sleep as usual and just set the clock for 5 minutes before one. Or, five minutes before 13 on his special clock. He couldn’t believe how silly he’d been! It was so obvious. Maybe, he reflected, it was the lack of sleep that had stopped him thinking.
Anyway, it didn’t matter now. The alarm had worked like a dream. He’d kept the clock on his pillow next to his head, so he could turn it off as soon as it started beeping, and so he wouldn’t wake anyone else. It had sounded right in his ear and he was wide-awake within seconds – and he had turned it off just as fast. He’d bounded right out of bed to the window, brimming over with excitement.
And there he stood now. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen. But he knew it was something special. He just knew it. …
Read the entire first episode here.
First posted: Sunday, March 7th, 2010.
