No, I'm not talking about stars in the night sky and Olbers' Paradox, or even the streetlight up near the end of the driveway.
In Charlie's room, the LED of the baby monitor casts a green glow on the dresser. The one that indicates the CD-player speakers are turned on throws a circle about two feet wide on the ceiling. The space heater has an orange light that he watches when he doesn't want to sleep. And the humidifier has three LEDs, orange to say that it's on, red for when the water runs out, and cool blue for when it's reached the level of humidity set on its dial.
In our room, another couple of humidifiers and the clock, and in our bathroom the green charging light of the toothbrush (and for as long as they last the glow of the devil duck and the phosphorescent frog perched on the ilght fixtures). In the hallway and the hall bathroom, a couple of electroluminescent night lights.
And by the time you get to the den you might as well be in Vegas, what with cable box, tivo, CD player and yet another humidifier declaring themselve ready for action.
You could strike the sun, the moon and all the stars, even the background glow of the town and the occasional flash of a meteor overhead, and our house would still be almost bright enough to read in at night. I wonder if Charlie will ever find himself in a truly dark room.
Posted by wallich at November 16, 2005 10:03 PM