What To Do In the Dark

"Isn't that a little harsh?" said Donovan.

His mind raced through the list of things that he would not be able to do for the next two weeks.

"Please, can I make it up?"

"It won't happen again."

Donovan’s mother had heard it all. She had learned to drown out the noise. Her favorite song was imbedded in her head forever. When cases like this arose, the first song that came to mind, instantly, became her favorite song.

As Eva Martin began to hum the first few bars of "Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall", her son’s voice began to mirror, sheer background noise.

"No electricity for two weeks! Now, go clean the bathroom before the sun goes down." Eva belted.

"If one of those bottles should happen to fall, eighty-six bottles of beer on the wall."

"Beer?" asked Donovan.

"Never mind, just go clean the bathroom" Eva replied.

By the time the wall had forty-three bottles left, all was silent. The bathroom was clean, and the clock was not ticking fast enough. Eva glowed as she envisioned two weeks without the sound of those video games, meaningless gossip, and that noise her son called music. Peace at last, she thought.

Donovan thought he would be able to plug his cell phone in the socket behind the bed. ‘she’ll never know’, he thought.

Eva had it all figured out. She was a few feet, not steps, ahead of her son. Little did his excuse giving, non-homework doing, non-participating self-know, the circuit breaker, for his room, had been turned off a long time ago.

Eva never forgot the things she used to do when she was his age. When her sons' actions called for intense monitoring, a juvenile thought pattern was Imperative.

When Donovan peeked into the kitchen Eva was nowhere to be found. he thought. As she watered the herbal garden on the back porch, she watched him watching her. The bay window was the perfect cover. She could easily see him however, the oversized weeping willow tree made her as invisible as an iguana in the desert after dark.

As Eva sang the last beer off the wall, she chuckled quietly.

“Wow, that tree was planted to celebrate her one-year wedding anniversary.”

Her husband didn’t want to get something that would end up in the back pf the garage or hidden under a pair of badly worn socks.

“I wonder how loud he is going to shriek, when he realizes the power Is off in his room.” she muttered quietly.

Suddenly a loud gasp came from her son, Donovan's room.

“Ohno, now what am I going to do?”

“I’m going to be behind the loop of things tomorrow, in school”

“I got to play sick or something.”

“I can’t go to school like this.”

“I’ll be the laughingstock of my whole grade.”

Tears began to form in Donovan's eyes as he was forced to reflect on why this punishment happened and how to get out of it and never let it happen again.

This was the fourth time he had had to endure this staggering repercussion of his laziness. Something had to give.

Day three had gone by, and Donovan was going mad within his world of primitive darkness. This ritualistic punishment had been endured by three generations of Martin Boys. Donovan had to break the chain.

“If only there was a way to turn darkness into light.” Donovan whispered.

Day five was the worst. You see, day five was on a Wednesday. Donovan had no idea, when he rose that morning, that this would truly be his Hump Day.

During lunch, Donovan went to the library and borrowed a book on, interesting things to do in the dark.

On the down stride of Hump Day, Donovan began to meditate and mimic what he learned in his martial arts class.

For the remainder of his punishment, he perfected the self-defense course he was forced to take. Donovan was not that focused on martial arts. He was focused on becoming the injured victim, that way he had a chance to be excused.

Upon completion of his duly earned two weeks of darkness, Donovan realized that darkness was the best thing that could have happened to him.

‘Please Mom, I’m trying to meditate’, is what he would say when the television would blare through the house and glare through every inviting crevasse that would welcome the rays emitting from the television.

The punishment that Donovan received was the best thing that ever happened to him. It took six weeks and three days for him to realize, the three generations before him knew exactly what they were doing.

Primitive darkness is a time to reflect on what caused this punishment. The lack of electricity gives you the opportunity to rebuild your self-worth and realize that there is always ‘light at the end of the tunnel’.

Donovan continued to read the one paragraph that turned his life around one hundred and eighty degrees. Donovan began to look for that light and sure enough, he found it.

The book he decided to borrow from the library, gave him a new outlook on his young life.

Donovan was always the class clown. Eva had already began to save money for Donovan. She called it “Donovan’s bail fund”.

Eva had a hole in her heart that was filled with the fear of Donovan, eventually, ending up in prison.

His lack of interest in everything, lead her to believe his fate was a life sentence.

Donovan’s fate took a drastic turn for the best. After his punishment was over, he begged for more time in the dark for meditation.

Donovan became focused in school, focused at home and focused about life. He realized that there was more to life than jokes and pranks. He actually enjoyed have a schedule. Donovan looked forward to Marial Arts. He looked forward to the pre- class workouts which were only available to those who maintained a B+ average.

It took Donovan two months to be able to participate In the pre-class workouts. He was no longer on the verge of repeating the 10th grade.

Donovan was now at the top of his class. He went from a “D” average to an “A- within two months. He felt better about himself and took his responsibilities seriously.

Eva was ecstatic when she realized that she could change the name from “bail fund” to “Vacation fund”.