The Ten O'Clock Disease

“Hey guys, it’s time to get up! We’re running late.”
I run up the stairs in a huge hurry to get the kids up for school. It’s weird because the sky is dark as night, but yet my alarm went off at 7:15 am as it does every Friday morning. This time of year it should be a little light out this time of morning. On Fridays we get to sleep in for an extra ten minutes because Jack doesn’t have preschool so we do not have to be outside at 7:20 am to wait for the school bus. Charon and I are not morning people by any means so we choose to sleep in as much as possible and hurry to get ready.
First I go into Jack’s room and I am surprised to find him still sound asleep. Jack is an insomniac and a light sleeper so usually as soon as he hears me on the stairs he is wide awake and sitting up in bed. This frustrates me because he still cannot get himself dressed in the morning without taking his sweet old time. However today was not the case, he was under his covers still fast asleep. As a tap his bottom I say over and over again
“Jack Jack, it’s time to get up. Come on sleepy head you gotta get dressed cause sissy has to go to school”.
“Mommy the sun is still sleeping”, Jack says in his own special way, if you know Jack you understand how he talks.
“I think the sun is just hiding behind the clouds, it’s not still asleep, and you need to get up cause we are running late”, I tell him.
I get his clothes off of his night stand and give them to him in his bed.
“Jack, put your Crocs on as soon as you are dressed.”
I then cross the very short hallway to Charon’s room. Charon’s room only has one window and is mostly hidden by her dollhouse, so with the sky so dark it made her room seem darker than normal.
“Cherbear, it’s time to get up”, I say to her as I gently shake her to wake her up.
“I tiey…I tiey… I don’t wanna get up!” She exclaims while she stretches in bed. Going with our normal morning routine I grab her clothes off her dresser and tell her to make sure all of the doors are closed before she comes downstairs. I take a quick peak in on Jack and to my surprise I find him dressed and getting his shoes on.
Knowing that the kids are on their way to getting ready to leave the house for the day I rush downstairs to get my shoes and Tinkerbell hoodie on. I’m ready to rock out the front door, but the kids are not downstairs yet so I holler up to them, “Hey I’m leaving! Let’s rock!” It will take them a minute to get down the stairs so I grab a quick drink of water from my adult sippy cup and grab Pop – Tarts for the kids. The kids are finally downstairs and are getting their raincoats on.
“Charon get your back pack, we have to go!”
Maybe we should get up a little earlier…nah...I need my beauty rest! I unlock the front door and hurry the kiddies out.
Once outside I realize there is a thick cover of fog. Perhaps that’s why it feels like it is earlier than what it really is. We descend the driveway; look both ways for oncoming cars and head out onto the street. On a typical day Madison Street is one busy little road with mom’s and dad’s driving the kiddies to school, most of these mommies and daddies are reckless drivers and we almost get hit at least once a day. Today, however, there were no cars at all on the street. I think to myself was it really early? Did my clock get set back? Oh well! If Charon gets to school earlier and I get Jack to daycare earlier maybe I’ll get to work on time.
As we walk into the parking lot at the school I see the lot is packed full with cars. I was beginning to think everyone was a bit early today! We cross over the lot with ease due to the lack of oncoming cars and up onto the sidewalk. I give Charon a hug and kiss, “Have a good day baby, I love you”.
“Yeah I tiey, l don’t love mornings”, Charon whines back at me as she is pulling the door to the cafeteria. As I wait for the usual few seconds to go by before I take off with Jack to daycare I notice Charon is struggling with the door.
“You so tired you cannot open the door today? What the heck?” I joke with her as I walk over to the door.
“You’re so smart you do it! It won’t open” Charon yells at me.
Hmm…what’s up with this door? Maybe we are so early they still have the doors locked. Can’t be! There are so many cars in the parking lot.
“C’mon guys let’s walk around to the front door and see if it’s unlocked”, I tell the kids. I take their hands just in case cars start driving in the lot. We walk around the side of the building, up the sidewalk and to the front door. I tug on the door in a sort of harsh manner and to my surprise it opens up with ease. We walk into the school and I peek my head into the front office, again I am surprised! The office staff is in all their places going about their daily routine.
“Excuse me”, I ask the woman at the desk, “the cafeteria door was locked. Is it ok to walk my daughter to her classroom?”
The woman at the desk responds “I’m sorry? How did you get into the school?” “Through the front door, it was unlocked.” I tell her.
The woman then tells me, “Come closer so I can see the three of you.”
As I take a few steps toward her she says in a panic “Do not come any closer! Don’t you know you are not allowed to bring your child to school when you have ten o’clock disease?” She says the final three words in a hushed tone so no one else but I hear her.
