The Knob (Alarm)

There is a knob that sits on the nightstand on the left side of my the bed.  That is the side of the bed on which I sleep.

 I found it one day during my daily walk around the neighborhood. I'd stepped on it. I was so caught up in the music streaming through my headphones that I didn't even see it. Harold Melvin and his Blue notes have me like that from time to time, where I'm not paying much attention to where I'm going.

I'd reached down and picked up this knob. In that moment I wondered where it came from and who lost it.  It was much too pretty to throw away. I slid it in my pocket and went on with my routine.

Later that night, I sat it upon my nightstand.  I meant to throw it away, but I didn't. And it has been there on the nightstand ever since.

I didn't know what it meant. But it began to mean something to me. Whenever I hit the blaring clock alarm in the mornings to shut it off,  the first thing I saw was the knob.

And after a time that knob was staring back at me.

At times it was the world, and the seas, and all that lay within.  Other times it was the sky full of birds big and small, wings spread and floating on the wind.

At other times it was wise men staring hard at me, men frowning so ho hard that their eyebrows knitted together in the hardest of lines. They were wondering, no asking, why was I there in bed besides yet another random man? Why had I just lay with man after man who didn't love me, man after man who didn't even know my name?

The world.

The seas.

The skies full of birds.

Life... at its richest and fullest.

Shielding my heart from the good times and bad.

Attempting to shield my heart from the dark times of seeking satisfaction from random man after random man. . .

. . .after random man.

I kept the knob there, right there next to the clock with the flickering and fading red digitals. It was the proper alarm I needed.

Hopefully it would someday open my eyes to all I needed to see.



From Women of Color Writing Group, January 2014.
5 minute writing prompt. Our facilitator bought some cabinet and dresser drawer knobs from the thrift store. We were to each pick one and write a story about it.

This is the knob I chose:



I see a lot there in that knob. I saw blue skies, blue water, birds... and what looked like frowning asian men or something like that.

The character... my goodness- Her and her random men. That sounds like a deep seeded secret problem. And it sounds dangerous.

She is obvious conflicted about it all. I wonder what that's about? Hmm.