Perception Of Time

The power went out just long enough to mess up the digital clocks in the house the other night.  How do I know this?  I woke up.  Unsure, at first, of what woke me I lay still in the dark listening to the sounds of the house.  My husband sound asleep beside me never stirred. 

A quick glance at the flashing green numerals on our radio alarm clock confirmed the interruption in the flow of electricity.  I relaxed.  Then I realized I would like to know the time when I decided to get up for the day, so I slipped out to the kitchen and checked the time on my husbands cell phone.  1:07.  Getting back in bed, I fumbled in the dark to set the correct time before drifting off to sleep.

A second time I woke up to something being out of place in the night.  The deck light outside our bedroom was on and I heard my husband come in with the two dogs turning the light out as he did.  Ah, a middle of the night call of nature, I surmised and glanced at the clock, 1:07.  My sleep-addled brain was confused, I felt I had been asleep for some time not simply having closed my eyes.  I reached up to check the clock and discovered the toggle had not been moved all the way back into clock position.  I pushed it over and the displayed time changed from 1:07 to 4:45.  That feels like the right time, I thought and settled back down.

My husband, having made a stop on his way back to the bedroom stepped out of the master bath and with an indrawn breath exclaimed.

“How did it get so late?  I couldn’t have been in there for over three hours.”

For a moment stunned silence filled the air and then I laughed as it dawned on me.

“The power went out and I reset the time only I didn’t get the toggle moved all the way back and just found out now.”

“Don’t do that to me.”  He said, with a chuckle.  “I nearly had a heart attack thinking I had lost track of the time.”