“I’m sorry, what? Ten O’clock disease?” I ask.
“Go, go now and do not come back until you are cured.” She yells at me and then she mumbles “oh my, oh my I hope I do not catch it.”
“C’mon kiddos lets go to daycare.” I say to the kids.
“Mom, what was that about? I want to go to school.” Charon says to me.
“Don’t know Charon, maybe she was just having a breakdown. You’ll just go to daycare today, besides you can take a nap at daycare” I tell her.
We leave the school and walk to the corner of Fifth and Madison. I have been very fortunate to find a daycare in walking distance from home. We look both ways and head across the street. It was odd that there are no cars on the road. Perhaps it is because of the fog. I hadn’t seen fog this thick in a very long time. It reminded me of cotton candy, only gray instead of pretty pink or blue. We get to the daycare and Jack rushes up to the door to push the doorbell. It took a minute or two for Miss Megan to open the door.
“Hey guys” she says as Jack pushes his was through. He is always in such a hurry to get to his class. “Hey Jack, come back here. I can’t let you guys in today.”
I ask, “Why not?”
“There’s this disease that is really contagious and I have had to send a few kids home today with it. You guys defiantly have it”, she says to me.
“What is this highly contagious disease that we have?” I say to her very sarcastically. “I feel fine, guys do you feel ok?” Both of the children tell me they feel fine. Miss Megan peaks around the door as if looking to see if anyone was watching or listening.
She then whispers to me, “It’s the ten o’clock disease.”
“What? They wouldn’t let Charon into school for the same reason. I’ve never heard of this before. Well what do I do to treat this ten o’clock disease so they can go back to school and come to daycare?” I ask her.
“That’s all I can say. I have to get back inside”, she says to me as she shuts the door in my face. Well, I guess they will have to go to work with me I say to myself.
We cross back over the main street and when we get to the corner we are stopped by a police officer.
“Ma’am, you can’t be out here on the street.” He says to me.
At this point I am starting to get frustrated and I say to him in a not so nice tone, “Why not? The school won’t let my daughter attend today and the daycare won’t take either one of my kids and I am trying to get back home so I can go to work to pay the bills. So what do you want me to do?”
He looks around as if someone is watching him then in a flash he grabs my hand and pulls me in behind the tree on the corner. In a low voice he says “Do you really want to know why you cannot be out here?”
Well Duh I’m thinking, but for risk of being arrested I respond, “Yes, yes I do”. He takes another look around, “You have ten o’clock disease and it looks like you have a severe case of it.”
Not caring about getting arrested I start rambling in a pissy tone, “what the hell is ten o’clock disease? I have never heard of it before and I think this whole town has gone bloody mad! Well, if I have ten o’clock disease how do I cure it? Take a pill? Say some magic words? What?”
“I can’t explain it to you, but I know where you can go to get the cure. You have to promise me that you will not talk to anyone about this, ever.” He says.
“Sure, yeah, I promise to never talk about this to anyone ever” I say back to him.
He reaches into a bag he had on his shoulder and takes out a small magnetic box. “Here, take this box, it’s an automatic pilot for your car, place it under the hood and turn the switch until you see a green light. Immediately get into your car. Do you have a handkerchief? Never mind. Take mine. Place it over your eyes before your car starts to move. When you hear the car turn off you know you are at your destination and it is safe to take the blindfold off. Exit the vehicle with caution, you never know who may be lurking about. . Whatever you do you must not tell anyone about this. Go now and hurry before the disease takes over your body forever”. I took the magnetic box and we rushed for home.
I hurried the kids in the car, grabbed my water bottle, put the magnetic box under the car hood, put on my blindfold, and turned the switch so the light shone green. The engine started as I jumped in the car. Why don’t the kids need to be blindfolded? I don’t get it, but whatever. With a jolt that startled me the car took off. My car has an exhaust leak and though it is not overly loud I can still hear it with the radio off a little bit, but this one time the car ran so smoothly. It seemed like we drove for hours, maybe it was because we didn’t talk or listen to the radio and I sure as heck couldn’t see the clock. Then with the same type of jolt the car did when it took off, the car stopped and the engine shut down. Figuring we were at our destination I took off the blindfold and got out of the car.
“What is this place?” Charon asked me.
“I have no earthly clue, but I guess this is where we get the cure for the ten o’clock disease”, I told her.
All three of us were out of the car now, taking in the fact that we were in the middle of a corn field! There were no visible roads or any other signs of how we got to where the car was parked. We were told to look out for things lurking about, but the only things around us were corn stalks, for what seemed like miles, and a little house off to our left. I decided that since cornstalks probably cannot tell us the cure we should head for the little house.
