The deluge

Little K has the unhappy habit of walking in her sleep. Not somnambulism type of walking. More like, “Open an eye - No parents in sight - There they are! - Walk over - Drop over them - Back to Sleep.” So we've all taken to sleeping on a big blanket on the floor in the drawing room, which is the only really baby-safe room in the house. She has enough freedom to sleep walk.

I'd gone to bed at 1:30 last night. Around 3 a.m., I heard a sound like waves lapping the shore. I'm not used to sleeping to the sound of lapping waves – no matter how peaceful they're supposed to make you feel.
[I sleep to Hindustani classical music (which I hate and the spouse loves), sports commentary (which I hate and the spouse tolerates), News channels (which we both hate), Tom and Jerry (which we both love) or a sleepy screaming baby].

So I tried to turn over and shut out the sound but it just would not go away. I tried to focus my mind on a different dream, because of course, I was sure I was dreaming. But the damn waves just kept lapping. Frustrated, I decided to wake up entirely in the hope of getting rid of them.

And then I realised that it was damp. Lapping waves? Damp? Cold? I woke up to the strange sight of the spouse, floor wiper in hand, trying to wipe the floor. Not a pre-dawn attack of cleanliness, No. On the floor was something that looked like a mini flood. Apparently, he had left the tap connecting the water supply to the cooler on. The cooler doesn't have an auto shut off valve. So once the cooler was full, the water overflowed into a bucket and then for the next few hours flooded our balcony and then just flowed everywhere into the house.

The spouse's part of the blanket was soaked first, so he woke up and was trying to wipe the water out ASAP. By now I was kind of awake, because it is terribly hard to sleep on wet blankets. I generously took over the wiper just to show off my spirit of generosity in the face of his rare lapse into irresponsibility. I'm the one that's always leaving taps open and gas stoves burning, and milk boiling et al.


We blundered around sleepy and damp and uncomfortable, trying to get the water out. The bloody thing took an hour! I was so tired by the time I got back to bed at 4 and woke up just now.