“Take my hand guys. I’m not sure where we are or what we are going to find so stay right beside me and no matter what do not let go of my hand unless I tell you to. Do you both understand?”
They both replied, “yes ma’am”.
We reached the house in no time, though the house appeared to be further off n the distance. The little house looked like a shack really. Something you might find in the Bayous of New Orleans. There were three long, flat steps that we ascended to reach a wooden porch that was the width of the house. The house looked like it had been whitewashed 100 years ago and left to wither away in the sun. I knocked on the door, softly at first for I was afraid of what lied beyond the door and honestly I thought if I knocked harder I might knock the door in. After a few minutes pause and not getting a response I knocked a little louder, still there was no answer.
“Let’s go look around to the side of the house”, I tell the kids.
“Good idea”, Jack says.
“Mom, I don’t think we need to go look around. The door is about to open”, Charon tells me in a very monotone voice.
Just as she finished the last word the front door swings open with a loud creak. Expecting a human someone to have opened the door I peer in the house, but find no one is there.
“Hello?” I ask. No answer. “Hello? Is anyone here?” I ask again.
Charon says to me, “Mom, we need to walk into the house, and follow the hallway straight back to where we will reach a wall with yellow and brown wallpaper. There will be two doors, one to the left and one to the right. When we get there we have to decide which door we want to open. If you open the wrong one we will end up back outside and will never be allowed to enter this house again and we will surely die from the ten o’clock disease.”
What in the world? Well, she’s never been wrong before and at this point I really don’t see any other choice.
“Ok little ones I want you to stay right behind me and don’t touch anything. You ready? Let’s go see what Charon was talking about.”
We stepped through the doorway and I was surprised by what I saw inside. The house was huge and maintained impeccably with furnishings that I would not find typical of a shack in a New Orleans Bayou. There were high ceilings and a winding cherry staircase a few feet from the front door. The décor was high Victorian for as far as I could see. I was quite impressed!
We began walking down the long hallway until we reached the wall with brown and yellow wallpaper. To my left was a large cherry door with a silver knob and to my right was a large cherry door with a gold knob. Directly in the middle was a round cherry bear claw table that held a single Tiffany lamp.
“Charon, which door do we open?”
“I cannot say, you have to decide which door is right for you”, she tells me.
I’m thinking really? Why won’t she tell me if she knew? Why do I have to make the decision to get the cure? But she kept insisting that I make the choice. I decided to listen to my own intuition to make the choice. I stepped to my left first and placed my right hand on the door. I was listening to the vibrations of the door through my hand. After a few moments I stepped to my right and placed my left hand on the door, again listening for vibrations. I stepped back to the middle and closed my eyes still uncertain of which door I should open. I opened my eyes after five minutes or so and took a few steps forward to the bear claw table. This table was beautiful and I was drawn to it. I lifted my right hand and pulled the cord on the Tiffany lamp without another thought. As the lamp illuminated the hallway, the door to the left, the one with the silver knob, swung open. Ha! Take that! Stupid doors!
The entrance was dark and somewhat gloomy. I took out my I Phone and opened up my flashlight app.
“Stay close guys. It’s very dark in here and I am not sure what we will run into.”
A few feet ahead of us lied a staircase. This staircase was not beautiful like the one in the front of the house. It was metal with open stairs. It spiraled downward for who knows how many feet. The room was narrow and felt damp, like someone had been taking a steamy shower. As we descended the staircase every now and then we would hear banging that reminded me of a mechanic working on a car.
Several minutes had passed when we finally reached the bottom of the staircase. My head was spinning from all the downward spiraling. I want to stop for a minute to gather my senses, but Charon insisted we hurry up. She told me she felt like it was getting darker outside and she did not want to be in here after the sun went to sleep. So we trucked on.
We started down a narrow hallway and the further we went the wider it became. The banging was getting louder the further we went. Just when I thought we had been walking for hours there was a round door that was outlined by a brilliant yellow light. I felt like I might be walking into Bilbo Baggins’ house! To my amazement when I opened the door a little man, and by little I mean he was shorter than me and I’m not even five foot tall, was leaning over the engine of an old car. I’m not real sure what type of car it was, but I could tell it was old.
“Excuse me, sir?” I shouted to be heard over the banging.
He slowly straightened his back and as he turned to face us he pulled a towel from his back pockets and began to wipe down his hands.
“I was expecting you”, the man said in a low drawn out voice. I began to tell him why we were here when he put his hand up to stop me from speaking. “Come closer, all of you. I must see how far the disease has progressed.”
We were now standing directly in front of him. “Come here child”, he told Charon. Without hesitation Charon stepped forward. She smiled at him and nodded her head a few times. They were talking to each other without saying a word. I hate when she does that because I always feel left out in the cold! And she never tells me about those conversations. She just says they are private and if she wanted me to know she would have talked out loud. People wonder why I call her sassy britches!
They were having a pretty long conversation and just as I was about to butt in Charon says, “Jack, Mr. Liam wants to talk to you. Remember what I taught you?” Jack nods his head up and down and then timidly steps forward.
The old man, Mr. Liam, put his hand on Jack’s shoulder and Jack gave him a smile and was nodding his head.
“What?” My internal monologue said. “Charon what’s the meaning of this? Jack can read minds too? When did this happen?”
“Duh, mommy” she says to me in her most sarcastic tone.
Great…if we survive the ten o’clock disease I’m going to be in a world where my children will talk with their minds and leave me in the dark about a lot of things.
Mr. Liam finishes his little talk with Jack, then he turns to me and says, “Ms Jamiel I must tell you that you are the carrier of this disease. You have unknowingly spread it to your daughter and she has spread it to your son. It is very rare that children this young be affected, usually they are immune, but you have a life threatening case of the disease.”
I quickly ask, “What can I do about it?”
“It’s not easy, but of you follow my instructions to the letter you should be cured. However if you miss just one step the disease may appear to be gone, but it will come back. Do you understand?”
“Yes Mr. Liam, I understand.”
As Mr. Liam turned away from us a trap door opened in the floor just behind where he had been standing. Once again I saw the thick fog from this morning as it rose out of the ground.
Jack was beginning to get bored so he decided to go check out the car Mr. Liam had been working on. I tried to tell him to stay away from the car, but Jack insisted upon looking and touching wherever he could reach. Charon just stood still, but every now and then I would see her eyes moving. I guess she was just checking the place out.
Without notice the car that Mr. Liam had been tinkering on was roaring like a drag racer. I spun around violently, thinking the worse, and what did I find? Jack was jumping out of the front seat yelling, “Yes! Yes! Yes! I did it! Ha!”
He was laughing hysterically as he jumped up and down. I didn’t know whether to yell at him or laugh with him or congratulate him for a job well done.
“I knew he could do it”, says Mr. Liam nonchalantly, “I was expecting you, remember? I have been waiting for some time now for Jack to get that car running.”
I couldn’t help but stare at Mr. Liam, for his appearance had altered drastically while he was away. Gone was the short stature, gone were the wrinkles, and gone was the gray hair. He was now a much taller and younger man. His eyes were bright blue and hair was dirty blond. I even wondered if it was the same man, but surely he was. His voice and mannerisms remained the same.
In his hands was a round shaped object covered by brown and yellow muslin. I couldn’t make out what the object was, but I was more than curious to find out. Mr. Liam began to speak, “Inside this cloth is a very powerful cure. I want you to accept this item as you would accept the most precious of all beings.”
Charon then handed me an envelope that she had found on a desk from the other side of the room. “Mommy, you will need to read this letter as soon as we get home. It has the instructions inside.”
She was having another talk with Mr. Liam that I was unable to participate in. She smiled at him and then at me.
“Do not unwrap this until you have read the instructions.” He grasped my hands tightly has he handed me the object wrapped in muslin. It is time for you to take your leave. Children please hold on to your mother as you make your journey home.”
“When will we see you again?” Charon asks.
Mr. Liam tells her, “I do not know, but you will see me again when the time is right.”
Without another word the floor began to rise, it was like we were in an elevator without walls. We were going faster and faster and before I knew it we were outside in the middle of the cornfield. I looked around for the house, but it wasn’t there.
“Mommy, the house moves with Mr. Liam. He has gone away now so the house has too.” Charon says.
I didn’t understand what my daughter was telling me. It was almost as if she and Mr. Liam were old friends and she knew his every move.
“Ok guys, let’s get in the car and get buckled up.” As soon as the last seatbelt was fastened the car started up and we started the journey home.
It felt like it took days to get to Mr. Liam’s, but the journey home felt like five minutes. We pull into the driveway and I notice the fog had lifted. The sun was sparkling like diamonds.
“Can we play outside?” both children ask.
“Go ahead, but stay in the backyard.” I tell them. I wanted to be alone for a little while anyway so I could read the letter.
The letter! Where is the letter? I rush back out to the car, but the letter was no where around. I ran to the backyard where the children were jumping on the trampoline.
“Jack! Charon! Have you seen the letter?”
“No mommy,” Jack says.
“You lost the letter? I can’t believe you lost the letter!” Charon yells at me.
Now what do I do? I need the instructions. Ok, calm down. You have to calm down. Think, focus, and remain calm, what the…? A hand touched my shoulder, but I couldn’t see it. Then I heard a voice, one I haven’t heard in a very long time.
The voice said to me, “You don’t need the letter. All you have to do is take the item out of its wrapping at midnight tonight. Place it on your nightstand and push the yellow button one time. Once you have set it take the wrapping outside to the grill and light it on fire. After the wrapping is burned, collect the ashes into the pickle jar that holds the pennies and place the jar on the front porch. At three in the morning you must fall asleep. When you wake you will be cured of the ten o’clock disease.” I didn’t know what to say so I just said, “thank you”. Then he was gone.
We played outside for the rest of the day and followed our regular evening routine. At eight thirty we marched upstairs for the kiddie’s bedtime. I tucked each of them into bed and went downstairs to have a little television time. As usual nothing was on.
Shortly before midnight I picked up the item Mr. Liam had given me, took it to the nightstand and unwrapped it. To my surprise it was an alarm clock! It appeared to be an ordinary alarm clock! Ok, I shalt not doubt the alarm clock; I’ll just roll with it. I pushed the yellow button in and the clock started singing Memory from the musical Cats. I sat and listened to it for a moment before going outside.
I grabbed the lighter off of the hutch and proceeded to the back deck. I placed the yellow and brown muslin wrappings into the grill and with a deep breath I lit it on fire. It burned rather quickly at first and then it slowed down. I have never been fascinated with fire before, but this one seemed to entrance me. There were sparks of brilliant color. My mind must have been playing tricks on me because I started seeing memories of my past in the flames. They were happy memories, all but one, the last one. I saw a clock that was frozen at ten twenty.
The fire died immediately after that last vision. I went back into the house to grab the pickle jar that once held the pennies. I scraped all of the ashes into the pickle jar noticing that they were not gray like normal ashes. They were blue and purple. I then walked around the house to the front porch and placed the jar in front of the door. Once back inside I noticed that it was a few minutes before three so I jumped in bed. I guess I fell right asleep…
The next morning the alarm went off; it was my normal everyday alarm that I set on my I Phone. I sat up and turned it off, I wanted to fall back asleep. Wait a minute! Where’s the alarm clock Mr. Liam gave me? It was gone. I looked everywhere downstairs, but could not find it. I went upstairs to look and still could not find it. I went back downstairs and climbed back into bed. I bet Jack hid it, he’s always hiding things.
I figured since the kids were still asleep and it was dance day, that means we don’t have to leave the house until 9:55 am and I get to sleep until nine, I would go back to sleep for a little while and when the kids get up I’ll ask Jack where he hid the clock. Sleep came quickly for me.
“Mommy, mommy, mom, ma, mama, mommy!” Jack yells as he was shaking my shoulder.
I look up and see that both of the children are in my bed. Cardinal rule number one is never get in mommy’s bed unless she has invited you.
“Mom it’s ten o’clock and we’re dressed for dance”, Charon says hurriedly. Oh crap! I cannot believe I over slept!
“Charon, have you seen the alarm clock Mr. Liam gave us yesterday?”
“What? What are you talking about? Who’s Mr. Liam?” Charon says.
“What do you mean who’s Mr. Liam? You know Mr. Liam! The guy’s house we went to yesterday because you couldn’t go to school or daycare because we had the ten o’clock disease. You were talking to him with your “the force” thing you do. Jack do you know what I’m talking about?”
Jack responds by shaking his head, “mama you make no sense.”
What? Why do they not remember?
“Mommy, you feel asleep on the sofa last night. We had to make our own dinner and put ourselves to bed”, Charon tells me. That can’t be true. Did I dream all of this?
I jumped up out of bed and threw some clothes on. We were late to dance class. I hurried the kiddies into the car reminding them to grab their dance bags. I grab my keys and water bottle and jump in the car.
We drove the short distance to the dance studio and the kids got out of the car in a flash. As I leaned over to grab the book I had been reading I notice an envelope. I stuck the envelope in my book and entered the dance studio. After a few minutes I opened the envelope and discovered the lost set of instructions.
Charon was sitting beside me, watching my every move. She looked at me and gave her smirkiest smile.
“Did I dream all this or is it real?” I ask her with the most puzzled look.
“Mommy, you have to decide what is real and what is a dream. It is not up to me to tell you one way or the other. All I can say is this may or may not be the end of the ten o’clock disease. Oh and Mr. Liam is an old friend just in case you were wondering”